THE END OF THE BRITISH WHALE-FISHERY.
ANATURAL pang of regret was doubtless felt by most of us who read the other day of the sale of the last of the British whaling fleet. That an industry so closely associated with the marvels of the mysterious North, and to which the literature of heroism and adventure is so deeply indebted, should languish and die must be regarded as a distinct national lose. It cannot be gainsaid that for several years past such an event has been recognised by experts as imminent and inevitable. Indeed, but for the great value of that strange natural product of the mysticetus, or Greenland whale, baleen (whalebone), the Arctic whale-fishery must long ago have become extinct. The oil furnished by these vast animals is so poor in quality that its value has fallen far below the point at which it pays to procure it under British conditions of expenditure. Substitutes superior in usefulness and lower in price have been discovered in overwhelming abundance. Thus, unless it was possible to ensure a fairly large catch each voyage, of which the proportion of whalebone would supply the profit, economic reasons forbade the losing game being played any longer. The conditions under which capital is employed in Arctic whaling are peculiar and exacting. Apart from questions of physical hardship or danger, it is impossible to begin operations earlier than April or continue them later than September. And any industry the capital of which must be unproductive for so many months of every year is so heavily weighted in the commercial race to-day that failure is always impending. A bad season, involving a whole year's loss of profit plus the indispensable outlay, would seem sufficiently disastrous where profits are normally small. But to the credit of whaleship-owners, it should be remem- bered that they have held on for many years in which a good catch has been the exception, barren seasons the rule. The causes of this failure are, curiously enough, not settled among whalers themselves. Some still hold that the timidity of the whale being so great and his sense of hearing so acute, the advent of steam, with its throbbing propellers, has alarmed them to such an extent that they no longer come into water sufficiently clear of ice for their capture. These authorities believe that if they were able to get into open water beyond the fast ice they would still find whales in plenty. How very natural this idea is. Whoever knew a sportsman who did not believe, whatever his luck, that there was a better place farther on? But it seems more reasonable to suppose that in the comparatively restricted area of the Arctic seas the natural increase of the mysticetze has been unable to keep pace with their destruction. Should this be the case, a few years of complete cessation of the fishery will show a notable increase in their numbers. Their instinctive dread of man, however, has too long been trans- mitted to be eliminated by a dozen generations of security. Long will be the time ere they regain that primitive fearless- ness they had when first the whale-fishers burst into those silent seas. It remains to be seen, though, whether the hardy, thrifty Norwegians will not now extend their operations from their own shores. Seeing how notably they have succeeded in profitably hunting the poverty-stricken ba/a-noptera, whom all other whalers shun, the idea seems highly probable.
The history of the European whale-fishery is by no means pleasant reading for Britons. Our insular pride and com- placent belief in our own general superiority find therein no confirmatory evidence. As to who among Northern nations may justly claim the honour of first daring to attack the mighty whale there is some little doubt. But the balance of probability inclines to the Biscayans or Norwegians. We have a reasonably definite account in ()rosins of bay whaling having been carried on from the North Cape along the shores of the White Sea in the ninth century. Langebek, a Danish writer, asserts positively that the Norwegians were the pioneers of whale-hunting on the coasts of their own country about the year 870. But there are many refer- ences to whale-fishing in the chronicles of that period. The "Translation et les Miracles de St. Vaast " tells of a donation by William the Conqueror of a tithe of whales caught at Dives to the Convent of the Holy Trinity at Caen. A Bull of Pope Eugene III. gives a tithe of the tongues of whales caught at Alerri to the church at Coutances. These two will probably suffice as a sample of the references to the cetacea in those early times. Historians, however, are agreed that the Basques and Biscayans first ventured far to sea from their own shores, and so became the originators of the whale-fishery proper. About 1575 a combined fleet of Biscayan and Iceland vessels numbering fifty or sixty sail commenced whaling upon the coasts of Newfoundland, Iceland, and Southern Greenland. In 1594 the English appear to have awakened to the prospect of profit from the whale-fishery, for we read that several ships were fitted out in that year at Bristol for a whaling voyage to Cape Breton. One of them, the Grace,' of Bristol, found between seven hundred and eight hundred blades or laminae of whalebone on the shores of St. George's Bay, where two large Biscayan ships had been wrecked three years before. This seems to have been the first instance of the importation of whalebone into England.
The Russia Company of English merchants had about that time a lucrative trade with Archangel under a Royal mono- poly. In the leisurely fashion of those days, the shipmasters combined discovery with their trading functions, and thus explored the coasts of Spitzbergen and Jan Mayer. On those teeming shores the English first established their branch of the Arctic whale-fishery, which in a few years proved to be the most lucrative national industry that had ever been known. Hull, always an enterprising port, was first in the field. Her merchants had already been prosecuting the pursuit of the whale with great vigour on the coasts of Iceland and New- foundland, and immediately upon the discovery of Spitzbergen they took full advantage of this nearer and more prolific field. But in those early days the spirit of adventurous enterprise ran high in all maritime countries, and it was not to be expected that our countrymen would long enjoy an undisputed monopoly. The year 1610 saw two Dutch ships and one Biscayan on the new whaling-ground, much to the annoyance of the English, who looked upon them as little better than pirates. Accordingly, the intruders were not allowed to fish, but were driven back again empty. The pilot of the Spanish ship, an Englishman named Wood- cock, was upon his return home imprisoned in the Tower for sixteen months for his unpatriotic conduct. Naturally, such high-handed proceedings led to reprisals, so that in 1613 the Russia Corn pany, hearing that a large fleet might be expected at Spitzbergen in the ensuing season, equipped at their own cost a fleet of seven armed vessels, headed by the Tigris,' of twenty-one guns, for the purpose of holding the ground against all comers. Notwithstanding these warlike preparations, sixteen vessels arrived at Spitz- bergen from various Continental ports, principally Dutch. They were soon attacked, what blubber or whalebone they had collected was taken from them, and with empty holds and pillaged store-rooms they returned home. Even four English ships, privately owned, shared their fate, being classed with them by the monopolists as interlopers. The Dutch esti- mated their loss at 130,000 guilders, but the aggressors were also losers of £3,000 or £4,000, having been unable to fish and fight at the same time. In consequence of this affair the Dutch established a powerful com- pany under charter from the States-General, excluding all other ships of the Republic from the fishery under penalty of confiscation of ships and cargoes. Fourteen whale-ships sailed from Holland next year, accompanied by four ships of war of thirty guns each. So formidable was this fleet that the English were compelled to leave them in peace. But that season neither nation did much good. Next year the Russia Company sent only four ships, while the Dutch despatched eleven, with three ships of war. This was a stormy season, but while the Hollanders were remarkably successiul, the English ships returned half empty. In 1616 the Russia Company had again ten vessels at work under Captain Thomas Edge. By August 14th they were all full, with from 1,200 to 1,300 tons of oil, and were obliged to leave a considerable quantity behind. Strange to say, the Dutch had then only four ships at the ice, and even they fared but indifferently. Eighteen English ships sailed in 1617. They killed one hundred and fifty whales, taking home between 1,800 and 1,900 tons of oil, and leaving as before a large surplus behind for lack of room.
As long as the Dutch preserved their armed superiority a kind of peace was preserved, but quarrels were still of frequent occurrence. These culminated in 1618 in a great battle, in which the English were totally defeated, one of their ships taken, and the rest sent home empty. This state of private war ended by an international agree- ment. The whole area of the whaling-grounds was divided among the various countries under fixed laws, although the English managed to secure the largest number of harbours sa well as the best of them. So the fishery went on with fluctuating results as before, but the Dutch steadily proved their superiority to all competitors. Their charters were renewed from time to time, and their prosperity became so great that they brought cargo-vessels with them to carry away the superabundant produce. Meanwhile the English fishery was as steadily deteriorating, nor, in spite of the total cessation of the Dutch fishery for several years because of war, were they able to regain their original commanding position. And on the refusal of the States-General to renew the Dutch monopolies, thus throwing the fishery open to all seamen of the Low Countries, this great industry increased tenfold. In 1650 the Dutch fleet boasted three hundred sail manned by eighteen thousand men. It is stated in the Beschryving der Walvesvangst that in 1697 a portion of the fleet sailed homeward, consisting of one hundred and ninety-two ships, one hundred and twenty-one of which were Hollanders. They carried with them the produce of one thousand eight hundred and eighty-eight whales. In all that goodly assem- blage there was not one bearing our country's flag. For the English whale-fishery was extinct. In all this period of overflowing prosperity for the Dutch we had been going from bad to worse. Two companies had been formed, both with large capital, which they had succeeded in losing entirely in a few years. Yet our Government did all it could by way of bounties and protecting duties to foster the trade, but for a long time without any avail. At last the tide turned. The Dutch fishery went into a rapid decline, and in consequence of a bounty of 40s. per ton a new English fishery sprang into mushroom-like growth. That the trade had no stamina was evident, for when the bounty was reduced to 30s. the number of ships engaged in the trade fell in five years from ninety-eight to thirty-nine. Raising the bounty to its old figure had the effect of soon increasing the fleet again to one hundred and eighty- five sail. Two years later. 1788, it had grown to the respectable
figure of two hundred and fifty-five, but it had been at a cost to the country in fifty-two years of 21,266,431 in bounties. The Dutch fleet was now practically extinct, nor, with the exception of America and Australia, has any other country established a whale-fishery worth mentioning.
It would be interesting to trace the rise and fall of the Southern whale-fishery in this country, but want of space forbids. To sum up, since the opening of the present century the Arctic whale-fishery, though dying hard, has been de dining. Now its attenuated shadow has quitted the scene, not without dignity, nor is it ever likely to return.
Previous page
