Springfield Weekly Republican

MODERN WHALING.—The Introduction of petroleum, the consequent fall in the price of whale oil, the destruction of whalers by the rebel cruiser Shenandoah, the loss of many vessels in the Arctic ice fields in 1871 and 1876, and the decrease in the number of whales, have contributed to reduce the Pacific whaling fleet from 600 vessels in 1855 to 40 in 1879. Of these only 18 are now in the North Pacific, and recently they have made their rendezvous in San Francisco harbor, whereas formerly Honolulu was the port where they discharged cargo, refitted and spent the winter. They employ about 700 men, and the average catch may be set down as 15,000 barrels of oil and 70 tons of whalebone. The whales are scarce and shy now south of Behring Strait, and most of the vessels venture in the Arctic Sea. In a fair season a vessel will take five whales, the northern right whale yielding 125 barrels and the Arctic 90 barrels of oil, and each about 1500 pounds of bone. If the whales are not found the vessel frequently devotes itself to the walrus, each of which give 20 gallons of oil and 5 pounds of ivory: but three out of four killed are lost, and as they are the chief dependence of the Esquimaux for subsistence some whaling-masters will not kill them so long as there is any hope of finding whales. The introduction of an improved bomb-lance gun will probably make the business less dangerous and more profitable.

There are half a dozen whaling stations on the coast of California, where a lookout is kept on shore, and when notice is given that a whale is in sight, men put off in row boats for the prize. There are 25 men at Punta Banda and 12 at Santo Tomas, in Lower California, and 10 at Ballast Point, in the American territory, all belonging to San Diego; a company at Monterey, one of 25 men at Pigeon Point and one or two in Mendocino county. Most of the whales taken are the California graybacks, which are neither rich in oil nor easily taken. Some seasons more than half of those killed are lost. They migrate when fat to the southward from November to February, keeping near the land, and to the northward from May to October, when lean, running a little further out.—[Alta California.