ry home the product of a greater number
of whales than a ship of the same size now can.--Indeed, so plentiful
were the whales in those seas, and taken with such facility, that the
ships employed, were not sufficient to carry home the oil and bone,
and other ships were often sent to bring home the surplus quantity.
But the coasts of these countries, were soon visited by ships from
Denmark, Hamburgh, and Holland, as well as from England; and from
frequently being killed in the shoal water near the coasts, the whales
gradually receded from the shores, and have since been found only in
deeper water, and at a much greater distance from the land.

In the earlier stages of the whale fishery, of which we are now
treating, the ships were generally on the whaling waters, early in
May, and whether successful or not, they were obliged to commence
their return by the succeeding August, to avoid the early accumulation
of ice in those seas. But it not unfrequently happened, that ships
procured and returned with a cargo in the months of June and July,
making a voyage only about three months, whereas, a voyage to the
Pacific Ocean is now often protracted to three years!

Among the early whalers it was customary to have six boats to a ship,
and six men to a boat, besides the harpooner. What at _that time_ was
considered an improved method in killing whales, consisted in
discharging the harpoon, from a kind of swivel; but it was soon found
to be attended with too much inconvenience to be much practised, and
the muscular arms and steady nerves of the harpooner, have ever since
performed the daring duty, of first _striking_ the whale. The ropes
attached to the harpoon, used to be about 200 fathoms in length, and
some instances occurred, that all the lines belonging to six boats,
were fastened together and ran out by one whale, the animal descending
in nearly a perpendicular line from the surface. Instead of going
prepared to bring home a ship load of _oil_, it was customary to bring
only the blubber, and instead of trying the oil out and putting it
into casks on board, the fat of the whale was cut up into suitable
pieces, pressed hard in tubs carried out for the purpose, and in this
situation was the return cargo received at home.

Of so great consequence was the whale fishery considered to Great
Britain, that a bounty of 40s. for every ton, when the ship was 200
tons, or upwards, was given to the crews of ships engaged in that
business