COMMERCIAL STATISTICS. STATISTICS OF THE AMERICAN WHALE FISHERY. THE following statistics, &c., of the American Whale Fishery, carefully prepared by HENRY P. HAVEN, Esq., of New London, Conn., may be relied upon for their general accuracy. The information was elicited by certain inquiries propounded for the consideration of that gentleman by WM. H. STARR, Esq., of New York, with the view of its publication in the Merchants' Magazine; and to the interest which Mr. Starr takes in our Journal, as the organ of the commercial interests, as well as in the industrial pursuits of our country, our readers are indebted for the present statement. The whaling fleet of the United States consisted, on the 1st November, 1846, of 668 ships and barks, 27 brigs, 19 schooners, and 1 sloop, with a total tonnage of 228,757 tons, owned in the following places : 668 27 19 & 1 sl. 715 228,757 Total............ In this statement are included 2 ships at New Bedford, 3 at Sag Harbor, and 1 at Edgartown, which have heretofore been in the whaling business, but are now (perhaps temporarily) employed in the merchant service. Also, the ship Jane, of Warren, considered as a missing ship-last reported full, bound home, in Nov. 1845. Of this large fleet, only 58 vessels were in port on the 1st of Nov. 1846; 6 are in the merchant service, 1 in the Davis Straits fishery, and the remainder, 650, now at sea, in the Atlantic, Indian, and Pacific Oceans. The rapid increase of this large branch of our commerce, may be shown from the following statement: WHALING VESSELS OWNED IN THE UNITED STATES. While, as here shown, the Americans have prosecuted successfully, for a long series of years, the whale fishery, the English have, during the same time, been gradually reducing their fleet. In 1833, 110 sperm whale ships arrived in England, and on the 1st of January, 1846 only 43 whalers from Great Britain were afloat in the southern sperm and right whale fishery, with a prospect of still further reduction, and as the high protective duties of the English government on oils and bone have been much reduced, and will soon expire altogether, it is very improbable that any revival will take place there. The English have about 45 ships in the north whale fishery, among the ice, where Yankee enterprise has left them undisturbed until the present year; when the ship McLellan, from New London, being it is said the first American vessel which ever visited those seas, made a voyage to Davis Straits, but owing to the large quantities of ice, was unable to reach the whaling ground, and returned with only one fish. The French may be said to emulate the Americans, with much better results than the more lethargic Englishman. They have now forty ships in the southern right whale fishery, and it is believed, have pursued the business with profit, for several years. A few ships in Bremen, and other northern ports in Europe, not exceeding probably twenty in all, with perhaps forty from New Holland and other British colonies, include the whaling fleet of the world, numbering about 900 vessels. The largest ship of this fleet, is the Atlantic, of New London, 699 tons, and the smallest is probably the schooner Garland, also of New London, 49 tons. It is believed that very few not particularly familiar with the details of the whale fishery, are aware of the large amount of capital and enterprise which is invested in this business, in the United States, and few have probably realized how much the hardy whalemen and adventurous owners have contributed to the wealth of the nation. The valuable cargoes with which the ships return are drawn entirely from the deep, and it is emphatically an American enterprise; built and owned as the ships are by Americans, and navigated by a crew, at least two-thirds of which, by law, must be citizens of the United States, and who receive one-third of the oil and bone taken, for their services. The outfits of the ship each voyage also consist of provisions, stores, sails, rigging, &c. &c., which are almost entirely the produce of our own country. Thus we purchase the return cargo with our agricultural and mechanical labor, and thus draw treasures from the seas, to supply our own wants and luxuries; and a market has always been found in Europe for our surplus. But these facts will be more clearly seen from the following statements, carefully compiled from authentic sources. The amount of capital invested in the whale fishery is estimated as follows:668 ships and barks will cost an average, when fitted for sea, of $29,000...$19,372,000 27 brigs 13,000... 351,000 9,000... 180,000 $19,903,000 It is believed that this is a low estimate; and some persons whose experience aids their judgment, would make it over $20,000,000. The following table shows the import of whale and sperm oil into the United States, for the past five years, with the average price per gallon and pound, each year, with the total value of the same: The quantity of whalebone imported must be estimated previous to 1844, as no authentic record was kept, it is believed, prior to that time. A right whale will usually yield at least 800 lbs. whalebone to 100 bbls. of oil, and the estimate for 1841, '42, and '43, is made on that basis. Varying from $5,800,000, in 1842, to $8,200,000, in 1845. The average number of vessels arrived from whaling voyages, during the past four years, is 229; and it is estimated that it cost to refit those vessels for their next voyage, as follows: Fitting 189 ships and barks, at $17,000.. 66 51 brigs and schooners, at 7,000.................... $3,026,000 Expended each year in outfits of whale vessels...... $3,383,000 Of the amount of outfits set down above as the average of each vessel, the following articles comprise all, it is believed, which are the produce of foreign countries: 4 tons Manilla hemp for rigging................... $625 Say 1,500 yds. linen duck, as an average, (part of the ships using cotton,) 600 Try-pots for trying oil...... 150 150 lbs. tea, and 1,000 lbs. coffee.................. Small tools, crockery, &c., say.. 150 25 $1,550 The following articles made use of in fitting a whale ship are sometimes imported, but are also the produce of this country: The following are among the largest items of cost in fitting a whale ship of American growth or manufacture: The crews of vessels in the whaling service, as has been previously mentioned, receive payment for their services in shares of the catchings. The number of men required to perform the duties of the voyage varies, according to the size of the vessel, from 15 to 45. An average, for all the vessels in the fleet, would probably be 27, which would give us nearly 20,000 seamen. The shares received by each man, vary from about one-half of 1 per cent, for the "green hand" on his first voyage, to about 6 per cent for the captain, and amount, taken together, to one-third of the oil and bone, or whatever else may be procured, leaving two-thirds for the owners. The capture of the sperm (cachalot) and right whale (balaena australis and balaena mysticitus) were formerly made distinct objects; and vessels fitted for the former seldom, if ever, killed the right whale when met with. From the difficulty experienced, of late years, in procuring full cargoes of sperm oil, it is now customary for many of the ships to divide their time,-spending the summer months on the northwest coast of America and coast of Kamschatka, looking for right whales, and the winter and fall months in the warmer latitudes, for sperm. The cruising ground of the fleet may be apportioned somewhat as follows:-About 60 schooners, brigs, and small barks, in the Atlantic Ocean, for sperm oil; 32 barks in the Indian Ocean for sperm oil; 6 schooners are tenders to right whalers; 1 ship in Davis Straits fishery; 1 schooner sperm whaling, Pacific Ocean; 1 schooner, sealing; 6 ships in the merchant service, and most of the 608 remainder, have their cruising ground in the north and south Pacific Oceans, for sperm and right whales ;-say 130 cruising for sperm only, and 478 for sperm and right whales. In this statement, the 58 vessels in port are set down to their probable destination. The following statistical tables, showing the average time and success of the whaling vessels, for the past four years, are arranged from a statement in the New Bedford Shipping List of January 6, 1846: It will be seen from these figures, that while the voyages for the sperm whale are gradually lengthening, the quantity of sperm oil taken by these ships, is rapidly decreasing, and this is still further proved by the fact, that, notwithstanding the large number of ships, the import of sperm oil, up to November 1, 1846, was 48,000 barrels less than last year, at the same date. The diminution in this branch of the fishery of one-third in three years, has enabled it to maintain very nearly the average of time and quantity. RIGHT WHALERS. Ships and Barks which cruise most of the time for right whale oil, and do not return the year after they sail. This statement shows that the right whale ships also find the sperm whales harder to catch than formerly. It would here appear that the right whales had become more abundant, the time being shorter and the quantity greater, in 1845, than previously. But the ships arriving the present year, 1846, report right whales growing scarce; which, united with low prices, has effectually checked the disposition manifested the two previous years, to increase this branch of whaling. The present year, only one vessel has thus far returned, with a cargo of whale oil, which sailed in 1845. SAG HARBOR WHALE FISHERY, IN 1845. LIST OF ARRIVALS OF WHALING VESSELS, With the Amount of the Produce of the Fishery, within the district of Sag Harbor, N. Y., during the year 1845, politely furnished for publication in the “ Merchants' Magazine," by LUTHER D. COOK, Esq., of Sag Harbor. |