THE
NORTHERN
WHALE-FISHERY.
THE
NORTHERN
WHALE-FISHERY.
BY
CAPTAIN SCORESBY, F.R.S.E.
LONDON:
THE RELIGIOUS TRACT SOCIETY:
Instituted 1799.
PREFACE.
The following pages are an abridgment, withsome modifications and additions, of the secondvolume of captain (now the rev. Dr.)Scoresby’s work on the Arctic Regions andWhale-fishery, Edinburgh, 1820; the substanceof the former volume having alreadyappeared in this Monthly Series. The secondchapter of the work, on the comparative viewof the whale-fisheries of different Europeannations, has been entirely omitted, as lessinteresting, it is supposed, to the generalreader, than the other chapters.
[Pg vii]
CONTENTS.
| CHAPTER I. | |
| PAGE | |
| CHRONOLOGICAL HISTORY OF THE NORTHERN WHALE-FISHERIES | 9 |
| CHAPTER II. | |
| SITUATION OF THE EARLY WHALE-FISHERY—THEMANNER IN WHICH IT WAS CONDUCTED—AND THE ALTERATIONS WHICHHAVE TAKEN PLACE | 29 |
| CHAPTER III. | |
| ACCOUNT OF THE MODERN WHALE-FISHERY, ASCONDUCTED AT SPITZBERGEN | 40 |
| CHAPTER IV. | |
| ACCOUNT OF THE DAVIS’S STRAIT WHALE-FISHERY,WITH STATEMENTS OF EXPENSES AND PROFITS OF A FISHING-SHIP | 149 |
| CHAPTER V. | |
| METHOD OF EXTRACTING OIL AND PREPARING WHALE-BONE,WITH A DESCRIPTION OF THESE ARTICLES, AND REMARKS ON THE USES TOWHICH THE SEVERAL PRODUCTS OF THE WHALE-FISHERY ARE APPLIED | 157 |
| CHAPTER VI. | |
| NARRATIVE OF PROCEEDINGS ON BOARD THE SHIP ESK,DURING A WHALE-FISHING VOYAGE TO THE COAST OF SPITZBERGEN,IN THE YEAR 1816; PARTICULARLY RELATING TO THE PRESERVATIONOF THE SHIP UNDER CIRCUMSTANCES OF PECULIAR DANGER | 175 |
[Pg 9]
THE
NORTHERN WHALE-FISHERY.
CHAPTER I.
CHRONOLOGICAL HISTORY OF THE NORTHERN WHALE FISHERIES.
In the early ages of the world, when beasts ofprey began to multiply and annoy the vocationsof man, the personal dangers to which he musthave been occasionally exposed would obligehim to contrive some means of defence. Forthis end, he would naturally be ind