ACCOUNT OF THE DAVIS’S STRAIT WHALE-FISHERY, WITH STATEMENTS OF
EXPENSES AND PROFITS OF A FISHING-SHIP.
Ships intended for Davis’s Strait commonly put to sea a little
earlier than the Greenland ships. Some years ago, they were in the
habit of sailing in the latter part of February, but at present they
seldom leave their ports before the beginning or middle of March.
On their passage outward, the Davis’s Strait fishers usually touch
at Orkney or Shetland, for the purpose of procuring men, and such
trifling stores as are furnished at a cheap rate in these islands,
together with a view of trimming and preparing their vessels for
accomplishing the passage across the Atlantic. In consequence of
the frequent storms and high seas which prevail in the spring of
the year, the passage across the Atlantic is often attended with
difficulty. The whalers are constantly liable to meet with icebergs,
after passing the meridian of Cape Farewell, up to their arrival at
the face of the ice connected with the shore of Labrador. In the
night, or in thick weather, they are particularly hazardous, and
especially in storms. In moderate winds, indeed, such an intimation
of their proximity is to be obtained, either from their natural
effulgence in some states of the atmosphere, or from their intense
blackness in others, that they can be generally avoided. But in
storms, when the ship ceases to be under command, they become one of
the most appalling dangers which can be presented to the navigator.
Two most fatal shipwrecks occurred in the Davis’s Strait fleets; the
Royalist, captain Edmonds, and the London, captain Matthews, were
lost, with all hands; the former among icebergs, in 1814, and the
latter, as it is supposed, in a similar way, in 1817. Captain Bennet,
of the Venerable, was in company with the Royalist immediately
before she was wrecked. They fell in with drift-ice at eight A.M.,
April the 14th, when a heavy gale of wind commenced, and continued
twelve hours, after which the wind abated, but suddenly veering to
the north-west, a tremendous storm arose, which, accompanied with
sleet and snow, continued without intermission during twenty hours.
Before dark of the 15th, (nautical day,) captain Bennet saw several
icebergs, at which time he believed the Royalist was lying to
windward of an extensive chain of these islands of ice, among which
she was wrecked in the course of the same night. The crew probably
perished immediately, as the sea was uncommonly high. In the case
both of the Royalist and the London subscriptions were generously
opened at Hull, by the owners of the whalers, for the relief of the
bereaved relatives of the crew.
The fishery on the coast of Labrador commences occasionally in the
month of March. On this station, which is inhabited by a large
description of whales, some fishers have persevered altogether, and
have sometimes procured great cargoes. It is, however, a dangerous
fishery. The nights being long and dark on their first arrival, they
are obliged to use lanterns in their boats, when fish happen to be
struck, or to remain unsubdued at close of day, for the purpose
of keeping the ships and boats together; on which occasions the
stormy weather that frequently occurs at this season exposes them to
continued danger. Those who prosecute the northern fishery, after
making the ice at the “south-west,” as the neighbourhood of the
Labrador coast is usually denominated, proceed almost immediately
up Davis’s Strait towards Baffin’s Bay. If in the month of April
or beginning of May they commence this navigation, and sail along
the edge of the western ice to the northward, they often find it
joining the ice connected with the west coast of Greenland, in the
latitude 66½° or 67°, and meet with a considerable barrier of it
in 68°, immediately beyond which, a few leagues from land, is a
good fishing-station. As the ice opens to the northward, the whales
retreat in that direction, and the fishers follow as promptly as
possible. The whalers often reach Disko early in May, but it is
generally the latter end of this month, or the beginning of June,
before they can pass the second barrier of ice, lying about Hare
Island, in the 71st degree of latitude, and enter the northern inlets
frequented by the whales. The three inlets called the South-east
Bay, Jacob’s Bight, and the North-east Bay, were most productive
fishing-stations some years ago, but of late they have afforded but
few whales. From hence, if no fish are found, the whalers proceed
to the western part of the strait, towards Cumberland Island, or
persevere along the east side of Davis’s Strait towards Baffin’s
Bay, to the eastern parts of which the fish appear to retreat as the
season advances, and as the ice clears away from the northern and
eastern shores.
In Baffin’s Bay, and in the inlets of West Greenland, the fishery
is conducted under the most favourable circumstances. The water
being shallow in many situations, the boats require only a small
quantity of line, and the weather being warm, the sailors perform
their operations, if not with pleasure, at least with comfort to
themselves. But at the south-west, each operation of the fishery is
performed under rather unpleasant and even dangerous circumstances.
Darkness of night, exposure to storms, and frequency of swells,
are all unfavourable to the fishers. The flensing of a whale at
the south-west is usually more troublesome and more hazardous than
elsewhere, owing to the prevalent swell, which rarely altogether
subsides.
Davis’s Strait fishers, within the present century, after making a
successful fishery at a distance from land, have been in the habit of
resorting to the bays, there mooring in safety, until the troublesome
process of making-off was accomplished. On the passage homewards,
the ships usually steer down the middle of the strait, and proceed
sufficiently far south for avoiding the “Cape-ice,” before they haul
up to the eastward. From thence, the prevalence of westerly winds in
the summer season generally affords them an easy passage across the
Atlantic. The legislative regulations on the importation of Davis’s
Strait produce are the same as on cargoes obtained in the Greenland
fishery.
Among the Dutch fishers, we find that, during a period of a hundred
and seven years, included between 1669 and 1778, each ship in a
fleet of a hundred and thirty-two sail, which proceeded annually to
Greenland, afforded to the owners, on an average, a profit of 3,126
florins; and that, in a period of sixty years, ending with 1778, a
fleet of fifty-three ships, which sailed annually to Davis’s Strait,
realized to the owners a profit of 3,469 florins per voyage; thus
exceeding the produce of the Greenland fishery by 343 florins on each
ship, per voyage, after ample allowance is made for the greater
length of the voyage to Davis’s Strait, together with the additional
wear and tear. Among the British fishers, the advantage seems also to
have been on the side of Davis’s Strait, particularly of late years.
But if we deduct the value of skins taken by the Greenland fishers,
but not estimated in their cargoes, say £20 to £30 per ship, and the
additional expenses of a Davis’s Strait voyage, occasioned by the
greater wear and tear, and the provisions and wages for a voyage,
longer by one or two months than that to Greenland, we shall reduce
the balance in favour of the Davis’s Strait fishers to a very small
sum.
During the four years, ending with 1817, the amount of the cargoes
of the British Greenland whale-fishing ships, (consisting of three
hundred and seventy-six sail, repeated voyages included,) was
3,508 whales, which produced 33,070 tuns of oil, and 1,682 tons of
whalebone. At the same time, 210 ships employed in the Davis’s Strait
fishery procured 1,522 whales, yielding 21,438 tuns of oil, and 1,015
tons of whale-fins. It seems worthy of remark, that the whales caught
near Spitzbergen afforded a larger proportion of whalebone, compared
with the quantity of oil, than the fish of Davis’s Strait; the
Greenland fish yielding a ton of fins for every 19½ tuns of oil, and
the Davis’s Strait fish a ton of fins for every 21 tuns of oil. It
is remarkable that this should have been the case, when we consider
that small fish afford less whalebone than large fish in proportion
to their produce in oil, and yet the Greenland fish, which, on
the average of four years, were much smaller than those caught in
Davis’s Strait, have produced the largest proportion of whalebone.
The whales taken at the Greenland fishery in four years only average
9½ tuns of oil each, but those caught at Davis’s Strait average 14
tuns. It would, therefore, appear that the large whales caught near
Spitzbergen are much stouter than those taken in Davis’s Strait, and
afford such a large proportion of fins as more than compensates for
the deficiency in the small whales.
The fluctuating value of shipping renders it difficult to give a
fair estimate of the expenses of a whale-ship. The Resolution,
of Whitby, burden 219 tons, when new, in the year 1803, cost but
£7,791, including all expenses of stores and outfit, premiums of
insurance, and advanced money of seamen; while the Esk, of 354 tons
of measurement, launched and fitted out at the same port in 1813,
cost about £14,000. The ship Resolution was sold in eight shares,
and the sums subscribed by the owners and deposited in the hands of
the managing owners was £8,000. The balance in favour of the owners
of the Resolution for fifteen voyages appeared to be £19,473. 10_s._
2_d._, besides the value of the ship, and the value of the outfit
for the sixteenth voyage. If we reckon these at £6,520, the profit
derived from £8,000, originally advanced, in addition to the interest
of the capital embarked, will amount to £26,000, notwithstanding the
last three voyages were but indifferent, of which sum £25,200 has
actually been divided. It is, however, necessary to mention, that the
Resolution, in her first ten voyages, procured six hundred or seven
hundred tuns of oil above the average of the fishery during that
period, if not more.
The usual expenses of a Greenland voyage, including outfit, when no
cargo is obtained, may be stated at £2,200, exclusive of interest
of capital and wear and tear. For every ten tuns of oil procured,
there will be an additional expense of £80 or £90 for discharging
and boiling the cargo, for oil money and fish money, and for other
extraordinaries connected with a successful fishing. Thus the expense
of a ship, with a cargo of two hundred tuns of oil, will be at least
£4,000.