72
There are now only one whaling vessel and two small store ships which are engaged in the trade at Hudson's Strait this year.
A. P. DOWNIE,
Mercantile Marine Office,
Board of Trade,
Dundee,
8th September, 1913.
Acting Superintendent.
73
not included. In column 3, about the years 1870, 1896, and 1900, Dundee vessels were engaged in the Newfoundland sealing before they proceeded each year further north for the whaling. Large numbers of Newfoundland seamen formed part of the crews at that time when engaged sealing. These men are not included in the numbers in column 3.
The information given in columns 4 to 7 has been supplied by local firms who are still engaged in the trade.
A. P. DOWNIE,
Enclosure in No. 34.
PORT OF DUNDEE.
Table of Statistics of the Whale Fishing Industry as it was carried on from this port only, compiled from different sources.
8th September, 1913.
Attached to 29140
No. 35.
Acting Superintendent.
1882
Number T
Number
Number
Tona
Tona
Estimate:1
Number
ot
of Black i
of White
of Whale-
of Whale
Year.
of Ships.
Men
Whalen
Whales
bone
Emplored.
Killed,
obtained.
obtained.
Market Value of Bono and Ol in pounds sterling.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
Killed.
£
1870
10.
334
G1
43 10
734
43,600
1871
10
352
133
65 10
1,163
81,500
1872
11
434
105
53 0
971
63,500
1873
407
158
67 10
1,303
84,500
1874
11
431
190
72 0
1,4194
87,400
1875
12
486
79
36 10
706
46,200
1876
479
65
44 0
7863
59,400
1877
13
600
81
42 0
9065
77,300
1878
14
610
7
6 0
1203
10,100
1879
660
71
37 12
585
52,200
1880
14
684
114
48 7
1,016
68,800
1881
14
610
48
26 0
557
40,900
648
79
29 12
770
47,500
1883
14
638
17
1,736
9 10
635
22 800
1881
16
776
79
39 10
7551
56,100
1885
724
27
11 10
326
20,600
1886
598
17
1,253
11 10
317
20,300
1887
401
15
1,931
5 10
538
17,900
1888
332
2 3
214
7,700
1889
285
14
8 8
188
20,200
1890
358
18
13 10
387
29,700
1891
380
15
8 0
249
23,600
1892
30
334
10
1,309
4 16
283
17,700
1893
218
29
19 0
356
31,800
1894
392
19
1,261
13 11
412
25,000
1895
292
14
1,436
7 10
3491
15,700
1896
317
9
3 10
149
7,300
1897
297
6 0
1434
11,100
1898
225
5 10
1
237
14,100
1899
285
16 5
385
29,700
1900
243
10 10
290
20,300
1901
224
8 ()
260
21,700
1902
217
9 10
212
28,300
1903
270
7 10
145
24,100
1904
235
5 10
114
15,000
1005
358
15 0
370
40,100
1206
332
3 10
10,200
1907
305
3
1 10
97
4,700
1908
288
15
7 134
307
20,100
1909
223
6 18h
207
15,700
1910
295
11 143
377
25,300
1911
225
3.14
1434
7,500
1912 1913
18
5
8
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NOTES ON TABLE OF STATISTICS.
| |
The information given in columns 2 and 3 of this return has been taken from the official registers of the Board of Trade in this Office. Part of the crews of these vessels in the years stated were engaged in Shetland. The numbers of these men are
་
WHALING IN NORTHERN WATERS.
STATEMENT BY THE SUPERINTENDENT, MERCANTILE MARINE OFFICE, BOARD OF TRADE, LEITH,
There is no doubt that the killing of whales for the produce they yielded has been done by the northern peoples of Europe from remote times. As respects Scotland, reference to this is made even in the old chronicles. It is not unlikely that whales were then frequently obtained in shoals, and in large numbers stranded on the coasts and outlying islands. The Scottish kings claimed a right to these whales, and tithes were granted to the monasteries of whales stranded within certain parts of the country. The records of the Scottish Courts also will show that the rights of the Crown to whales killed on the foreshore were asserted against the landlords.
"
This killing of whales is not, of course, to be spoken of as a trade, nor may it be said that whales were then "fished or hunted; but it seems reasonable to believe that, evolving out of this, whaling as a trade actually came, and that men went farther and farther afield in quest of them.
Considering the geographical position of Norway, the history of the Shetland Isles, and the first settlements in Iceland and in Greenland, one would rather think that the Norwegians and the Danes would be the first to hunt for whales in the far northern seas; possibly at this time other nations also took part-the Dutch people and the people of these islands. This might be as early as the thirteenth century.
The sixteenth and seventeenth centuries produced the great navigators who have writ their names on the map of the Arctic regions-Davis, Frobisher, Baffin, Barents, Hudson. The evolution in ideas following these great men would naturally produce something.
The later years of the following century (the eighteenth) saw whaling well established at several ports in Scotland-at Peterhead and at Dundee—if not at other ports.
By the beginning of the nineteenth century whaling was very likely at its greatest prosperity-judging this from all points of view:-
(a) With large imports of great value.
(b) With a large number of ships of a large aggregate tonnage.
(c) Employing a large number of men.
About these years eleven ports in Scotland are believed to have sent vessels
to trade, viz. :—
(1) Aberdeen.
(2) Dundee.
(3) Peterhead.
(4) Kirkcaldy.
(5) Leith.
(6) Montrose.
(7) Greenock.
(8) Berwick.
(9) Kirkwall.
(10) Banff.
(11) Borrowstoness.
In England, about this time, Hull would also be engaged, and so would London. When did the industry begin to decay?-By 1870, if not earlier, it had indeed well begun. London had ceased before this-only a name (" Greenland " Dock) now remains and Hull, too, was ceasing to take part, or had ceased to do so. Kirk-
$3292
K
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
Reference :-
[TICO. 885
22 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
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