Part 10 (1/2)

In consequence of the delay by this and other causes induced, it was not without very great efforts that the Fa season, 1818 The requisite preparations however, were completed, whilst there was yet time for the adventure, and the shi+p, for the first atte put underobtained, for the season, which was not a prosperous one, a good cargo, we returned, August the 18th, (as had been arranged) to Whitby

In the following spring my Father re-assureat draught of water and so the tide-harbour, to which, in this first instance, she had resorted, both inconvenient and unsafe, her port was again changed for Hull, to which, with but a e, that of 1820, was, for the somewhat unfavourable season, a very successful one; that of 1821 was o; and the attempt of 1823 was prematurely arrested by the unfortunate destruction of the shi+p by fire

The Fae with unusual care and expense,-considerable alterations and i been made; she had proceeded northward as far as the Orkneys, where she had taken up an anchorage for the completion of her creith boatmen, when the catastrophe, which suht my Father's Arctic adventures at the sa a pursuance of his arduous enterprises, and the acquisition of a handsoerhim now to remain on shore, ”for the enjoyment of the fruits of his labours,” than to sti

The summary of these two latter enterprises, it will naturally have been anticipated, does not correspond with that of the three-and-twenty years of all but continuous successes For though the cargoes obtained in his six last voyages were, on the whole, considerably above the ordinary average, yet they by no e, however, in my Father's position as a fisherman, admits of a satisfactory explanation The circumstances on which success was now dependent had, in soe of the Arctic ices, and consu the compact or tortuous interruptions to the usual retreats of the whales, which with _hireatly had the whales been reduced in nuhter of their species during the last quarter of a century; and so much scattered had the residue been by the perpetual harass and attacks to which they had been subjected, that the positions, wherein the _opportunity_ for e used to be constantly afforded, were now almost entirely deserted Hence the enterprise and skill, enabling the fisher the ice, which had been wont to be eminently rewarded, had now become of little avail No one could calculate on the positions in which fish ht be found In places apparently most likely, not a fish, perhaps, was to be seen; whilst in circuh a few active, enterprising, and clevera lead in respect to proportionate success, yet the fishery altogether had becoly precarious, indeed, that within about half-a-dozen years of this time the whale-fishery of the Greenland seas proved so utterly unremunerative, as to be all but abandoned as a distinct commercial enterprise The port of Hull, for exa the whole period of e, sent out twenty-two shi+ps annually to the Greenland fishery,-in 1828, only five years after he discontinued the pursuit, had only one Greenland none

His retireed the subject of these records during a period, altogether, of six-and-thirty years of his life, was by no means an event of unmixed benefit It was far otherwise For the effect of wear and tear on the constitution, whilst for this long period subjected to circumstances of peculiar anxiety and excitement of adventure, soon became apparent under the trial of absolute leisure and the deprivation of ordinary stimulus It is, indeed, a well-ascertained characteristic of the huoodness of the Creator, to derive tey Thus strength, beyond all previous iination, is often yielded for special occasions, whilst the capability of action is wonderfully maintained for the period of protracted necessity or duty But the trial comes when the tension of the mysterious fabric of the huth, for the occasion, being beyond the ordinary powers of renovation, is maintained by the nervous stimulant at the expense of a wear and tear which not only becogravated proportion by reason of the natural reaction

How far these operations in a too long continued stretch of the natural powers ht have induced the inferior state ofthe six years of his life succeeding the time of his retireh the fact of this deterioration of health, in the interval of leisure, was abundantly apparent

SECTION IV-_General Results of his entire Whale-fishi+ng Adventures_

In conclusion of these records of my Father's Arctic enterprises, coeneral_ coain find thereat and pre-eminent The materials for these comparisons, onsues:-

TABULAR VIEW OF THE SUCCESSES OF THE LATE W SCORESBY, ESQ, IN HIS ADVENTURES IN THE GREENLAND WHALE-FISHERY

--------------------------------------------------------- Cargo obtained

No of +----------------------- Voyage Year shi+p commanded Whales Tuns of Oil

--------+------+-----------------+---------+------------- 1 1791 Henrietta clean nil

2 1792 ” 18 112 3 1793 ” 6 90 4 1794 ” 6 120 5 1795 ” 25 143 6 1796 ” 9 112 7 1797 ” 16 152 8 1798 Dundee 36 198 9 1799 ” 12 144 10 1800 ” 3 45 11 1801 ” 23 225 12 1802 ” 20 200 13 1803 Resolution 13 164 14 1804 ” 33 188 15 1805 ” 30 196 16 1806 ” 24 216 17 1807 ” 13 213 18 1808 ” 27 210 19 1809 ” 26 216 20 1810 ” 28 214 21 1811 John 16 200 22 1812 ” 25 198 23 1813 ” 28 190 24 1814 ” 35 249 - 1815 [on shore] - - 25 1816 Mars 20 170 26 1817 ” 6 82 - 1818 [on shore] - - 27 1819 Fame 10 120 28 1820 ” 10 184 291821 ” 9 143 30 1822 ” 6 70 ---------------------------------------------------------

The total nues in which he held the command in the fishery, frooes obtained, under this personal guidance, coreater number,” says his friend Mr Drew, ”than has fallen to the share of any other individual in Europe,”-with that of many thousands of seals, some hundreds of walruses, very many narwals, and probably not less than sixty bears The quantity of oil yielded by this produce was 4664 tuns, of whalebone about 240 tons weight, besides the skins of the seals, bears, and walruses taken

Froes, of eighteen whales, yielding 1555 tuns of oil per voyage; or, oe, which, for reasons stated in Chapter II, ought fairly to be excluded, the average would be 184 whales, yielding 160 tuns of oil for each voyage

In coe of the British whale-fishery, this, no doubt, stands singularly high But not having the eneral couidance, which, froed therein, will, it is believed, afford a fair estimate

And this section of the fishery, we find, coe of twenty-two shi+ps annually, the cargoes of which, during that period, averaged 845 tuns of oil a voyage per shi+p

Coe was almost double the quantity!

It is not possible, because of the lack of accounts as to several of my Father's shi+ps, to ascertain, except proximately, the actual value of the produce now determined; but, from the variety of information now beforea considerable es, I have been enabled to calculate the gross proceeds of the whole thirty years adventures, in money, at 196,591_l_, or possibly a full 200,000_l_!

The proportion of expenses due to these enterprises and results may, in like manner, be proximately calculated For, if the Hull fishery, with little more than half of my Father's success, were fairly remunerative,-as it obviously must have been to induce perseverance therein,-then, the residue of his catch above that average may, mainly, be considered as clear profit; for, in such estimate, we set off the _additional_ expenses incurred where there is superior success against the actual re profits in the inferior success On this estimate we should have the value of, say, seventy-five tuns of oil and four tons of whalebone for the clear profit; or, out of a gross annual produce of the value of 6600_l_, a residue calculated to yield about 3000_l_ a voyage profit[N]

This esti the first voyage, 87,000_l_ for the amount of this individual skill and enterprise, divided, in the shape of profits, aeneral enterprise! On another ground of calculation, guided by the proportion of expenses in certain known cases, the expenses were taken at two-fifths the produce, which would reduce the profits (probably too low) to about 80,000_l_

In setting forth this result as very remarkable, it is with reference, it should be observed, to the instru for a sureater than this, to be realized in coenerally e capital employed in the business But here, under the one individual direction, there was but one shi+p e an investment of capital of fro 9000_l_, and this sh a series of about thirty years, no less a su at the rate of 33? per cent per annum on the capital employed

SECTION V-_Unusual Capture of Walruses_

This incident, which belongs to the period of the Faeneral series ofof novelty in the modern whale-fishery