An Account of the Arctic Regions, with a history and description of the Northern Whale-Fishery

Front matter

Conserved under the Adopt a Book Appeal In memory of (Brian Toft a member of the Jseadingtey Literature group »N ACCOUNT OF THE ARCTIC REGIONS, AND OF THE WHALE-FISHERY. // I bpnrdb. '. DA >' c K I , W II.. I- K PIS I AN ACCOUNT OF THE ARCTIC REGIONS, WITH A HISTORY AND DESCRIPTION OF THE NORTHERN WHALE-FISHERY. LY W. SCORESBY Jim. F-.R. S.E. ILLUSTRATED BY TWENTY-FOUR ENGRAVINGS. IN TWO VOLUMES. VOL. II. EDINBURGH : PRINTED FOR ARCHIBALD CONSTABLE AND CO. EDINBURGH: AND HURST, ROBINSON AND CO. CHEAPSIDE, LONDON. 1820. P. JVet'K, Printer, CONTENTS of VOL. II. NORTHERN WHALE-FISHERIES, $c. Page CHAP. I. — Chronological History of the Northern Whale-Fisheries, - 1 CHAP. II. — Comparative View of the Origin, Progress, and Present State of the Whale- Fisheries of (hffereixt-£ujQpean .Nations, 96 Sect. 1.

Whale-Fishery of thejfcritish, V; - 98 2. Whale-Fishes * of tfteÆrkiSlji'i.Colohies in America, * - - 134 3. Whale-Fishery of the Dutch, - 138 4. Whale-Fishery of the Spaniards, French, Danes, Germans, Norwegians, Prussians and Swedes, - 161 CHAP. III.— Situation of the early Whale- Fishery, — Manner in which it was conducted, — and the Alterations which have subsequently taken place, - - 172 CHAP. IV.— Account of the Modern Whale- Fishery, as conducted at Spitzbergen, 187 Sect. 1. Description of a well-adapted Greenland Ship, with tlie additional strengthenings reQuisite for resisting the Concussions of the Ice, - - 187 2. Proceedings on board of a Greenland Ship, from putting to sea to her arrival on the Coast of Spitzbergen, - - VI CONTENTS OF VOLUME SECOND. Page Sect. 3. Observations on the Fishery of different latitudes and seasons, and under different circumstances of ice, wind and weather, 207 4.

Description of the Boats and principal Instruments used in the capture ofthe Whale, 221 5. Preparations for the Fishery, - 230 6. Proceedings on Fishing Stations, - 236 7- Proceedings in capturing the Whale, - 240 8. Alterations produced in the manner of conducting the Fishery, by peculiar circumstances of Situation and Weather, - 257 a. Pack-fishing, - ib. b. Field-fishing, - 259 c. Fishing in crowded Ice, or in open Packs, 266 _.. Bay-Ice-fishing, -. 268 e. Fishing in Storms, - 272 /. Fishing in Foggy Weather, - 273 9. Anecdotes, illustrative of peculiarities in the Whale-Fishery, - 276 10. Proceedings after a Whale is killed, - 292 11. Process of Flensing, - 298 12. Process of Making-ofF, - 304 13. Laws ofthe Whale-fishery, - 312 14. Remarks on the Causes on which Success in the Whale-fishery depends, - 333 15.

Appendix

. Page No. I. — Abstract of the Acts of Parliament at present in force for the Regulation of the Whale-fisheries of Greenland and Davis' Strait, 491 II.— 1. Some Remarks on the most advantageous Dimensions of a Whale- Ship, 2. Additional Notices respecting the Fortifications of a Greenland Ship, 506 508 III. — Schedule of the Principal Fishing Apparatus necessary for a Ship, of 300 tons burden or upwards, intended to be employed in the Greenland Trade, 509 IV — Manner of Mustering the Crew of Whale- Ships, with some account of the Affidavits, Certificates, &c. required by Law, V.— Account of a Trial respecting the right of the 512 Ship Experiment, to a Whale struck by one of the Crew of the Neptune ; Gale v. Wilkinson, 518 VI. — Signals used in the Whale-fishery, 521 1. General Signals, 2.

Particular Signals, 522 524 VII. — Account of some Experiments for determining the Relations between Weight and Measure, in certain quantities of Whale-Oil, 525 VIII. — Some account of the Whale Fishery conducted in the Southern Seas, 529 IX. — Observations and Deductions on the Anomaly in the Variation of the Magnetic Needle, as observed on Ship-board, 537 X. Explanation of the Plates, 552 Index, ACCOUNT OF THE NORTHERN WHALE-FISHERIES,

Chapter I. Chronological History Of The Northern Whale-fisheries

In the early ages of the world, when beasts of prey began to multiply and annoy the vocations of man, the personal danger to which he must have been occasionally exposed, would oblige him to contrive some means of defence. For this end he would naturally be induced, both to prepare weapons, and also to preconceive plans for resisting the disturbers of his peace. His subsequent rencounters with beasts of prey would therefore be more frequently successful ; not only in effectually repelling them when they should attack him, but also in some in stances in accomplishing their destruction. By exr vol. «. A WHALE-FISHERY. perience, he would gradually discover more safe and effectual methods of resisting and conquering his irrational enemies ; his general success would be get confidence, and that confidence at length would lead him to pursue in his turn the former objects of his dread, and thus change his primitive defen sive act of self-preservation into an offensive operation, forming a novel, interesting, and noble re creation.

Hence we can readily and satisfactorily trace to the principle of necessity, the adroitness and courage evidenced by the unenlightened nations of the world, in their successful attacks on the most formidable of the brute creation ; and hence we can conceive, that necessity may impel the indolent to activity, and the coward to actions which would not disgrace the brave. If we attempt to apply this principle to the origin of the schemes instituted by man, for subduing the cetaceous tribe of the animal creation, it may not at the first sight appear referable to the exi gence of necessity. For man to attempt to sub due an animal whose powers and ferocity he regard ed with superstitious dread, and the motion of which he conceived would produce a vortex sufficient to swallow up his boat, or any other vessel in which he might approach it, — an animal of at least six hundred times his own bulk, a stroke of the tail of which might hurl his boat into the air, or dash it and himself to pieces, — an animal inhabiting at the CHRONOLOGICAL HISTORY. 3 same time an element in which he himself could not subsist ; — for man to attempt to subdue such an animal under such circumstances, seems one of the most hazardous enterprises, of which the inter course with the irrational world could possibly ad mit.

And yet this animal is successfully attacked, and seldom escapes when once he comes within reach of the darts of his assailer. In tracing from a principle of necessity the pro gress of such a difficult and hazardous undertaking, from its first conception in the mind to its full ac complishment ; in the existing deficiency of authen tic records, much must be left to speculation. The following view may at least be considered as plau sible. It seems to be the opinion of most writers on the subject of the Whale-Fishery, that the Biscayans were the first who exercised their courage in waging a Avar of death with the whales, and succeeded in their capture. This opinion, though, perhaps, not correct, as will hereafter appear, is yet a sufficient foundation for investigating the probable origin of this remarkable employment.

These people, like the inhabitants of almost all sea-coasts, were em ployed, principally, in the occupation of fishing. A species of whale, probably the Balæna rostrata, was a frequent visitor to the shores of France and Spain. In pursuit of herrings and other small fishes, these whales would produce a serious destruc- A$ WHALE-FISHERY. tion among the nets of the fishermen of Biscay and Gascony. Concern for the preservation of their nets, which probably constituted their principal pro perty, would naturally suggest the necessity of dri ving these intruding monsters from their coasts. With this view, the use of fire-arms, or, supposing the capture of these animals by the Basques and Bis cayans to have been effected prior to the invention of gunpowder (a. D. 1330), which was probably the case, the use of arrows and spears would naturally be resorted to.

On shooting at the whales, either by means of the bow or the musket, they would doubtless be surprised to find, that, instead of their be ing the ferocious, formidable, and dangerous animals they had conceived, they were timid and in offensive. This observation would have a tendency to supply them with such additional confidence and courage, that the most adventurous, from motives of emulation, the prospect of profit, or even from a principle of fool-hardiness, might be induced to approach some individual of the species, and even dart their spears into its body. Perceiving that it evinced no intention of resistance, but that, on the contrary, it immediately fled with precipitation to the bottom of the sea, and that, on its return to the surface, it was quite exhausted, and apparently in a dying state ; they might conceive the possibility of entangling some of the species, by means of a cord attached to a barbed arrow or spear.

If, to the CHRONOLOGICAL HISTORY. 5 end of this cord they attached one of the buoys used in their common fishing occupations, it would point out the place of the wounded animal, fatigue it in its motions, and would possibly goad it on to produce such a degree of exhaustion, that it might fall an easy prey to these adventurous fishermen. One of these animals being thus captured, and its value ascertained, the prospect of emolument would be sufficient to establish a fishery of the cetaceous tribe, and lead to all the beneficial effects which have in modern times resulted. Historians, in general, it has been observed, have given to the Biscayans the credit of having first suc ceeded in capturing the whale upon the high sea. Those authorities, indeed, may be considered as un questionable, which inform us, that the Basques and Biscayans, so early as the year 1575, exposed them selves to the perils of a distant navigation, with a view to measure their strength with the whales, in the midst of an element constituting the natural habitation of these enormous animals ; that the English in 1594, fitted an expedition for Cape Bre ton, intended for the fishery of the whale and the walrus {seahorse), pursued the walrus-fishing in succeeding years in high northern latitudes, and in 1611 first attacked the whale near the shores of Spitzbergen ; and that the Hollanders, and subse quently, other nations of Europe, became participa- WHALE-FISHERY. tors in the risk and advantages of these northern ex peditions.

Thus, according to these writings, the Basques and Biscayans, then the English, and af terwards the Dutch, were the nations who first prac tised the fishery for the whale. Some researches on the origin of this fishery, carried on in the northern seas, however, will be sufficient to rectify the error of these conclusions, by proving, that the whale-fishery by Europeans may be traced as far back, at least, as the ninth century *. Oppien, in his treatise de PiscatU, has left some details of the ancient whale-fishery, which, however, we shall pass over ; because he seems to refer prin cipally, if not altogether, to the smaller species of whales of the genus ADelphinus. We, therefore, go on to authority which is more respectable. The earliest authenticated account of a fishery for whales, is probably that contained in Ohthere's Voyage by Alfred the Great.

This voyage was un dertaken about the year 890 by Ohthere a native of Halgoland, in the diocese of Dronthein, a per son of considerable wealth in his own country, from motives of mere curiosity, at his own risk, and un der his own personal superintendence. His enterprise was communicated by the navigator himself to King Alfred, who preserved it, and has handed it * NoEt. A. D. 890.] CRONOLOGICAL history. 7 down to us in his translation of Orosius*. On this occasion, Ohthere sailed to the northward along the coast of Norway, round the North Cape, to the entrance of the White Sea. Three days after leaving Dronthein or Halgoland, " he was come as far " towards the north, as commonly the whale-hunt " ers used to travel f ." Here Ohthere evidently al ludes to the hunters of the walrus or seahorse ; but subsequently, he speaks pointedly as to a fishery for some species of cetaceous animals, having been at that period practised by the Norwegians.

He told the King, that with regard to the common kind of whales, the place of most and best hunting for them * The work of Orosius is a summary of ancient history, ending with the year 417, at which period he lived. He was a Spaniard and a Christian. To this translation, Alfred added, of his own composition, a Sketch of Germany, and the valuable Voyages of Ohthere and Wulfstan, the former towards the North Pole, the latter into the Baltic Sea. The principal MS. of Alfred's Orosius, which is very ancient and well written, is preserved in the Cotton Library, Tiberius, b. 1. In 1773, the Honourable Daines Barrington published the An glo-Saxon Orosius, with an English translation. His MS. was a, transcript formerly made of this. — Turner's Anglo- Saxons, vol. ii. p. 282, 283, and 284. t Hackluyt's Voyages, vol. i. p. 4.

Turner's History of the Anglo-Saxons, vol. ii. p. 288.-296, reads, " Three days was *' he as far north as the whale hunters farthest go." — ** Da " ves he sva feor nord sva sva hocel huntan fyrrest farad." WHALE-FISHERY. was in his own country ; whereof some be 48 ells of length, and some 50, of which sort, he affirmed, that he himself was one of the six who in the space of three (txvo) days, killed threescore *. From this it would appear, that the whale-fishery was not only prosecuted by the Norwegians so early as the ninth century, but that Ohthere himself had personal knowledge of it- But when he affirms, that him self, with five men, captured 60 of these whales in two days, when it is well known that fifty men, un der the most favourable circumstances, and in the present improved state of the fishery, could not have taken one-half, or even one-third of that number in the same space of time, of any of the larger species of whales, — we are naturally led to question the authenticity of the account, as far as relates to this transaction ; and in questioning one part, throw a shade of doubt over the whole narrative.

As, how ever, the voyage of Ohthere is a document of much value in history, both in respect to the matter of it, and the high character of the author by whom it has been preserved, it were well to examine care fully this circumstance, before we decide on a point so important. Hitherto I have followed Hackluyt ; but if we refer to the original, we shall find, that Hackluyt himself, is probably, in this instance, the • Hackluyt's Voyages, vol. i. p. 4. 890.] CHRONOLOGICAL HISTORY. 9 occasion of the apparent inconsistency. Turner, in his " History of the Anglo-Saxons," gives a copy in the original language of this part of Alfred's Orosius, taken from the principal manuscript preserved in the Cotton Library. In reference to this passage, where the remarkable exploit of Ohthere is recorded, he ob serves, that the Saxon words of this sentence have perplexed the translators.

He has ventured to give it some meaning, by supposing, that syxa is an er ror in the manuscript, and should be f æa ; by which alteration the passage reads, " On his own " land are the best whales hunted ; they are 48 ells " long, and the largest 50 ells. There, he said, " that of (fyæa) some fish, he slew sixty in two " days *." Thus, the whale here referred to, might, * The words of the original are, " Ac on his agnum lande '" is se bets'ta hwœl huntath tha beoth eahta and feowertiges " elna lange, tha mæstan fiftiges elna lange, thara he sæde " thæt he syxa (or fyxa) sum of sloge syxtig on twam dag " num." Turner's Anglo-Saxons, vol. ii. p. 292. note. The Honourable Daines Barrington, in the account of Ohthere's Voyage, published in his " Miscellanies," translates tlie passage, containing his exploit in the whale-fishery, in the words, " That he had killed some six ; and sixty in two days *" but, conscious of the unintelligibleness of the sentence, he ob serves in a note, that " Syxa," he conceives, " should be a se " cond time repeated here, instead of syxtig or sixty ; it would " then only be asserted, that six had been taken in two days, " which is much more probable than sixty."

(p. 462.) "WHALE-FISHERY. possibly, be that species of Delphinus, so frequent ly driven on shore in great numbers at Orkney, Shetland, and Iceland, in the present age ; where, in this way, a few small boats have been known to capture even a larger number than Ohthere speaks of, in one day. If so, though it does not contradict or explain away the fact, of larger whales having been likewise hunted and captured, it removes the objec tion as to the improbability of the exploit recorded, and enables us to adhere with greater confidence to our authority of the great antiquity of the whale fishery by the Norwegians. In various ancient authors, we have accounts of whales as an object of pursuit ; and by some nations held in high estimation as an article of food. Pas sing over the notices of these animals by the classic authors as objects of peculiar dread, or as prognostics of peculiar events, I proceed to the consideration of those which mention the whale in the way of fishery or capture, as my more immediate object *. * For the following researches relative to the ancient history of the Whale-fishery, up to the middle of the sixteenth cen tury, I am chiefly indebted to a " Memoire sur l'Antiquite de " la Peche de la Baleine par les Nations Europeennes," by S. B. J. Noel, Paris, 1795, 12mo.

The greater part of the references I have compared with the originals ; and where the spirit of the language has been altered by the translations, I have endeavoured to correct it. 1100.-1200.] CHRONOLOGICAL HISTORY. 11 A Danish work *, which, there is reason to suppose, was written about the middle of the twelfth century, but, at any rate, of a date much earlier than that which we assign to the first fishery of the Basques, declares, that the Icelanders, about this period, were in the habit of pursuing the whales, which they killed on the shore, and that these islanders subsisted themselves on the flesh of some one of the species f . And Langebek does not hesitate to assert i;, that the fishery of the whale (hval fangst) was practised in the most northern countries of Europe, in the ninth century.

Whether the Normans, in the different invasions which they made on France, might have carried the method of harpooning and capturing the whale thither, or whether these processes, as I have before suggested, were known and practised by the fisher men inhabiting the Bay of Biscav before their in cursions, is uncertain ; nevertheless it would ap pear, that the French were not unacquainted with the business at a very remote period. Under the 3 Kongs Skugg-sio, 121. + The whale here referred to, is probably the species of Delphinus, usually called Bottle-nose, which is yet occasion ally driven on shore by the inhabitants of Shetland, Orkney, Feroe, and Iceland. % Langebek, Rer. Dan. hist. med. œvi, ii. 108. AVHALE-FISHERY. date of 875, in a book, entitled the Translation and Miracles of St Vaast * mention is made of the whale-fishery on the French coast.

In the Life of Si Arnould, bishop of Soissons f, a work of the eleventh century, particular mention is made of the fishery by the harpoon, on the occasion of a miracle performed by the Saint. Some Flemish fisher men had wounded, with strokes of their lances, a large whale, the capture of which they believed to be certain, when suddenly, regaining his strength, the animal struggled so violently, that he was on the point of escaping from them. At this critical juncture, they considered their only resource was to invoke the Saint, say their legendaire, and pro mise him a part of the fish, if he would be propitious in assisting them to subdue it. The offering was happily accepted ; and, to their joy, the same instant, the whale is said to have suffered them to approach it, and without further resistance was killed, and drawn to the shore at the will of the fishers.

At this period, we have different authorities for supposing, that a whale-fishery was carried on near the coasts of Normandy and Flanders. We find, in the eleventh century, a donation of William the Con queror, to the Convent of the Holy Trinity of Caen, * " Translation et des Miracles de Saint Vaast." + " Vie de Saint Arnould, Eveque de Soissons." 1145.] CHRONOLOGICAL HISTORY. 13 of the tithe of whales captured at or brought to Dive *•; and in a bull of Pope Eugene III. in 1145, we find again a donation in favour of the church of Coutances, of the tithe of the tongues of whales f taken at Merry, a gift which was confirmed to this church by an act of Philip, King of France, in 1319- Though there seems nothing in the words of these acts against the idea, that the whales here spoken of were fished for in the sea, but, on the con trary, they rather convey a belief, that the Normans, familiarised in the north with these hardy enter prises, never hesitated the repetition of them in the Channel, with a superiority of means and of courage derived from experience ; yet, as hitherto, there is nothing decisive as to a fishery having been actual ly carried on by the French, I do not feel myself competent to speak positively to the point. * " Decimam Divæ, — de balenis et de sale," &c. Gall.

Christ. xi. inslrum. 59. + " Apud Merri, decimas linguarum cenarum quæ " capiuntur inter Tar et Tarel fluvios, &e. — decima lignarum " crassipiscis totius rippariœ maris," &c. Gal. Christ, xi. instr. 240.-273. There are two serious errors in the text of these two charters. In the first we must read cetarum, instead of cenarum ; and, in the second, linguarum, instead of lignarum, for establishing the sense, without which they will be unintelli gible. These charters likewise indicate, that the people of Normandy were in the habit of eating the tongues of whales. WHALE-FISHERY. The great D'Aussy, who has given a valuable work on the private life of the French*, quotes a manuscript of the thirteenth century, where mention is made of the flesh of the whale being used for food. He also quotes a fables, tending to prove the same point ; and as he makes it appear, that the flesh, and particularly the tongue, was publicly sold in the markets of Bayonne, Cibourre, and Beariz, and that it was esteemed as a delicacy ; it is pre sumed that it was sold in its fresh state, and that they took the whales at a little distance from the coast, in the manner practised in Normandy.

In support of this opinion, it may be observed, that Edward III. King of England, had a revenue of 6/. Sterling, upon every whale taken and brought into the harbour of Beariz ; which, in 1338, was so considerable, that it became the subject of petition by Peter de Puyannc, Admiral of the English fleet stationed at Bayonne, and it seems was awarded to him, in consideration of his services in the capacity of Admiral, in which he was employ edt- * " La Vie privet des Francais." + " Bataille de Chaniage et de Careme ;" — *• La Vie privee," Ike. vol. ii. 66. 68. Rymcr's " Fœdera." Tom. v. p. 46. 12. Edw. 1315.] CHRONOLOGICAL HISTORY. 15 Whilst the Norwegians, Flemings, French, and probably the Spaniards of Biscay, seem to have thus early subjected to their necessities or ambi tion, the largest animals in the creation, the Eng lish, it is not to be expected, remained long be hind.

We possess, indeed, few documents, which relate to any very early attempts to capture the whale by the English ; and those we have, leave us rather in doubt whether the whales therein re ferred to, were such as were run on shore by accident, or whales attacked and subdued upon the high sea. By an act of Edward II. * a. d. 1315, in an agreement with Yolendis de Soliere, La dy of Belino, he reserves to himself the right of all whales cast by chance upon the shore ; and, by a subsequent act, (a. d. 1324.) the wreck of whales throughout the realm, or whales or great sturgeons taken in the sea, or elsewhere, within the realm, excepting certain privileged places, were to belong to the Kings. Another * Rymer's Fœdera, torn. iii. p. 514. and 515. An. 8. Edward II. t " Item habet warectum maris per totum regnum, bale " nas et sturgiones captos in mari vel alibi infra regnum, ex " ceptis quibusdam locis privilegiatis per Reges."

Cotton. MS. 17. Edward II. c. 11. WHALE-FISHERY. act recorded by Dugdale *, expresses, that Henry IV. gave, in 1415, to the Church of Rochester, the tithe of whales taken along the shore of that bishoprick. The whale-fishers of the sixteenth century, who most distinguished themselves by their habitual success in capturing those formidable creatures which constituted the objects of their pursuit, were the inhabitants of the shores of the Bay of Biscay. On the French side, the fishers of Cape Breton, of Plech or Old Boucaut, the Basques of Beariz, of Gattari, St Jean-de-Luz, of Cibourre, &c, and the Biscayans, on the side of Spain, are all un derstood to have been actively engaged in at tacking the whales, whenever they appeared in the Bay of Biscay f ; and with almost uninter rupted success.

The animal, however, captured by these people, was not the great Mysticetus or common whale, but a species of Fin-whale, probably the Balæna rostrata of Linnæus, as ap pears both by the testimony of the Dutch t, and by * " Henricus rex Anglorum, Anselmo Archiepiscopo, &e. " Sciatis nos dedisse S. Andreas de Rovecestra, &c. — Et deci " mam Balenarum quæ captæ fuerint in Episcopatu Rolen- •'' si." — Monas. Angl. i. 30. t Noel, Memoire, &c. p. 11. t " Nieuwe Beschry ving der Walvisvangst en Haringvissch* " ry," vol i. 1500,-1600.] CHRONOLOGICAL HISTORY. 17 the known habits of the common whale, which has never yet been seen in the European seas, as far as I can learn, but only in or very near the regions of ice. Besides, the food of the mysticetus does not seem to occur in the necessary profusion except in the Polar Seas.

The fin-whales, on the contrary, which feed in general on herrings and other white fish, find large supplies of food in most parts of the North Sea and Atlantic Ocean. At first, these animals used to present themselves in the Bay of Biscay, at a certain season every year, when they were attacked by the Biscayans. At length, however, when the capture of them became a particular object of industry, and the whales were disturbed and became less abundant, with a desire, also, it appears, of enjoying a more uninterrupted fishery, the Biscayans insensibly became bolder, and being good navigators, anticipated their return by pursuing them when they left the Bay, until they ultimately approached the coasts of Iceland, Green land and Newfoundland*. The Icelanders, now at tracted by a prospect of a new branch of commerce, fitted out vessels, and uniting their energies with those of the Biscayans, conducted the whale-fishery on so extensive a scale, that, towards the end ii * Bcschryving der Walvisvangst, vol. i, p. I. WHALE-FISHERY. of the sixteenth century, the number of vessels an nually employed by the united nations, amounted to a fleet of 50 or 60 sail*.

The first attempt by the English to capture the whale, of which we have any satisfactory account, was made in the year 1594. Different ships were fitted out for Cape Breton, at the entrance of the Gulf of St Lawrence, part of which were destined for the walrus-fishery, and the remainder for the whale fishery. The Grace of Bristol, one of these vessels, took on board 700 or 800 whale-fins or laminæ of whalebone, which they found in the Bay of St George, where two large Biscayan fishermen had been wrecked three years before. This is the first notice I have met with of the importation of this article into Great Britain f. However doubtful it might have appeared at one time, whether the English or the Dutch were the first discoverers of Spitzbergen, the claim of the English to the discovery and first practice of the whale-fishery on the coasts of these islands, stands undisputed f.. * Beschryving, vol. i. p. 1. t Hackluyt's Voyages, vol. iii. p. 241.

J The Dutch allow that the English preceded them to the Greenland or Spitsbergen whale-fishery, four years.—Beschry ving der Walv. vol. i. p. 2. 1550.-1600.] CHRONOLOGICAL HISTORY. 19 Out of the several attempts which had been made to find a passage on the north of Europe or Ameri ca to the East Indies, arose the Archangel trade ; for the prosecution of which, the Russia Company was established under an advantageous charter. The active prosecution of this trade, and the annual fishery about the North Cape and Cherry Island, for the walrus, so inured the English to these bois terous and frigid regions, that, on the retreat of the objects of their pursuit, they extended their voyage (which had usually terminated at Cherry Island) to the northward, along the coast of Spitzbergen, where they resigned the capture of the walrus and seal, for the more important fishery of the whale.