Democratic Sentinel, Volume 16, Number 36, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 23 September 1892 — WE LED THE WHOLE WORLD. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

WE LED THE WHOLE WORLD.

r«ct» Recalled by‘ the Exhibition of the Whaling- Ship Progres* at Chicago. No more fitting or appropriate exhibition will constitute a part of the great World’s Fair, It is believed, than that of the old New Bedford whaler Progress. It will give the rising generation an idea of what whale-fishing really is and to recall to those of more mature years an enterprise in which fifty to sixty years ago America led the world. When, in 1835, the combined whaling fleet of the Eastern world numbered less than five hundred, the American seekers for the boss of the seas were

far in excess of this number, and gave employment to more than one hundred thousand men. The cash capital, as represented by the American whaling industries in those days, was away up iu the millions, and the investment paid a good interest. The carcass of a whale would yield from seven to eight hundred.dollars, and, as the average take of the vessels engaged in the trade was from eighteen to twenty whales, the returns were very satisfactory. The industry declined, however, as the whales became less and less numerous, and finally famous old ships like the Polly Bocket, the Gibson, the Ice King and the Progress were put in the coastiug trade or leased to Nova Scotiqp mackerel fishers, .and tbte gh»ry of Old Nantucket.and New Bedford faded beyond repair. ' Vessels of the Progress build are no longer used by whalers, for they could hardly compete with the steam whalers, of which the Thetis, Bear, and Alert are the most approved types. Whaling to-day, however, what there is of it, is combined with sealing and other fisheries, and the capture of one of these monsters of the deep is the exception rather than the rule. On the Pacific coast there are several points where shore whaling stations are maintained pnd where, as the whales go up and down the coast to and from the Arctic seas, the catches are sometimes considerable. The industry can hardly be called a distinctive one, however, any more than can that of the men who follow the “combination fisheries.” No whales are found in the Arctic in the winter 1 , because they cannot find breathing space, so closely are the waters frozen over. It is said that many whales are sacrificed every year by being caught in the ice and being unable when they come up to breathe to break it. The whale is found all along the California coast during some of the winter months, but their breeding grounds are in the lower latitudes, as at Magdalena Bay, and in the shallow bays of the LoWfer Mcktcan coast. The right whale hunts his summer feeding grounds in high latitudes and seeks out breeding grounds in low latitudes. The American whaling industry, however, always depended upon the success of the vessels, like" the Progress, therein engaged, and had no subsidies or bounties from royal treasuries to encourage it, so as the mammoth declined, the industry declined with it, and to-day thqre is but little, if any, use for steam whalers, let alone such old-time rovers as the Progress.

THE SHIP PROGRESS.