1 The Fraternity of Masters and Seamen in Dundee Archivist s Discoveries and Stories March 2016 #04/16 19 th April 1880 FAILURE OF THE GREENLAND SEAL FISHING Telegrams were received in Dundee from Lerwick intimating the arrival at that port of the Dundee sealer Nova Zembla, Captain Guy, with 36 tons of oil. The Jan Mayen (Deuchars) was reported with 40 tons, and the other Dundee ships with cargoes of from 25 to 40 tons each. Rough weather, it was stated, prevailed at Greenland during the fishing. Our Lerwick correspondent, telegraphing last night, gives the catch of the Nova Zembla at 25 tons and states that her propeller was broken the second day of the sealing. Evidently the fishing is a failure. Assuming that the catches are not increased, they will be much below those of previous years, and their money value will not pay the expenses of the voyage. The new steamer, Resolute, Captain Yule, left St John s yesterday on her second sealing voyage. A telegram from Halifax, dated Monday, says:- Later accounts from Newfoundland state that seal fishing is improving. 21 April The Dundee steamer Jan Mayen (Captain Deuchars) arrived at Lerwick from the Greenland seal fishing. She is the most successful of the Dundee fleet, having obtained a cargo of 50 tons of oil. Captain Deuchars reports that all the vessels left the ice on the 15 th, and that the catches of the fleet are as follow:- Jan Mayen (Deuchars) Erik (Walker) Polynia (Kilgour) Active (Fairweather) Intrepid (Nicoll) Victor (Davidson) Jan Mayen (Salmon) Nova Zembla (Guy) Total 50 tons 40 tons 40 tons 40 tons 35 tons 35 tons 35 tons 26 tons 301 tons
2 Last year eleven ships from Dundee were engaged at the Greenland seal fishing and their united catch was 408 tons. This season the fleet has been reduced to eight steamers. Captain Deuchars reports the cargoes of the Peterhead vessels as follow:- Eclipse, about 35 tons; Hope and Windward, 30 tons each. The foreign ships are reported:- Miolner, 2500 seals; Capella, 2900; Gysir, 2700; Ice Bear, 2700; Harals Haalfages, 1700; Nordlsea, 2500; Magdalina, 3500; Diana, 2800; Cape Nor, 2500; Albert, 2800; Norden, 1100; Hecla, 3000 average of 35 tons of oil each. 22 April The Intrepid arrived at Lerwick 34 tons 2700 seals reports Active 40, Victor 35, Jan Mayen 30. Left 6 am 22 April. THE GREENLAND SEALERS Lerwick, Thursday. The Intrepid arrived here at six o clock this morning from the Greenland seal fishing with thirty tons of oil. After landing the Shetland portion of her crew she proceeded for Dundee. Captain Nicoll reports that the rest of the Dundee fleet were on their way home. The weather here is fine. 22 April. THE ERIK AT LERWICK The steamer, Erik, Captain Walker, arrived at Lerwick this afternoon from Greenland with 3700 seals, which are calculated to yield 48 tons of oil. The Erik is to sail this evening and is expected to reach Dundee tomorrow night. 22 April. THE POLYNIA The Polynia, Captain Kilgour, arrived at Lerwick at four o clock this afternoon. Her catch is equal to 42 tons of oil. She is to leave for Dundee this evening. 23 April. ARRIVAL OF JAN MAYEN PROPOSED ALTERATION OF CLOSE TIME The Jan Mayen, Captain Deuchars, the first of the Greenland sealing fleet, arrived in the river this morning, and was docked in Dundee this afternoon. She has been the most successful vessel this season, her catch consisting of 3,700 young and old seals, being calculated to yield about 50 tons of oil. The Jan Mayen left Dundee on the 4 th of March and called in at Lerwick to engage her full complement of hands. Lerwick was left on the 11 th of March, but the weather became so stormy that the vessel had to put into Tofta Voe, where she lay till the 13 th, when the passage northward was resumed. Comparatively fine weather was thereafter experienced and the ice was reached on the 17 th, about 150 miles north and east of the island of Jan Mayen. Skirting along the edge of the pack, the first signs of the neighbourhood of the main body of seals were discovered on the 19 th and by cutting through the ice the vessel reached the seals on the 20 th. The Nova Zembla and Intrepid followed, and the same day the Erik, Active and Hope, and several foreign ships arrived. By the following day thirteen steamers had taken up positions round the seals to wait the expiry of the close time, and the other vessels subsequently arrived. Judging from the extent of ice covered by the seals at the time, Captain Deuchars reckoned that there would be at least 200,000; and the fact that the total catch of all the ships engaged at Greenland this season amounts to only about 60,000 is attributed to the operation of the close time.
3 On the 20 th of March, when the Jan Mayen first reached the pack, many of the young seals were five or six days old, so that by 3 rd April, when the close time expired, ther greater number had taken to the water. It was the general opinion of almost all of the captains of the home and foreign ships that the close time should expire about the 27 th of March, and we understand a representation on the subject is to be made to the various Governments interested in the fishing, for the purpose of getting their consent to the date being altered. Had the sealing begun on the 27 th March this year the whole of the ships would have secured large cargoes, as the young seals could have been clubbed before they took to the water. As it was, the greater number of seals had to be shot. On the first day of the sealing the crew of the Jan Mayen took 1500 on board, on the second day between 500 and 600, and on the following days smaller numbers were gleaned. The daily catch greatly depended on the state of the weather. It would sometimes happen, for instance, that scarcely a seal would be visible in the morning, but if the sun shone out in the forenoon thousands of young seals would be found basking on the ice, and then a considerable number generally fell to the marksmen s bullets. The seals were so old and took so readily to the water that the men could scarcely get a chance to club them, and the state of the ice also retarded operations, as it had been so much broken by a heavy swell which set in from the sea that the crews had the utmost difficulty in making their way over it. After the greater number of the seals that could be seen had been picked up the Jan Mayen steamed to the northward in the hope of falling in with a fresh pack, and the crew were successful in capturing between 200 and 300 old seals, which added materially to the amount of oil, the animals being in splendid condition. By the 15 th April the total catch of 3,700 had been taken on board, and as there was no prospect of adding to the cargo The Jan Mayen left the fishing ground and reached Lerwick on Wednesday morning. A heavy gale from the south blew all that day, and in the evening when the wind moderated the Jan Mayen left Lerwick and reached the Tay about six o clock this morning. Captain Deuchars report of the catch of other ships is as follows:- Seals Tuns Polynia (Kilgour) 3200 42 Erik (Walker) 3700 40 Active (Fairweather) 3000 40 Jan Mayen (Salmon) 2500 36 Victor (Davidson) 2800 35 Intrepid (Nicoll) 2600 35 Nova Zembla (Guy) 2000 26 The Jan Mayen has brought home six live hooded seals and two harps. (Harp = Harp or Saddleback Seal I believe it has no ears. Ed.) 24 th April. The steamers Intrepid (Nicholl), Erik (Walker), Polynia (Kilgour) and Nova Zembla (Guy) arrived at Dundee this morning from the Greenland seal fishing. The Intrepid, Captain Nicholl, was berthed in Victoria Dock about one o clock this morning. She has brought 2700 young and old seals, which are calculated to yield 34 tons of oil. Sealing was
4 commenced on the 3 rd April and the Intrepid bore up for home on the 15 th. Captain Nicoll reports that the voyage has been a comparatively uneventful one. The crew enjoyed excellent health and no accident occurred. About two o clock the Erik also berthed in Victoria Dock. The vessel reached the pack of seals on the 20 th March and Captain Walker is of opinion that at that time some of the young seals were eight to ten days old, so that by the expiry of the close time many of them had taken to the water. The greater number of the old seals had also left the ice when the sealing was begun. The weather was fine until 3 rd April, but during the whole of the fishing it was very unfavourable. There was a heavy snow storm on the 4 th inst., and showers of sleet fell on subsequent days, and considerable difficulty was experienced in approaching the seals. The Erik left the ice on the 17 th with 100 old and 3600 young seals, which it is calculated will produce about 45 tuns of oil. The Polynia arrived in the river about seven o clock and was docked in the afternoon. She got amongst the seals on the 24 th of March, and her cargo of 3220, equal to 42 tuns of oil, was secured between the 3 rd and 9 th of April. The Nova Zembla also arrived in the river about seven o clock with about 2000 seals, calculated to yiels 26 tuns of oil. The Nova Zembla reached the main pack of seals in company with the Jan Mayen on the 20 th March and but for the breaking of her propeller by the ice on the first day of the sealing her cargo would have been materially increased. On the passage home the vessel was beached at Balta Sound (Shetland Isles. Ed.) where her new propeller was shipped and the Nova Zembla steamed from Shetland to Dundee. The Active, the last of the fleet, is expected to arrive this afternoon. The whole of the vessels will discharge as soon as possible and refit for the Davis Straits whale fishing. The Active (Captain Fairweather) reached Dundee on Saturday night and was berthed in Victoria Dock yesterday. She brings 3300 seals, which is expected to yield 46 tons of oil. 1050 seals were got on the 3 rd April, and but for the breaking of the propeller and the roughness of the sea the catch would have been largely increased. TAKES OF THE PERERHEAD VESSELS Intelligence was received in Peterhead on Saturday that the results of the Greenland seal fishing, so far as concerned the Peterhead ships, are as follows:- Windward over 30 tons, Jan Mayen (Captain Salmond) 35 tons, Hope 30 tons, Eclipse 35 tons. Complaints are again made that the ice broke up on the second day of the sealing, and had it not been for the close time there would have been a good fishing. Intelligence has been received of the sudden death of Andrew Mann, seaman on board the Hope, through heart disease, the death occurred on the 14 th April. I have lifted the newspaper reports verbatim from Robert Kinnes file and, if one was to be pedantic, some are repetitive while others appear to confuse the spelling of ton and tun and the punctuation s leave a lot to be desired. Set all that aside and realise that what we are looking at is a record of the only means the general public had 136 years ago of learning what was happening outside the limited circle of their local homes. The families of the whalers would always be desperate for news and the smallest of titbits would provide comfort. Again the reliance in the telegraph was all embracing and those correspondents of yesteryear can only but be admired for their unfailing feeds to the press whose hunger for news was and still is, insatiable.
5 The following map of the Greenland Sea illustrates where the sealing took place in the spring of 1880. The course of the whaling fleet to and from the seal fishing grounds March/April 1880.
John J Watson Broughty Ferry March 2016 6