The origins of the Scottish northern whale fishery
The entire history of pelagic whaling has been chaacterised by a series of recurring cycle, eacch with distinctive phase following a pattern of discovery, exploitation, overexapansion, fierce competition, rapid depletion, the application of new technologies and techniques, and eventually, diminishing resources, exhaustion and decay. Scottish involvement in Arctic whaling followed this sequence in all essential details. Although Scotsmen sometimes sailed on Muscovy Company whaling vessels, and served as crrew on earlier Dutch expeditions, Scottish comanies in the early stages of the Northern trade did little more than invest and participate in outside enterprises. Despite at least three subsequent attempts to establish a Scottish foothold in Arctic whaling, it was not until 1749 that an increase in the bounty acted as the trigger for the Scots to begin. The 40s. government subsidy, described by an Edinburgh newspaper as the ~Great Bounty~, was sufficient to eliminate the risk of serious financial loss and permit investors opportunities for rich profits. Nevertheless, the transformation of Scottish Northern whaling from a limited and tentative venture into a large-scale ongoing seasonal operation was slow and
Sanger, Chesley W.
History of Scottish whaling, 1770-1790
The origins of the Scottish northern whale fishery. The entire history of pelagic whaling has been chaacterised by a series of recurring cycle, eacch with distinctive phase following a pattern of discovery, exploitation, overexapansion, fierce competition, rapid depletion, the application of new technologies and techniques, and eventually, diminishing resources, exhaustion and decay. Scottish involvement in Arctic whaling followed this sequence in all essential details. Although Scotsmen sometimes sailed on Muscovy Company whaling vessels, and served as crrew on earlier Dutch expeditions, Scottish comanies in the early stages of the Northern trade did little more than invest and participate in outside enterprises. Despite at least three subsequent attempts to establish a Scottish foothold in Arctic whaling, it was not until 1749 that an increase in the bounty acted as the trigger for the Scots to begin. The 40s. government subsidy, described by an Edinburgh newspaper as the ~Great Bounty~, was sufficient to eliminate the risk of serious financial loss and permit investors opportunities for rich profits. Nevertheless, the transformation of Scottish Northern whaling from a limited and tentative venture into a large-scale ongoing seasonal operation was slow and
origin scottish northern whale fishery entire history whale series recur cycle distinctive phase follow pattern discovery exploitation fierce competition rapid application new_technology technique eventually diminish resource decay scottish involvement arctic follow sequence essential detail although sometimes sail company whale vessel serve earlier dutch expedition scottish early_stage northern trade little invest participate outside enterprise subsequent attempt_establish scottish arctic increase act trigger scots begin government subsidy describe edinburgh newspaper great sufficient eliminate risk serious financial loss permit investor opportunity rich profit nevertheless transformation scottish northern limit tentative venture large_scale ongoing seasonal operation slow