Translation 2783

324
WHALING
HISIOUY 0 .2 T7;.1E 1):.:1VLO.PLNY (1:2 WÀALiNG IU RUSSIA
The first information about whaling in . 11e hussian r,orth
goes back to the ninth century. The aborigines of the North --
Lapps and Finns -- paid tribute to the Dukes of Northern Russia in
the form of whale hides, whale-hide ropes, and other whale products.
In 1703 Peter I issued a ukase for the creation of the "Kola
Whale-fishery", ordering that harpooners should be brought from
Holland and sailors recruited from among the coastal inhabitants.
As a result of the energetic measures undertaken by Peter I, by the
second half of the 18th century more than 2,000 nussian whalers
were going to Spitzbergen every year.
The Kola Whale-fishery, like
many other companies, lasted only for a short time.
In the 1780's the "Lake Onega Whaling Company" was established;
it lasted for about two years. Then the "Lake Onega Old-
Believer Company" was formed; it also lasted only a short time.
In 1603, on the initiative of Archangel merchants, the "White Sea
Company" was formed; whaling took a secondary place in. its operations,
and it was liquidated in 1815.
The "First Murman Association for Whaling-and Other Industries"
was established in 1883, and lasted until 1890.
The "Whaling Association of the Murman Coast" Was organized
in 1884, Aide-de-camp Sheremet'ev being officially mentioned as its
founder. That company suffered heavy losses and was wound up in
1887, because whales had already been almost exterminated in the
Arctic Ocean and the North Atlantic during the 19th century.
It is impossible to state with certainty the date when
whaling started in the Pacific Ocean. One thing is clear, that the
aborigines of Chukotka were the first whalers of ancient times.
Their equipment was very primitive -- harpoons, nets, and even poisoned
arrows, and fragile canoes made of the hides of marine mammals.
In 1782 sonie of the largest fur dealers established an
association with exclusive rights to the marine mammal and fur
industries, In 1794 the "North &merican Company for Operations
p long th- Coasts to tc. NoTLh of the Alaska reninsula" was formed,
and the above association was amalgamated with it.