There have been few whalers lost during the last twenty years. This has been due to the gradual introduction, since 1880, of steam-whalers, which act as tugs to the sailing ships when in danger, and to the constant presence in the Arctic of one or more revenue cutters, which render efficient aid every season, and convey to San Francisco the crews of such vessels as are lost--the Corwin on one of its cruises saving an entire fleet from destruction. With these extra safeguards, the trade would doubtless have speedily recovered from the disasters I have described, but for the gradual disappearance of the whale itself. Each year, the whales, to escape pursuit, push still farther into the polar ice-caps, and each year the number caught decreases. The annual product of bone and oil has now fallen to less than a million and a half of dollars, and new whaling grounds must soon be found or a great industry abandoned. Already the British whalers are turning their attention to the south polar region. Should whales prove plentiful there, the Yankees will be sure to follow in the footsteps of the English, and the energy and capital long expended in the far north will be diverted, for a term of years at least, to the other end of the world. THE END ADVERTISEMENT A NOBLE COMPANY OF ADVENTURERS _BY RUFUS ROCKWELL WILSON_ UNDER THE ABOVE TITLE IS BEING PREPARED A COMPANION VOLUME TO "THE SEA ROVERS." THE OPENING CHAPTER HAS TO DO WITH THE ANCIENT AND PICTURESQUE HUDSON BAY FUR COMPANY, AND OTHER ROMANTIC AND PERILOUS PURSUITS DEALT WITH IN SUBSEQUENT CHAPTERS ARE THOSE OF THE GOLD HUNTER, THE COWBOY, THE OILMAN, THE LUMBERMAN, THE MAKER OF STEEL, THE COAL MINER, THE RAILROAD BUILDER, THE CANADIAN MOUNTED POLICE, AND THE TEXAS RANGER. THE NEW VOLUME PROMISES, LIKE ITS COMPANION, TO GIVE DELIGHT TO BOYS OF ALL AGES. IT WILL BE ISSUED IN THE FALL OF 1907, BY B. W. DODGE & CO. End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Sea Rovers, by Rufus Rockwell Wilson