75
three vessels ; in 1793 there were 26 from 40 to 200
tons burthen ; in 1815 there were 80, from 40 to
400 tons, and. upwards. At one time the amount of
tonnage was greater than at present, reaching, it is
said, to about 12,000 tons. Again, and at present
the enterprise of the inhabitants, in this branch of
commerce, is decidedly on the increase, especially
in the Seal and Whale Fishings, which seem par-
ticularly active and lively, as will be shown by the
table ot Shipping annexed, from which it appears that
the total tonnage belonging to the port now amounts
to 9,555, of which 27 vessels, with a tonnage of
7356 are fitted out, and will sail for the Greenland
Fisheries in 1853. Reckoning these 27 vessels em-
ployed in the Greenland Fisheries, including the
value of their boilyards and home stores, at£5,500 per
ship — a moderate computation — a capital of £148,500
is thus embarked in that trade. What a conti'ast is
thus presented between the state of Peterhead in
1792, when Dr. Laing wrote his "Account of Peter-
head and its Mineral Wells," and the present. Dr.
Laing states that in 1793 the shipping belonging to
the port amounted to about 26 CO tons and employed
from 300 to 400 seamen. " One ship," he says,
" belonging to some gentlemen in Peterhead, is em-
ployed in the Greenland Whale Fishing, and has 36
men. Of five voyages made by this vessel two have
been tolerably successful." Last year twenty-two
ships were fitted out, two of which were wrecked
at the fisheries. For the ensuing season 7 additional
are being fitted out, and reckoning that each ship on
an average canies 50 men (^within the mark) employ-
ment is thus given to 1350 seamen in the Seal and
Whale Fisheries.
There is another branch of industry in Peterhead,
which, next to the Seal and Whale Fisheries, forms