Page:A Voyage of Discovery and Research in the Southern and Antarctic Regions Vol 2.djvu/151

] merchants, the Messrs. Enderby, by whose vessels they were discovered, the exclusive possession of the Auckland Islands; and that it is the intention of those gentlemen to form a company, for the purpose of carrying on from thence the southern whale-fishery. In a national point of view, whether as regards our maritime or commercial ascendency, an undertaking of this nature cannot fail to be of very great importance. Its successful accomplishment would prove the means of effectually restoring a profitable but decayed branch of our maritime trade, and of diverting a large number of our most efficient seamen from the vessels of the United States of America, in which they are now employed. In the whole range of the vast Southern Ocean, no spot could be found combining so completely the essential requisites for a fixed whaling station.

Possessing in themselves the great natural advantages of commodious harbours, a plentiful supply of good water and wood, with a superficies of about one hundred thousand acres, and lying in the vicinity of the Australian and New Zealand colonies, these islands present the greatest facilities for carrying on the southern fishery on the extensive scale, which the Messrs. Enderby contemplate. They are, moreover, situate, as it were, in the heart of the fishery, and in the track of ships returning to England from the Australian and Van Diemen's Land settlements. They are also conveniently placed, in a more