Number of whaling vessels-
I localized my figure to a part of the area; the '600+' is for the entire Pacific. The figure was 'in my head' and it took a while to recollect where it came from. Being a memory, it was corrupted. It was from the entry "Whale Fisheries" in the Encyclopaedia Britannica, 1956, which is the latest edition I have.

"Shortly before 1850 the fleet numbered 680 sail in all; and all but 40 odd ships were employed in the Pacific in the pursuit of sperm and right whales. About the same date the right whales found in the neighbourhood of Bering Strait, the bowheads, were hunted for the first time." The author is cited as J. O. B., using references including W. S. Tower, "A History of the American Whale Fishery," 1907.

I apologize for my mistake.