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History of whaling

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Whale-Fishing. Facsimile of a Woodcut in the "Cosmographie Universelle" of Thevet, in folio: Paris, 1574.
A Whale Brought alongside a Ship, by the Scottish John Heaviside Clark, 1814. Flensing is in process.
Photo of a whaling station in Spitsbergen, Norway, 1907

This article discusses the history of whaling from prehistoric times up to the commencement of the International Whaling Commission (IWC) moratorium on commercial whaling in 1986. Whaling has been an important subsistence and economic activity in multiple regions throughout human history. Commercial whaling dramatically reduced in importance during the 19th century due to the development of alternatives to whale oil for lighting, and the collapse in whale populations. Nevertheless, some nations continue to hunt whales even today.

Early history

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18th-century Nuu-chah-nulth whaler hat, Canada

Humans have engaged in whaling since prehistoric times. Early depictions of whaling at the Neolithic Bangudae site in Korea, unearthed by researchers from Kyungpook National University, may date back to 6000 BCE.[1][2] The University of Alaska Fairbanks has described evidence for whaling at least as early as circa 1000 BCE.[3]

The oldest known method of catching cetaceans is dolphin drive hunting, in which a number of small boats are positioned between the animal and the open sea and the animals are herded towards shore in an attempt to beach them. This method is still used for smaller species such as pilot whales, beluga whales, porpoises and narwhals, as described in A Pattern of Islands, a memoir published by British administrator Arthur Grimble in 1952.[4]

Another early method used a drogue (a semi-floating object) such as a wooden drum or an inflated sealskin tied to an arrow or a harpoon. Once the missile had been shot into a whale's body, the buoyancy and drag from the drogue would eventually cause the whale to tire, allowing it to be approached and killed. Cultures that practiced whaling with drogues included the Ainu, Inuit, Native Americans, and the Basque people of the Bay of Biscay. The Bangudae petroglyphs show sperm whales, humpback whales and North Pacific right whales surrounded by boats, and suggest that drogues, harpoons and lines were being used to kill small whales as early as 6000 BCE.[2] Cetacean bones of the same period were also found in the area, reflecting the importance of whales in the diet of prehistoric coastal people.

Whale bones recovered near the Strait of Gibraltar raise the possibility that whales were hunted in the Mediterranean Sea by ancient Rome.[5][6]

Whaling history by region

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North America

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Newfoundland and Labrador

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Basque settlements and sites dating from the 16th and 17th centuries

Around 1525 Basques began whaling and fishing for cod off Newfoundland, Labrador, and similar places.[7] In his History of Brittany (1582), the French jurist and historian Bertrand d'Argentré made the claim that the Basques, Bretons, and Normans were the first to reach the New World "before any other people".[8][9] The Bordeaux jurist Etienne de Cleirac (1647) made a similar claim, stating that the French Basques, in pursuing whales across the North Atlantic, discovered North America a century before Columbus.[10] The Belgian cetologist Pierre-Joseph van Beneden (1878, 1892) repeated such assertions by saying that the Basques, in the year 1372,[Note 1] found the number of whales to increase on approach of the Newfoundland Banks.[8][11][12]

The first undisputed presence of Basque whaling expeditions in the New World was in the second quarter of the 16th century. It appears to have been the French Basques, following the lead of Breton cod-fishermen that reported finding rich whaling grounds in Terranova (Newfoundland). The Basques called the area they frequented Grandbaya (Grand Bay), today known as the Strait of Belle Isle, which separates Newfoundland from southern Labrador. Their initial voyages to this area were mixed cod and whaling ventures. Instead of returning home with whale oil, they brought back whale meat in brine. The French Basque ship La Catherine d'Urtubie made the first known voyage involving whale products in 1530, when she supposedly returned with 4,500 dried and cured cod, as well as twelve barrels of whale meat "without flippers or tail" (a phrase for whale meat in brine). After a period of development, expeditions were sent purely aimed at obtaining whale oil. The first establishments for processing whale oil in southern Labrador may have been built in the late 1530s, although it wasn't until 1548 that notarial documents confirm this.[10]

By the 1540s, when the Spanish Basques began sending whaling expeditions to Newfoundland, the ventures were no longer experimental, but a "resounding financial success from their inception." By the end of the decade they were delivering large cargoes of whale oil to Bristol, London, and Flanders. A large market existed for "lumera", as whale oil used for lighting was called. "Sain" or "grasa de ballena" was also used (by mixing it with tar and oakum) for caulking ships, as well as in the textile industry.[13] Ambroise Paré (1510–90), who visited Bayonne when King Charles IX (r. 1560–74) was there in 1564, said they used the baleen to "make farthingales, stays for women, knife-handles, and many other things".[14]

Most documents dealing with whaling in Newfoundland concern the years 1548 to 1588, with the largest quantity dealing with the harbor of Red Bay or "Less Buttes"⁠—both names in reference to the red granite cliffs of the region. The references include acts of piracy in the 1550s, the loss of a ship in 1565, a disastrous wintering in 1576–77, and, on Christmas Eve 1584, a will written for a dying Basque, Joanes de Echaniz; the first known Canadian will. The last overwintering in Red Bay was made in 1603.[13] During their onshore stays, the whalers developed relations with North American natives that led to the establishment of a purpose-specific language with both American native and Basque elements.


United States of America

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See also: Whaling in the United States
Whale Fishery – Attacking a Right Whale, New England whaling c. 1860
Assortment of whaling harpoons, 1887
Matthew Fontaine Maury (U.S.N.) Whale Chart-1851

Beginning in the late colonial period, the United States grew to become the preeminent whaling nation in the world by the 1830s. American whaling's origins were in New York and New England, including Cape Cod, Massachusetts and nearby cities. Whale oil was in demand chiefly for lamps. By the 18th century whaling in Nantucket had become a highly lucrative deep-sea industry, with voyages extending for years at a time and traveling as far as South Pacific waters. During the American Revolution, the British navy targeted American whaling ships as legitimate prizes. In turn, many whalers fitted out as privateers against the British.

Whaling recovered after the war ended in 1783 and the industry began to prosper, using bases at Nantucket and then New Bedford. Whalers took greater economic risks in search of profit, expanding their hunting grounds. Investment and financing arrangements allowed managers of whaling ventures to share their risks by selling some equity, but retain a substantial portion of the profit. As a result, they had little incentive to plan their voyages to minimize risk.[15]

Ten thousand seamen manned the ships, including more than 3,000 African American seamen.[16] Early whaling efforts concentrated on right whales and humpbacks, which were found near the American coast. As these populations declined and the market for whale products grew, American whalers began hunting sperm whales. The sperm whale was particularly prized for spermaceti, a dense waxy substance that burns with an exceedingly bright flame that is found in the spermaceti organ, located forward and above the skull. Hunting sperm required longer whaling voyages.

Whale oil was essential for illuminating homes and businesses in the 19th century, and lubricated the machines of the Industrial Revolution. Baleen (the long keratin strips that hang from the top of whales' mouths) was used by manufacturers in the United States and Europe to make varied consumer goods.

British competition and import duties drove New England whaling ships out of the North Atlantic and into the southern oceans, ultimately making whaling into a global economic enterprise. The mid 19th century was the golden age of American whaling.

From the Civil War, when Confederate raiders targeted American whalers, through the early 20th century, the American whaling industry suffered economic competition, especially from kerosene, a superior fuel for lighting.[17]

Localities
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"The whale and its products", c. 1900

A number of New England towns were heavily involved in whaling, particularly Nantucket and New Bedford. Nantucket began whaling in 1690 after recruiting a whaling instructor, Ichabod Paddock.[18] The south side of the island was divided into three and a half mile sections, each with a mast erected to look for the spouts of right whales. Once a whale was sighted, rowing boats were sent from the shore. If the whale was successfully killed it was towed ashore, flensed (i.e., the blubber was cut off), and the blubber boiled in cauldrons known as "try pots". Even when whales were caught far offshore, the blubber was still boiled on shore well into the 18th century. New Bedford whaling was established when prominent Nantucket whaling families moved their operations to the town for economic reasons, and made New Bedford the fourth busiest port in the United States. In Herman Melville's novel Moby-Dick[19] the narrator begins his whaling voyage from New Bedford.

In the late 1870s, schooners began hunting humpbacks in the Gulf of Maine. In 1880, with the decline of menhaden fish, steamers began to switch to hunting fin and humpback whales using bomb lances. This has been called "shoot-and-salvage" because of the high-rate of loss due to whales sinking, lines breaking, etc. The first such whale hunting ship was the steamer Mabel Bird, which towed whale carcasses to an oil processing plant in Boothbay Harbor. At its height in 1885 four or five steamers were engaged in whale fishery at Boothbay Harbour, dwindling to one by the end of the decade. Over 100 whales were killed annually during some years. The fishery ended in the late 1890s.

Technological advancement
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In the 1850s, the Euro–American whalemen began a serious attempt at catching rorquals such as the blue whale and fin whale. In the 1860s Captain Thomas Welcome Roys invented a rocket harpoon, making a significant contribution to the development of the California whaling industry.[20] In 1877, John Nelson Fletcher, a pyrotechnist, and a former Confederate soldier, Robert L. Suits, modified Roys's rocket, marketing it as the "California Whaling Rocket". The rocket was highly effective in killing whales.[21][22]

Danish naval officer Captain Otto C. Hammer and the Dutchman Captain C. J. Bottemanne also imitated Roys' rocket harpoon. Hammer formed the Danish Fishing Company, which operated from 1865 to 1871. Botteman formed the Netherlands Whaling Company, which operated from 1869 to 1872.

Legacy
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In 1996, the New Bedford Whaling National Historical Park was established, offering exhibits on the history of the "City that Lit the World".[23]

Pacific Northwest

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Main article: Whaling on the Pacific Northwest Coast

Whaling on the Pacific Northwest Coast encompassed both aboriginal and commercial whaling. The indigenous peoples of this coast have whaling traditions dating back millennia. A memoir by John R. Jewitt, an English blacksmith who spent three years as a captive of the Nuu-chah-nulth people from 1802 to 1805, makes clear the importance of whale meat and oil to their diet.[24] Whaling was integral to the cultures and economies of other indigenous people as well, notably the Makah and Klallam. For other groups, especially the Haida, whales appear prominently as totems.

Hunting of cetaceans continues by Alaska Natives (mainly beluga and narwhal, plus subsistence hunting of the bowhead whale) and to a lesser extent by the Makah (gray whale). Commercial whaling in British Columbia and southeast Alaska ended in the late 1960s.

Bering Strait

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In the 1840s, large numbers of bowhead whale were discovered around the Bering Strait. In 1848, American whaler Thomas Welcome Roys returned with a significant catch which drew the industry's attention. More than 500 whales were caught the following year and more than 2,000 in 1850. The whaling boom drew more than 220 ships in 1852 but it collapsed almost as soon as it began, with catches severely diminishing in 1853.[25]

Basque Country (Spain and France)

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Main article: History of Basque whaling

The first mention of Basque whaling was made in 1059,[26] when it was said to have been practiced at the Basque town of Bayonne. The fishery spread to what is now the Spanish Basque Country in 1150, when King Sancho the Wise of Navarre granted petitions for the warehousing of such commodities as whalebone (baleen).[26] At first, they hunted the North Atlantic right whale, using watchtowers (known as vigias) to look for their distinctive twin vapor spouts.

By the 14th century, Basque whalers were making "seasonal trips" to the English Channel and southern Ireland. The fishery spread to Terranova (Labrador and Newfoundland) in the second quarter of the 16th century,[27] and to Iceland by the early 17th century.[28] They established whaling stations in Terranova, mainly in Red Bay,[29] and hunted bowheads as well as right whales.

The fishery in Terranova declined for a variety of reasons, including the conflicts between Spain and other European powers during the late 16th and early 17th centuries, attacks by hostile Inuit, declining whale populations, and perhaps the opening up of the Spitsbergen fishery in 1611.

The first voyages to Spitsbergen by the English, Dutch, and Danish relied on Basque specialists, with the Basque provinces sending out their own whaler in 1612. The following season San Sebastián and Saint-Jean-de-Luz sent out a combined eleven or twelve whalers to the Spitsbergen fishery, but most were driven off by the Dutch and English.[30][31] Two more ships were sent by a merchant in San Sebastián in 1615, but both were driven away by the Dutch. Conflict over the Spitsbergen whaling grounds between the English, French, Dutch and Danish continued until 1638.

Whale fishing in Iceland and Spitsbergen continued at least into the 18th century, but Basque whaling in those regions appears to have ended in 1756 at the beginning of the Seven Years' War.[32]

Greenland and Spitsbergen

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Whaling, by Abraham Storck
Dangers of the Whale Fishery, by W. Scoresby, 1820
Whaling off the Coast of Spitsbergen, by Abraham Storck

Encouraged by reports of whales off the coast of Spitsbergen, Norway, in 1610, the English Muscovy Company (also known as the Russian Company) sent a whaling expedition there the following year. The expedition was a disaster, with both ships sent being lost. The crews returned to England in a ship from Hull.[33] The following year two more ships were sent. Other countries followed suit, with Amsterdam and San Sebastian each sending a ship north. The latter ship returned to Spain with a full cargo of oil. Such a fabulous return resulted in a fleet of whaleships being sent to Spitsbergen in 1613. The Muscovy Company sent seven, backed by a monopoly charter granted by King James I. They met with twenty other whaleships (eleven or twelve Basque, five French, and three Dutch), as well as a London interloper, which were either ordered away or forced to pay a fine of some sort.[31] The United Provinces, France, and Spain all protested against this treatment, but James I held fast to his claim of sovereignty over Spitsbergen.

The following three and a half decades witnessed numerous clashes between the various nations (as well as infighting among the English), often merely posturing, but sometimes resulting in bloodshed. This jealousy stemmed as much from the mechanics of early whaling as from straightforward international animosities. In the first years of the fishery England, France, the United Provinces and later Denmark–Norway shipped expert Basque whalemen for their expeditions. At the time Basque whaling relied on the utilization of stations ashore where blubber could be processed into oil. In order to allow a rapid transference of this technique to Spitsbergen, suitable anchorages had to be selected, of which there were only a limited number, in particular on the west coast of the island.[34]

Early in 1614, the Dutch formed the Noordsche Compagnie (Northern Company),[35] a cartel composed of several independent chambers (each representing a particular port). The company sent fourteen ships supported by three or four men-of-war this year, while the English sent a fleet of thirteen ships and pinnaces. Equally matched, they agreed to split the coast between themselves, to the exclusion of third parties. The English received the four principal harbors in the middle of the west coast, while the Dutch could settle anywhere to the south or north. The agreement explicitly stated that it was only meant to last for this season.[36]

In 1615 the Dutch arrived with a fleet of eleven ships and three men-of-war under Adriaen Block, occupied Fairhaven, Bell Sound, and Horn Sound by force, and built the first permanent structure on Spitsbergen: a wooden hut to store their equipment in. The ten ships sent by the Muscovy Company were relegated to the south side of Fairhaven, Sir Thomas Smith's Bay, and Ice Sound.[37] The Danes meanwhile sent a fleet of five sail under Gabriel Kruse to demand a toll from the foreign whalers and in doing so assert Christian IV's claim of sovereignty over the region, but both the English and Dutch rebuffed his efforts—two ships from Bordeaux chartered by a merchant in San Sebastian were also sent away by the Dutch.[38] The following year, 1616, the English, with a fleet of ten ships, occupied all the major harbors, appropriated the Dutch hut, and made a rich haul, while the Dutch, preoccupied with Jan Mayen, only sent four ships to Spitsbergen, which "kept together in odd places... and made a poor voyage."[39]

In 1617 a ship from Vlissingen whaling in Horn Sound had its cargo seized by the English vice-admiral.[40] Angry, the following season the Dutch sent nearly two dozen ships to Spitsbergen. Five of the fleet attacked two English ships, killing three men in the process, and also burned down the English station in Horn Sound.[41] Negotiations between the two nations followed in 1619, with James I, while still claiming sovereignty, would not enforce it for the following three seasons.[42] When this concession expired, the English twice (in 1623[43] and 1624[44]) tried to expel the Dutch from Spitsbergen, failing both times.

In 1619 the Dutch and Danes, who had sent their first whaling expedition to Spitsbergen in 1617, firmly settled themselves on Amsterdam Island, a small island on the northwestern tip of Spitsbergen; while the English did the same in the fjords to the south. The Danish–Dutch settlement came to be called Smeerenburg, which would become the centre of operations for the latter in the first decades of the fishery. Numerous place names attest to the various nations' presence, including Copenhagen Bay (Kobbefjorden) and Danes Island (Danskøya), where the Danes established a station from 1631 to 1658; Port Louis or Refuge Français (Hamburgbukta), where the French had a station from 1633 to 1638, until they were driven away by the Danes (see below); and finally English Bay (Engelskbukta), as well as the number of features named by English whalemen and explorers—for example, Isfjorden, Bellsund, and Hornsund, to name a few.

Hostilities continued after 1619. In 1626 nine ships from Hull and York destroyed the Muscovy Company's fort and station in Bell Sound, and sailed to their own in Midterhukhamna.[45] Here they were found by the heavily armed flagship of the London whaling fleet; a two-hour battle ensued, resulting in defeat for the Hull and York fleet and their expulsion from Spitsbergen.[46] In 1630 both the ships of Hull and Great Yarmouth, who had recently joined the trade, were driven away clean (empty) by the ships from London. From 1631 to 1633, the Danes, French, and Dutch quarreled with each other, resulting in the expulsion of the Danes from Smeerenburg and the French from Copenhagen Bay. In 1634 the Dutch burned down one of the Danes' huts.[47] There were also two battles this season, one between the English and French (the latter won)[48] and the other between London and Yarmouth (the latter won, as well).[49] In 1637[50] and again in 1638 the Danes drove the French out of Port Louis and seized their cargoes. In the former year they also seized a French ship in the open sea and detained it in Copenhagen Bay,[51] while in the latter year they also held two Dutch ships captive in the same bay for over a month, which led to protests from the Dutch.[52] Following the events of 1638 hostilities, for the most part, ceased, with the exception of a few minor incidents in the 1640s between the French and Danes, as well as between Copenhagen and Hamburg and London and Yarmouth, respectively.

The species hunted was the bowhead whale, a baleen whale that yielded large quantities of oil and baleen. The whales entered the fjords in the spring following the breakup of the ice. They were spotted by the whalemen from suitable vantage points, and pursued by shallops, chaloupes or chalupas, which were manned by six men. (These terms derive from the Basque word "txalupa", used to name the whaling boats that were widely utilized during the golden era of Basque whaling in Labrador in the 16th century.) The whale was harpooned and lanced to death and either towed to the stern of the ship or to the shore at low tide, where men with long knives would flense (cut up) the blubber. The blubber was boiled in large copper kettles and cooled in large wooden vessels, after which it was funneled into casks. The stations at first only consisted of tents of sail and crude furnaces, but were soon replaced by more permanent structures of wood and brick, such as Smeerenburg for the Dutch, Lægerneset for the English, and Copenhagen Bay for the Danes.

Beginning in the 1630s, for the Dutch at least, whaling expanded into the open sea. Gradually whaling in the open sea and along the ice floes to the west of Spitsbergen replaced bay whaling. At first, the blubber was tried out at the end of the season at Smeerenburg or elsewhere along the coast, but after mid-century the stations were abandoned entirely in favor of processing the blubber upon the return of the ship to port. The English meanwhile stuck resolutely to bay whaling, and didn't make the transfer to pelagic (offshore) whaling until long after. In 1719, the Dutch began "regular and intensive whaling" in the Davis Strait, between Greenland and Canada's Baffin Island.[53] The British South Sea Company financed 172 whaling voyages to Greenland from London's Howland Dock between 1725 and 1732. Beginning in 1733, the British Government offered a 'bounty' for whale oil, leading to further expansion. However, due to reductions in the bounty and wars with America and France, London's Greenland fleet fell to 19 in 1796.

During the 17th and 18th century North Frisian Islanders[35] had a reputation of being very skilled mariners, and most Dutch and English whaling ships bound for Greenland and Svalbard would recruit their crew from these islands.[54] Around the year 1700, Föhr island had a total population of roughly 6,000, of whom 1,600 were whalers.[54] In 1762, 25% of all shipmasters on Dutch whaling vessels were people from Föhr,[55] and the South Sea Company's commanding officers and harpooners were exclusively from Föhr.[54] Sylt island and Borkum island were also notable homes of whaling personnel.[56]

The British would continue to send out whalers to the Arctic fishery into the 20th century, sending their last on the eve of the First World War.

Japan

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Main article: Whaling in Japan
Whaling Scene on the Coast of Gotō, an ukiyo-e print by Hokusai, c. 1830

The oldest written mention of whaling in Japanese records is from Kojiki, the oldest Japanese historical book, which was written in the 7th century CE. This book describes whale meat being eaten by Emperor Jimmu. In Man'yōshū, an anthology of poems from the 8th century CE, the word "Whaling" (いさなとり) was frequently used in depicting the ocean or beaches.

One of the first records of whaling using harpoons is from the 1570s at Morosaki, a bay attached to Ise Bay. This method of whaling spread to Kii (before 1606), Shikoku (1624), northern Kyushu (1630s), and Nagato (around 1672).

Kakuemon Wada, later known as Kakuemon Taiji, was said to have invented net whaling sometime between 1675 and 1677. This method soon spread to Shikoku (1681) and northern Kyushu (1684)

Using the techniques developed by Taiji,[57] the Japanese mainly hunted four species of whale: the North Pacific right, the humpback, the fin, and the gray whale. They also caught the occasional blue, sperm, or sei/Bryde's whale .

In 1853, the US naval officer Matthew Perry forced Japan to open up to foreign trade. One purpose of his mission was to gain access to ports for the American whaling fleet in the north-west Pacific Ocean. Japan's traditional whaling was eventually replaced in the late 19th century and early 20th century with modern methods.[58][59]

Britain

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Main article: Whaling in the United Kingdom
A View of Whale Fishery, 1790, from Captain Cook's voyages

Britain's involvement in whaling extended from 1611 to the 1960s and had three phases. The Northern (or Arctic) whale fishery lasted from 1611 to 1914 and involved whaling primarily off Greenland, and particularly the Davis Strait. The Southern (or South Seas) whale fishery was active from 1775 to 1859 and involved whale hunting first in the South Atlantic, then in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. British law defined and differentiated the two trades. Finally, modern British involvement in whaling extended from 1904 to 1963. Each of these three trades involved different species of whales as targets.[60]

Northern whale fishery

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From 1753 to 1837 whalers from Whitby were active in the Davis Strait. In 1832 the Phoenix was the only vessel to go out, returning with a record 234 tons of oil. The owners of the Phoenix, the Chapmans, therefore sent out two ships in 1833, the Camden and the Phoenix.[61] Both vessels returned with large volumes of oil,[62] but the price of whale oil and whalebone had fallen. After unsuccessful voyages in 1837 both ships were withdrawn from whaling, ending whaling from Whitby.[62][63]

Southern whale fishery

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The Southern fishery was launched when Samuel Enderby, along with Alexander Champion and John St Barbe, using American vessels and crews, sent out twelve whaleships in 1776.[64] In 1786, the Triumph was the first British whaler to be sent east of the Cape of Good Hope, and in 1788, the whaler Emilia was sent west around Cape Horn into the Pacific Ocean to become the first ship of any nation to conduct whaling operations in the Southern Ocean. Emilia returned to London in 1790 with a cargo of 139 tons of whale oil.[65] The first sperm whale killed in the Southern fishery was taken off the coast of Chile on 3 March 1789.

In 1784 the British had 15 whaleships in the southern fishery, all from London. Between 1793 and 1799 there was an average of 60 vessels in the trade, increasing to 72 in 1800–1809.[66] The first sperm whale off the coast of New South Wales, Australia, was taken by the ship Britannia (Commander Thomas Melvill) in October 1791.[67]

In 1819 the British whaler Syren, under Frederick Coffin of Nantucket, sailed to the coastal waters of Japan. She returned to London on 21 April 1822, with 346 tons of whale oil. By 1825 the British had 24 vessels there.[68]

The number of vessels being fitted out annually for the southern fishery declined from 68 in 1820 to 31 in 1824. In 1825, there were 90 ships in the southern fishery, but by 1835 it had dwindled to 61 and by 1843 only 9 vessels left for the southern fishery. In 1859 the trade from London ended.

Antarctic whaling

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The shore stations on the island of South Georgia were at the center of the Antarctic whaling industry from its beginnings in 1904 until the late 1920s when pelagic whaling increased. The activity on the island remained substantial until around 1960, when Norwegian–British Antarctic whaling came to an end.[69]

France

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In 1786, William Rotch, Sr. established a colony of Nantucket whalemen in Dunkirk. By 1789 Dunkirk had 14 whaling ships sailing to Brazil, Walvis Bay, and other areas of the South Atlantic to hunt sperm and right whales.[70] In 1790 Rotch sent the first French whalers into the Pacific. The majority of the French whaling ships were lost during the Anglo-French War (1793-1802). Whaling began to revive after the war ended, but when Napoleon came to power Rotch's holdings in Dunkirk were seized.

After the Napoleonic Wars the government issued subsidies in an attempt to revive whaling, and in 1832 this effort succeeded. In 1835 the first French whaleship, the Gange, reached the Gulf of Alaska and found abundant right whales. In 1836, the first French whaler reached New Zealand.[70] In 1851, the French government passed a law to encourage whaling but this was not successful. Whaling in France ended in 1868.

Iceland

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Main article: Whaling in Iceland

In 1883 the first whaling station was established in Alptafjordur, Iceland, by a Norwegian company.[71] Between 1889 and 1903 nine more companies established themselves in Iceland. Catching peaked in 1902, when 1,305 whales were caught to produce 40,000 barrels of oil. Whale hunting had largely declined by 1910, when only 170 whales were caught.

A ban on whaling was imposed by the Althing in 1915. In 1935 an Icelandic company established a whaling station that shut down after only five seasons. In 1948, another Icelandic company, Hvalur H/F, purchased a naval base at the head of Hvalfjörður and converted it into a whaling station. Between 1948 and 1975, an average of 250 Fin, 65 Sei, and 78 sperm whales were taken annually, as well as a few blue and humpback whales. Unlike the majority of commercial whaling at the time, this operation was based on the sale of frozen meat and meat meal, rather than oil. Most of the meat was exported to England, while the meal was sold locally as cattle feed.[72]

Scandinavia

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There is strong evidence of active, large-scale whaling in Scandinavia from the 6th century onwards.[73]

Scandinavia's whaling industry invented many new techniques in the 19th century, with most inventions occurring in Norway. Jacob Nicolai Walsøe was probably the first person to suggest mounting a harpoon gun in the bows of a steamship, while Arent Christian Dahl experimented with an explosive harpoon in Varanger Fjord (1857–1860). In 1863 Svend Foyn invented a harpoon with a flexible joint between the head and shaft and adapted Walsøe and Dahl's ideas, initiating the modern whaling era.

Later, cannon-fired harpoons, strong cables, and steam winches were mounted on maneuverable, steam-powered catcher boats. They made possible the targeting of large and fast-swimming whale species that were taken to shore-based stations for processing. Breech-loading cannons were introduced in 1925; pistons were introduced in 1947 to reduce recoil. These highly efficient devices reduced whale populations to the point where large-scale commercial whaling became unsustainable.

Finnmark

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In February 1864, Svend Foyn began his first whale-hunting trip to Finnmark in the schooner-rigged, steam-driven whale catcher Spes et Fides (Hope & Faith). The ship had seven guns on her forecastle, each firing a harpoon and grenade separately. Several whales were seen, but only four were captured.[74] After two unsuccessful trips in 1866 and 1867, he invented a harpoon gun that fired a grenade and harpoon at the same time and was able to catch thirty whales in 1868.[75] He patented his grenade-tipped harpoon gun two years later.

Foyn was given a virtual monopoly on the trade in Finnmark in 1873, which lasted until 1882.[76] Despite this, local citizens established a whaling company in 1876, and soon others defied his monopoly and formed companies. Unrestricted hunting began in 1883, triggering a large increase in the number of whale catchers.[77] At the peak, in 1896–1898, between 1,000 and 1,200 whales were caught each year. The last station closed down in 1904.

Spitsbergen

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In 1903, the wooden steamship Telegraf (737 gross tons) embarked on a whale catching trip to Spitsbergen. She returned with 1,960 barrels of oil produced from a catch of 57 whales, of which 42 were blue whales.[78] By 1905, there were eight companies operating around Spitsbergen and Bear Island, and 559 whales (337 blue) were caught to produce 18,660 barrels. Operations were suspended in 1912.

Faroe Islands

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See also: Whaling in the Faroe Islands
The Whaling Station Við Áir on Streymoy, Faroe Islands, is the only Norwegian built whaling station in the northern hemisphere still standing. It is being renovated into a museum.

Whaling stations in the Faroe Islands have included Gjánoyri on Streymoy (est. 1894),[79] Norðdepil on Borðoy (1898–1920), Lopra on Suðuroy (1901–1953), Funningsfjørður on Eysturoy (est. 1901),[80] and Við Áir (1905–1984) on Streymoy.

Peak catching was reached in 1909, when 773 whales were caught to produce 13,850 barrels of oil. In 1917, with the war and poor catches, whaling was suspended. The islanders' main interest in whaling was cheap meat, while 90% of the proceeds from the oil went abroad, mostly to Norway.[81] Four Norwegian companies resumed catching in 1920 but quickly stopped. In 1933 the two remaining whaling stations in Lopra and Við Áir were taken over by Faroese owners. From 1977 to 1984 the whaling station Við Áir was owned and operated by the Faroese government.[82]

The buildings and the equipment of Við Áir whaling station are still in existence. The Faroese Ministry of Culture (Mentamálaráðið) recommended conservation in 2007, suggesting that the whaling station be made into a maritime museum with activities for the visitors.[83]

South Africa

[edit]
This section is an excerpt from Whaling in South Africa.[edit]
Men working at whaling station, South Africa.
The practice of whaling in South Africa gained momentum at the start of the 19th century and ended in 1975.[84] By the mid-1960s, South Africa had depleted their population of fin whales, and subsequently those of sperm and sei whales, and had to resort to hunting the small and less-profitable minke whale.[85] Minke whales continued to be caught and brought to the Durban whaling station from 1968 until 1975.[86][87] South Africa comprehensively banned whaling in 1979.[85]

Twentieth century

[edit]
Whales caught, by year and country
Total whales caught since 1900, by species
Total whales caught 2010–2014, by country

By 1900, bowhead, gray, and right whales were nearly extinct, and whaling had declined. It revived with the invention of harpoons shot from cannons, explosive tips and factory ships, which allowed distant whaling. Whaling expanded in the northern hemisphere, then in the southern hemisphere. As each species was reduced to the point where it was hard to find, whalers moved on to the next species, catching blue whales, fin whales, sperm whales, sei whales and minke whales in sequence.[88]

The League of Nations held a conference on whaling in 1927, and in 1931, 27 countries signed a convention for the regulation of whaling. The convention was not enforceable, and a record ~43,000 whales were caught in 1931. In 1932, whaling companies formed a cartel, which cut harvests for two years, but then failed. A 1937 convention agreed to shorter seasons and to sparing bowhead, gray and right whales, and whales under a minimum size. Ships killed faster to harvest as many as possible in the shorter season.[89]

In 1946, 15 whaling nations formed the International Whaling Commission, with membership also open to non-whaling nations. It prohibited killing gray, humpback and right whales, limited hunting seasons, and set an Antarctic limit of 16,000 "Blue Whale Units" per year, but again had no enforcement ability. In 1949–1952 more than 2,000 humpbacks per year were harvested in the Antarctic, despite an annual quota of 1,250. In 1959–1964, there were disagreements over a moratorium on blue whales and humpbacks, with scientific advice eventually recommending a limit of 2,800 blue whale units. The IWC adopted quotas of 8,000. In 1970 the United States prohibited import of whale products by adding all commercial whales to its Endangered Species List.[89]

Proposals for 10-year moratoria were rejected in 1971, 1972 and 1974, but species quotas were adopted and reduced. Consumer boycotts focused on Japanese and Russian products began in 1974, to protest the hunting of large whales by these countries. In 1978, the IWC called for an end to international trade in whale products. In 1982, the IWC adopted a ban on commercial whaling, to start in 1986. Japan, Norway and the USSR filed objections so the moratorium would not apply to them. Chile and Peru also filed objections, but Peru later agreed to be covered, and Chile stopped whaling.[89]

No international quotas were ever put on beluga whales and narwhals; 1,000 to 2,000 of each have been killed each year to the present, mostly in Alaska, Canada and Greenland.[90][91]

Catches by country and year

[edit]

Sources: IWC Summary Catch Database version 6.1, July 2016,[92] which includes great whales, orcas (mostly caught by Norway and USSR), bottlenose whales (mostly Norway), pilot whales (mostly Norway), and Baird's Beaked Whales (mostly Japan). This database also has some pre-1900 counts, not shown here.

The IWC database is supplemented by Faroese catches of pilot whales,[93] Greenland's and Canada's catches of Narwhals (data 1954–2014),[90] Belugas from multiple sources shown in the Beluga whale article, Indonesia's catches of sperm whales,[94][95] bycatch in Japan 1980–2008,[96][97][98] and bycatch in Korea 1996–2017.[96][99] The IWC database includes illegal whaling from USSR and Korea.[92] This is supplemented by academic findings on Korea for 1999–2003.[100][101]

Note that most species of dolphins are omitted. Otherwise the main areas of missing data are: bycatch in countries other than Japan and Korea (generally much smaller), narwhals before 1954; belugas in Canada and USA before 1970, and in Nunavut (Canada) for all years; belugas in USSR in Bering, East Siberian and Laptev Seas and Sea of Okhotsk outside Amur River area.

Numbers of whales caught each year, by country, from 1900 to 2017
Year Total Norway Russia /USSR Japan United Kingdom South Africa Faroe Islands Greenland Canada Peru Argentina USA Chile Australia Panama Netherlands Germany France Portugal Iceland Brazil South Korea Spain New Zealand Bahamas China Denmark St.Vincent+ Grenadines Indonesia Ecuador Unknown Philippines Tonga Bermuda
Total 3,324,190 796,889 633,322 615,890 322,758 169,388 141,647 107,126 83,406 56,349 51,438 50,031 47,069 39,361 30,982 27,800 12,451 8,960 29,925 23,479 22,609 21,803 12,705 5,924 4,270 3,269 1,924 507 416 371 1,910 96 114 1
2017 1,274 1,203 71
2016 698 295 246 157 96
2015 3,094 660 125 520 508 314 388 375 184 103 1 3
2014 3,686 736 177 196 48 885 1,062 399 161 67 2 20
2013 4,807 594 181 475 1,104 887 937 424 169 70 4 20
2012 3,927 464 217 424 713 772 830 429 52 79 2 20
2011 3,952 533 193 540 726 683 837 339 58 75 2 20
2010 4,402 468 180 445 1,107 726 844 389 208 85 3 20
2009 4,096 484 170 825 310 981 792 291 206 97 1 20
2008 3,813 536 187 1,138 939 777 304 38 86 2 20
2007 4,594 597 161 1,068 633 763 781 640 45 102 1 39
2006 4,442 545 187 991 856 703 946 265 68 82 1 3
2005 4,476 639 187 1,365 302 911 797 350 39 110 2 3
2004 4,573 544 167 868 1,010 886 897 278 25 77 3
2003 4,866 647 187 841 503 1,390 1,098 292 37 165 1 2
2002 4,813 634 174 804 626 1,360 914 412 165 2 2
2001 5,141 552 165 711 918 1,365 1,036 491 165 2
2000 4,856 487 156 5,632 588 1,575 1,186 327 165 3
1999 4,926 591 191 639 608 1,710 1,020 265 165 2
1998 5,435 625 188 590 815 2,026 893 396 45 2
1997 5,557 503 132 638 1,162 1,798 1,042 342 78 40
1996 5,681 388 96 617 1,524 1,759 924 432 129 1 40
1995 3,582 218 143 640 228 1,728 455 230 40
1994 4,635 280 97 451 1,201 1,747 588 331 40
1993 4,221 226 53 430 808 1,815 526 421 2 40
1992 4,686 95 53 430 1,572 1,886 517 231 2
1991 3,782 1 222 381 722 1,591 596 362
1990 5,132 5 215 420 917 2,852 437 379
1989 4,388 17 259 423 1,260 1,669 743 42 68
1988 4,205 29 210 334 1,738 1,305 554 49 78 1
1987 5,797 373 226 1,215 1,450 1,994 466 54 3 100 2 7
1986 10,973 379 3,442 2,933 1,676 1,724 686 30 116 69 2 9
1985 13,430 771 3,625 3,180 2,595 1,439 742 18 344 598 123 48 40
1984 14,769 804 4,226 3,480 1,923 1,941 648 195 63 440 600 393 102 47
1983 16,532 1,860 3,827 4,502 1,694 1,714 725 330 255 4 21 448 625 488 120 3 9
1982 19,061 1,956 3,684 4,707 2,655 2,039 864 320 360 95 564 854 901 150 5
1981 20,897 1,890 4,187 5,437 2,912 2,522 844 387 238 64 251 598 749 765 146
1980 21,114 2,054 3,847 5,125 2,775 2,194 709 661 297 94 211 640 932 932 234 498 4
1979 24,093 2,202 7,404 5,264 1,685 1,844 589 1,042 172 99 197 638 766 924 547 110 605 5
1978 26,832 1,656 9,371 6,027 1,199 2,083 692 1,070 197 198 679 173 589 714 1,056 596 321 198 2 11
1977 30,172 1,780 12,216 6,942 899 1,971 663 1,193 359 55 625 152 580 1,030 1,059 248 147 248 1 4
1976 35,864 2,159 13,486 10,288 536 1,744 798 1,918 277 87 997 126 600 788 1,016 516 215 307 2 4
1975 39,500 1,770 14,934 10,945 1,821 1,090 1,520 788 1,343 228 106 1,174 237 604 1,096 947 539 278 72 8
1974 47,430 1,830 19,622 14,146 1,938 684 1,716 673 1,812 242 161 1,081 234 459 797 973 497 453 106 2 4
1973 49,485 2,053 20,079 14,363 1,857 1,050 2,161 1,075 1,838 209 246 972 388 580 732 907 422 493 50 2 5 3
1972 45,300 2,695 15,737 14,818 1,855 512 1,636 1,218 1,900 225 352 955 390 580 774 1,075 346 149 78 5
1971 57,651 2,752 22,548 18,776 2,360 1,018 1,531 1,489 1,773 332 253 864 353 700 975 755 460 611 99 2
1970 57,923 3,280 24,263 17,984 2,058 390 1,539 1,543 1,930 344 301 805 249 511 803 740 520 598 63 2
1969 62,805 3,288 29,567 17,393 2,208 1,395 1,637 747 2,310 386 254 679 228 583 754 421 394 480 79 2
1968 61,594 3,280 28,364 17,926 1,413 1,694 1,813 818 2,446 379 428 658 149 369 559 344 483 415 54 2
1967 67,628 3,639 32,700 19,333 2,730 1,998 1,074 1,391 645 484 744 587 425 482 563 356 416 59 2
1966 76,066 6,489 36,977 18,874 4,179 1,509 1,057 1,281 1,378 475 1,099 606 410 501 448 328 398 55 2
1965 79,805 8,167 35,592 20,988 5,460 1,637 794 1,126 1,305 483 1,348 752 530 492 229 389 461 51 1
1964 91,783 11,097 38,482 27,554 4,246 1,383 566 1,057 2,017 525 1,508 802 611 490 304 513 378 139 109 2
1963 83,052 9,707 31,947 23,966 4,505 2,215 444 691 3,270 500 1,543 744 1,182 658 486 406 348 210 123 104 3
1962 73,053 8,748 22,808 21,406 1,591 3,947 1,826 483 859 3,301 497 2,337 1,321 1,330 583 544 756 252 323 35 106
1961 82,306 13,370 24,907 21,081 4,324 3,365 1,892 474 168 3,476 662 2,336 1,937 1,628 507 408 1,083 192 330 81 69 16
1960 89,861 16,601 27,757 20,523 5,813 3,531 1,817 456 158 3,423 679 2,084 1,809 2,212 606 452 813 314 324 361 110 2 16
1959 81,997 15,008 21,936 19,795 5,171 3,441 1,426 528 907 3,407 932 770 2,233 1,811 2,082 179 572 405 315 388 294 320 58 3 16
1958 78,951 19,057 14,100 20,259 5,425 3,027 2,676 480 882 2,554 923 718 2,316 2,095 2,226 701 544 128 358 239 183 40 4 16
1957 74,023 17,416 10,533 18,733 7,083 2,536 2,284 845 733 2,381 1,861 693 2,512 2,100 1,867 842 553 125 350 347 186 27 16
1956 65,923 19,215 8,355 15,089 6,266 2,824 1,962 739 486 2,027 1,108 607 1,633 2,051 33 1,434 740 461 217 232 273 159 12
1955 65,782 19,304 7,142 11,928 7,445 3,502 1,046 564 646 1,887 812 486 1,298 1,854 4,077 1,665 839 444 213 215 292 112 11
1954 67,882 18,466 7,559 10,890 7,912 2,723 2,041 820 682 1,509 947 462 1,328 2,039 7,600 848 807 388 202 197 282 180
1953 55,178 17,804 6,568 7,373 7,620 3,904 2,269 54 561 1,340 1,083 42 1,198 2,001 1,711 637 411 184 181 128 109
1952 51,402 15,051 6,424 5,876 6,966 4,912 1,265 54 484 95 678 13 1,374 1,787 2,492 1,575 436 789 327 168 240 274 122
1951 66,402 19,718 5,717 6,467 6,959 5,267 3,197 59 1,141 61 812 64 1,094 1,224 6,160 1,650 4,793 945 402 179 146 236 111
1950 51,038 19,339 4,605 4,988 6,315 4,352 994 79 974 796 24 1,093 388 1,927 1,660 2,196 481 345 128 129 146 79
1949 50,799 21,345 3,909 3,987 9,124 4,022 1,262 33 835 946 60 991 193 1,295 1,356 656 359 38 112 134 141 1
1948 48,570 20,292 2,545 3,746 10,138 4,765 858 157 989 920 75 1,116 4 1,364 1,001 275 36 150 47 92
1947 46,668 18,704 1,595 3,513 11,348 4,365 2,155 364 471 832 59 851 2 1,294 835 22 25 122 111
1946 35,555 14,955 1,024 3,169 7,349 3,550 1,155 473 529 857 18 598 777 831 34 126 110
1945 20,826 9,264 536 610 5,064 729 1,594 337 393 1,082 18 495 581 16 107
1944 11,665 3,164 350 2,416 819 1,386 700 264 1,296 13 430 724 15 88
1943 12,586 5,963 611 1,776 724 1,037 267 243 962 40 61 796 16 90
1942 12,894 5,660 689 1,456 498 1,931 690 234 998 47 54 548 18 71
1941 16,391 4,129 666 3,168 359 759 4,475 659 400 1,066 59 59 501 5 86
1940 26,213 2,968 590 12,909 3,135 1,035 2,847 780 292 868 49 78 552 1 109
1939 45,736 12,407 606 9,441 9,928 4,577 3,535 657 144 705 1,229 469 1,421 5 400 131 81
1938 51,446 13,385 428 9,660 10,030 4,214 2,293 170 310 1,024 2,231 338 907 5,813 417 148 77 1
1937 66,569 17,091 1,282 7,752 17,791 6,503 1,061 133 800 1,062 5,277 375 1,527 5,361 417 80 56 1
1936 52,363 17,344 1,370 3,848 15,184 3,977 1,727 159 568 1,014 1,997 266 2,389 1,080 387 86 69 897 1
1935 41,619 16,844 2,013 2,483 10,940 3,351 740 85 401 944 595 306 2,449 379 30 57 2
1934 42,358 17,549 2,372 1,766 13,632 3,340 274 318 753 809 685 568 234 4 52 2
1933 36,644 12,109 4,183 1,396 13,044 2,377 1,065 217 209 1,139 390 193 266 10 44 2
1932 33,785 11,365 2,870 1,371 11,960 2,191 1,282 1,036 996 333 175 179 5 18 3 1
1931 18,211 859 2,309 1,239 8,722 826 2,386 636 850 29 156 80 7 109 3
1930 50,989 27,399 1,937 1,730 11,235 3,638 526 378 572 1,174 907 275 99 9 79 1,027 4
1929 42,303 21,368 1,959 1,463 9,097 3,040 195 1,550 791 1,386 732 386 219 9 102 6
1928 33,485 16,169 1,774 1,505 5,509 2,308 779 571 815 1,592 741 334 1,036 191 9 40 105 7
1927 28,268 12,286 1,155 1,568 4,403 2,424 195 1,376 618 1,441 1,046 398 999 166 9 47 128 9
1926 29,554 13,261 325 1,754 4,742 2,632 477 2,008 628 812 748 484 740 202 9 32 241 78 10 371
1925 29,330 13,887 216 1,588 5,563 2,467 610 1,091 680 1,079 706 238 669 151 20 42 219 96 8
1924 21,728 9,416 91 1,523 4,427 2,047 134 1,079 594 781 721 257 114 20 62 345 109 8
1923 18,472 7,453 89 1,435 3,116 1,710 1,149 874 525 540 912 217 166 177 20 81 8
1922 19,607 7,974 127 1,280 4,207 1,285 650 1,455 188 819 1,059 202 155 121 20 59 6
1921 12,098 4,969 88 1,483 2,103 1,071 1,264 438 304 181 78 20 92 7
1920 15,758 6,658 103 1,281 2,683 1,169 992 201 493 662 915 120 124 6 43 108 6 194
1919 14,240 4,382 104 3,340 1,896 1,039 153 1,141 473 402 857 161 132 6 29 119 6
1918 11,421 4,093 51 2,177 1,600 565 848 2 602 414 528 195 183 6 62 90 5
1917 10,193 2,914 739 1,689 2,086 480 263 212 379 406 529 193 128 6 62 98 9
1916 14,151 5,520 562 1,798 2,094 1,129 499 452 464 511 528 131 295 6 68 82 12
1915 22,523 10,886 83 2,096 3,883 980 1,305 602 370 1,169 662 80 142 64 82 111 8
1914 25,614 15,820 2,024 2,548 1,289 291 673 731 1,106 560 115 135 36 190 93 3
1913 25,700 16,024 1,605 2,895 1,659 217 599 927 577 234 245 342 56 220 92 8
1912 25,912 15,211 1,586 2,698 993 725 3 1,398 878 322 330 497 138 125 63 6 939
1911 25,064 12,493 120 1,979 2,889 547 1,741 303 1,959 1,576 230 563 337 142 102 77 6
1910 18,164 8,933 968 2,483 233 1,448 101 1,342 1,639 38 539 183 161 90 6
1909 12,876 6,099 9 835 1,645 100 942 165 1,190 997 52 493 88 229 32
1908 11,113 3,839 16 1,312 798 2,005 113 1,052 956 107 588 136 182 8 1
1907 7,804 2,524 3 1,086 648 477 244 1,058 846 93 480 124 207 8 6
1906 6,424 1,807 4 1,472 429 534 405 741 321 29 374 117 172 8 11
1905 5,356 2,323 150 446 264 330 6 894 399 105 130 60 33 153 8 11 44
1904 5,694 2,242 428 179 699 8 1,077 195 86 85 91 212 359 8 25
1903 4,233 1,879 1 132 391 10 642 253 1 47 99 98 338 8 37 297
1902 3,893 1,974 226 89 526 10 342 159 102 172 8 51 234
1901 2,416 1,515 60 70 10 258 55 49 340 8 51
1900 2,721 1,048 5 42 875 9 190 143 83 66 8 51 201

Catches by country and species

[edit]

Sources: same as counts by year, above.

Numbers of whales caught, by country and species: Total 1900–2015
Countries Total Fin Sperm Blue Minke Sei Humpback Belugas Pilot Narwhals Baird's
Beaked		 Bottlenose Bowhead Bryde's Gray Orca Right Whales Species not
recorded
Argentina 51,438 26,432 1,497 8,936 6,122 8,233 218
Australia 39,361 3 14,844 32 1 6 24,468 7
Bahamas 4,270 418 571 3 14 3,022 242
Bermuda 1 1
Brazil 22,609 89 929 2 14,330 5,077 1,430 31 6 715
Canada 83,406 21,820 6,649 3,034 959 4,833 7,152 12,958 324 23,259 41 26 38 13 7 8 2,285
Chile 47,069 6,741 30,982 4,299 1,711 2,046 3 3 274 1,010
China 3,269 15 1,821 1,430 3
Denmark 1,924 668 4 1,223 29
Ecuador 371 272 68 15 16
Faroe Islands 141,647 5,215 682 168 124 925 104 134,089 16 4 320
France 8,960 15 3,287 1 649 5,007 1
Germany 12,451 7,062 1,059 3,885 15 237 1 192
Greenland 107,126 1,101 146 44 10,228 19 471 68,268 1 26,828 5 10 5
Iceland 23,479 11,295 2,948 622 5,005 2,674 83 1 851
Indonesia 416 416
Japan 615,890 165,214 176,320 26,518 79,990 131,913 10,992 482 439 16,360 1,478 5 189 5,990
South Korea 21,803 1,176 20,349 3 13 1 2 47 3 2 207
Netherlands 27,800 18,833 3,748 3,457 1 457 1,303 1
New Zealand 5,924 1 266 5 5 5,580 19 48
Norway 796,889 313,920 53,460 177,255 131,940 31,001 72,633 1,373 6,340 1 462 232 2,500 462 5,310
Panama 30,982 10,229 9,650 5,913 39 5,151
Peru 56,349 1,107 48,182 218 2,929 324 3,589
Philippines 96 96
Portugal 29,925 509 28,132 171 1 7 1,077 27 1
Russia/Soviet Union 633,322 61,623 274,673 14,630 50,005 67,112 56,605 86,965 2 173 115 513 5,529 9,495 1,727 4,140 15
South Africa 169,388 50,712 64,617 20,378 1,139 14,445 14,282 2 1,776 36 57 1,944
Spain 12,705 5,128 6,777 21 478 2 299
Saint Vincent and
the Grenadines		 507 3 502 2
Tonga 114 114
United Kingdom 322,758 157,070 27,594 105,404 6 13,176 18,466 33 86 4 171 748
United States 50,031 8,425 1,937 3,119 9 483 14,197 16,213 17 10 4,437 2 854 6 22 300
Unknown 1,910 538 1 115 31 447 1 2 775
Total 3,324,190 875,631 759,375 379,521 315,922 287,147 250,964 184,404 136,272 50,087 670 6,548 4,999 29,663 12,122 4,296 5,608 20,961

See also

[edit]

Footnotes

[edit]
  1. ^ Van Beneden may have erred on the date. He may have meant 1392. In this way he would simply be repeating Cleirac's earlier claim.

References

[edit]
  1. ^ Roman, Joe (2006-05-01). Whale. Reaktion Books. p. 24. ISBN 978-1-86189-505-9. Retrieved 25 March 2017.
  2. ^ a b "Rock art hints at whaling origins". BBC News. 20 April 2004. Retrieved 25 November 2014.
  3. ^ "Prehistoric Cultures Were Hunting Whales At Least 3,000 Years Ago". Science Daily. University of Alaska Fairbanks. 8 April 2008. Retrieved 20 January 2017.
  4. ^ Grimble, Arthur. (2012). A Pattern of Islands. London: Eland Publishing. ISBN 978-1-78060-026-0. OCLC 836405865.
  5. ^ Rodrigues, Ana S. L.; Charpentier, Anne; Bernal-Casasola, Darío; Gardeisen, Armelle; Nores, Carlos; Pis Millán, José Antonio; McGrath, Krista; Speller, Camilla F. (2018). "Forgotten Mediterranean calving grounds of grey and North Atlantic right whales: evidence from Roman archaeological records" (PDF). Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. 285 (1882): 20180961. doi:10.1098/rspb.2018.0961. ISSN 0962-8452. PMC 6053924. PMID 30051821.
  6. ^ Davis, Nicola (July 11, 2018). "Romans had whaling industry, archaeological excavation suggests". The Guardian.
  7. ^ "Basques | the Canadian Encyclopedia".
  8. ^ a b Urzainqui, T. and J. M. de Olaizola (1998). La Navarra Maritima. Pamiela.
  9. ^ Knight, C. 1866. The English Cyclopaedia. London: Bradbury, Evans.
  10. ^ a b Barkham, M. M. (1994). "Book review: Proulx, J-P., Basque whaling in Labrador in the 16th century (1993)". Newfound. Stud. 10: 260–286.
  11. ^ Aguilar, A. 1986. A Review of Old Basque Whaling and its Effect on the Right Whales (Eubalaena glacialis) of the North Atlantic. Reports of the International Whaling Commission (special issue) 10: 191–199.
  12. ^ "Contrary to the spurious claims of writers on the history of whaling who have based their findings on secondary evidence, the Basques never, at any point, chased whales further and further out into the Atlantic until they collided with North America. This ridiculous legend must be laid to rest once and for all." See Barkham, S. H. (1984). "The Basque whaling establishments in Labrador 1536–1632 – A Summary". Arctic. 37 (4): 515–519.
  13. ^ a b Barkham, S. H. (1984). "The Basque Whaling Establishments in Labrador 1536–1632 – A Summary". Arctic. 37 (4): 515–519. doi:10.14430/arctic2232.
  14. ^ Paget, S. 1897. Ambroise Paré and His Times, 1510–1590. New York, Putnam.
  15. ^ Eric Hilt, "Investment and Diversification in the American Whaling Industry." Journal of Economic History 2007 67(2): 292–314. ISSN 0022-0507
  16. ^ David Moment, "The Business of Whaling in America in the 1850s," Business History Review, Fall 1957, 31#3 pp 261–291
  17. ^ Dolin (2007)
  18. ^ Starbuck (1878), p.17.
  19. ^ Melville's Moby-Dick
  20. ^ Sharpe, Mitchell R.; Winter, Frank H. (1971-12-01). "The California Whaling Rocket and the Men behind It". California Historical Quarterly. 50 (4): 349–362. doi:10.2307/25157350. ISSN 0097-6059. JSTOR 25157350.
  21. ^ Schmitt et al (1980), pp. 182–185.
  22. ^ Schmitt et al (1980), p. 186.
  23. ^ New Bedford Whaling National Historic Site
  24. ^ Jewitt, John R. (John Rodgers), 1783–1821. (1987). The adventures and sufferings of John R. Jewitt: captive of Maquinna. Stewart, Hilary, 1924–, Jewitt, John R. (John Rodgers), 1783–1821. Seattle: University of Washington Press. ISBN 0-295-96547-9. OCLC 16128858.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  25. ^ Fjågesund, Peter (2014). "The Northern Heyday: 1830–1880". The Dream of the North: A Cultural History to 1920. Brill. pp. 331–412. ISBN 978-90-420-3837-0. JSTOR 10.1163/j.ctv2gjwzhs.
  26. ^ a b Ellis (1991), p.45.
  27. ^ Barkham (1984), p. 515.
  28. ^ Rafnsson (2006), p. 4.
  29. ^ Between 1550 and the early 17th century, Red Bay, known as Balea Baya (Whale Bay), was a centre for Basque whaling operations.
  30. ^ Conway (1904), pp. 7–8.
  31. ^ a b See the accounts of the 1613 season by Baffin (pp. 38–53) and Fotherby (pp. 54–68) in Markham (1881) and Gerrits (pp. 11–38) in Conway (1904).
  32. ^ Du Pasquier (1984), p. 538.
  33. ^ See the accounts by Edge (pp. 12–15) and Poole (pp. 34–40) in Purchas (1625).
  34. ^ Jackson (1978), p. 12.
  35. ^ a b "Happy Hunting Grounds in the Arctic". Frisia Coast Trail. 2021-04-23. Retrieved 2024-02-22.
  36. ^ Purchas (1625), pp. 16–17; Conway (1906), pp. 65–67.
  37. ^ Purchas (1625), p. 17; Conway (1906), p. 84.
  38. ^ Dalgård (1962), pp. 46–48.
  39. ^ Purchas (1625), p. 18; Conway (1906), p. 92.
  40. ^ Conway (1906), pp. 95–101.
  41. ^ Conway (1904), pp. 42–66.
  42. ^ Conway (1906), p. 124.
  43. ^ Conway (1906), pp. 133–134.
  44. ^ Conway (1906), pp. 138–139.
  45. ^ Conway (1904), pp. 174–175.
  46. ^ Appleby (2008), pp. 39–41.
  47. ^ Dalgård (1962), p. 190.
  48. ^ Henrat (1984), p. 545.
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  51. ^ Du Pasquier (2000), p. 83, 323.
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  53. ^ Ross (1979), p. 94. For a century or so prior to this date the Dutch and Dano-Norwegians had irregularly sent out whaling and trading voyages to the region.
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Sources

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North America

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  • Allen, Everett S. Children of the Light: The Rise and Fall of New Bedford Whaling and the Death of the Arctic Fleet. (1973). 302 pp.
  • Barkham, S. H. (1984). "The Basque Whaling Establishments in Labrador 1536–1632: A Summary". Arctic. 37 (4): 515–519. doi:10.14430/arctic2232.
  • Busch, Briton Cooper. "Whaling Will Never Do for Me": The American Whaleman in the Nineteenth Century. (1994). 265 pp
  • Creighton, Margaret S. Rites and Passages: The Experience of American Whaling, 1830–1870. (1995). 233 pp. excerpt and text search
  • Davis, Lance E.; Gallman, Robert E.; and Gleiter, Karin. In Pursuit of Leviathan: Technology, Institutions, Productivity, and Profits in American Whaling, 1816–1906. (NBER Series on Long-Term Factors in Economic Development.) 1997. 550 pp. advanced quantitative economic history
  • Dickinson, Anthony B. and Sanger, Chesley W. Twentieth-Century Shore-Station Whaling in Newfoundland and Labrador. 2005. 254 pp.
  • Dolin, Eric Jay (2007). Leviathan: The History of Whaling in America. New York: W. W. Norton & Company. ISBN 978-0-393-06057-7.
  • George, G. D. and R. G. Bosworth. 1988. Use of Fish and Wildlife by Residents of Angoon, Admiralty Island, Alaska. Division of Subsistence. Alaska Department of Fish and Game, Juneau, Alaska.
  • Gidmark, Jill B. Melville Sea Dictionary: A Glossed Concordance and Analysis of the Sea Language in Melville's Nautical Novels (1982) online edition[permanent dead link‍]
  • Lytle, Thomas G. Harpoons and Other Whalecraft. New Bedford: Old Dartmouth Historical Society, 1984. 256 pp.
  • Morison, Samuel Eliot. The Maritime History of Massachusetts, 1783–1860 (1921) 400pp full text online
  • Reeves, R. R., T. D. Smith, R. L. Webb, J. Robbins, and P. J. Clapham. 2002. Humpback and fin whaling in the Gulf of Maine from 1800 to 1918. Mar. Fish. Rev. 64(1):1–12.
  • Scammon, Charles (1874). The Marine Mammals of the North-western Coast of North America: Together with an Account of the American Whale-fishery. Dover. ISBN 978-0-486-21976-9.
  • Schmitt, Frederick; Cornelis de Jong; Frank H. Winter (1980). Thomas Welcome Roys: America's Pioneer of Modern Whaling. University Press of Virginia. ISBN 978-0-917376-33-7.
  • Webb, Robert (1988). On the Northwest: Commercial Whaling in the Pacific Northwest 1790–1967. University of British Columbia Press. ISBN 978-0-7748-0292-5.

Further reading

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Tucker Jones, Ryan, Angela Wanhalla, eds. "New Histories of Pacific Whaling," RCC Perspectives: Transformations in Environment and Society 2019, no. 5. doi.org/10.5282/rcc/8954.

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