Whaling

The role which whaling has played in man's conquest of the oceans has

never been given full credit by historians. Initially, man was content

to fish along the shore, and then gradually he pushed out on the waters

in sight of land. Here he learned to be a skilled fisherman, and he

began to hunt the coastal whales. Man gradually developed the boats,

gear, and the know-how, called seamanship, and gained the courage to

venture farther and farther from land. Even as late as the 15th century

sailors were extremely superstitious and believed in sea monsters. There

was, of course, a certain basis for these imaginings. Periodically, a

large whale would strand or float ashore and it is easy to understand

how these tremendous and misshapen remains could have kindled the

imagination. Whaling was an extremely hazardous profession, calling for

the utmost in nautical skill. Throughout the development of the maritime

resources of some European states, whaling was one of their most

profitable businesses. Even though a great deal of shipbuilding was

initiated by man's speculative desire to find new lands and to conduct

trade, an equal amount was for whaling vessels. From the Middle Ages to

nearly the end of the 19th century, oil from whales illuminated some

homes and streets. Whale meat was an important source of protein for

peoples who had not yet developed extensive animal husbandry.

For over five centuries whales have been under attack by professional

hunters, and long before that by the aboriginal peoples of many lands.

The reason whales have withstood this hunting pressure better than land

animals is due to the fact that their ocean habitat has not been invaded

by man for agriculture, and in the days of sailing ships and hand

harpooning, the whale was a formidable prey, far more so than in our

present day of motorization and automation. The tremendous area of their

habitat made it difficult and time consuming for man to find them, and

his ignorance of their migration routes and the oceanographic features

which cause whales to disperse and congregate gave the whales some

protection. Technological advances, powerful harpoon guns and totally

mechanized factory ships in the whaling industry have swung the

advantage to man, and whales are now in peril of extinction as is the

whaling industry itself.

_Whalers as Explorers_

History tends to stress the great explorers who discovered new worlds

and the larger islands of the Pacific. However, ships cannot with full

safety, ply the seven seas until every island and shoal has been found

and charted, and ships cannot safely venture near any shore until the

adjoining waters have been systematically charted. The principal

discoverers of these danger spots have been the whalers who patiently

combed so much of the oceans in their search for whales. Every island

has on it the calling cards of Whalers who put ashore for water, food,

fuel, or just to stretch their legs and to satisfy their curiosity. This

isn't to say that they had the time to make hydrographic surveys, but at

least their log books defined the areas where surveys would eventually

have to be made. Whalers lived adventure, and danger was their common

lot. It is not surprising that much of this adventure would find its way

into the hearts of men through yarns and tales such as _Moby Dick_.

_Prehistoric Whaling_

Whaling was practiced long before historic times. The coastal Eskimos of

the arctic Americas and of Greenland and Spitzenberg practiced whaling.

Whales were approached in skin-covered boats and even from the edge of

ice floes. These peoples are differentiated ethnically on the basis of

the variations in their whaling techniques, in their whaling gear and in

their religious preparations for whaling. It took great courage to whale

in such frigid waters where an overturning meant death. It is not

surprising that these peoples looked to supernatural deities who

required a very complex ritual to insure a safe and successful hunt.

The principal method of hunting involved coming up alongside the whale

so that the man in the bow, the whaling captain, could spear the chest.

If he were lucky enough to drive the shaft between the ribs, the lung

could be pierced and the whale would be mortally wounded. Each time the

whale surfaced the boat would attempt another approach and lancing. The

stone tip of the lance was detachable, and when freed, led to an

inverted sealskin float by a long line of twisted sinews. These floats

marked the location of the whale during submergence. Eventually the

whale, weakened by loss of blood and by fright, would die and then came

the chore of hand pulling the whale ashore for feasting and

reprovisioning the village's storehouses. The captain of the boat and

his crew were considered the most skilled and important of the hunters.

Whaling was an ancestral skill which was passed on generation to

generation with great care. The villages could ill afford to lose their

best men, or the equipment which was difficult to make.

There are interesting variations to this method. Aleutian islanders

prepared a poisonous coating for the harpoon tip which was sufficiently

toxic to kill the whale. This was prepared from the deadly aconite by a

secret process, depending upon the concentration of the alkaloid poison

from the root. Eskimos from Greenland and Spitzenberg dried another

secret coating on the harpoon tip which consisted of a bacterium which

produced fatal blood poisoning in the whale. In either method the

whalers waited for the bloated carcass to surface and then they hauled

it ashore for eating. Apparently the spoiled meat had no ill effects on

these peoples, but of course, much of their food was spoiled during the

summertime.

Much of the religion of these primitive peoples centered around the need

of giving the whaler and his crewmen the necessary courage and

confidence to perform this job. Religious ceremonies were held weeks

before, and again after, every hunt. Some of the deities were whales,

and whales also figure predominantly in many of their folk tales.

The European and American whalers came in direct contact with the

Eskimos competing not only for whales, but also for seals, walrus, and

fur-bearing animals. Today, Eskimos use harpoon guns and sturdy wooden

whale boats. However, the entire village still turns out to drag a whale

ashore. Each village kills only what it requires for food and oil

through the long arctic winter. They hunt the arctic bowhead whale,

although the smaller white whale (beluga) is also hunted. The bowhead

has never recovered from commercial whaling, even though it has been

protected for years by the International Whaling Commission. The

regulations however, do not apply to the aborigines, but their needs

should not have prevented the whales from becoming plentiful again.

The Indians who occupy the coastal waters of south Alaska and British

Columbia are excellent salmon fishermen, but do not whale, even though

they possess magnificent boats suitable for this. However, at the

entrance to Puget Sound and south along the Olympic Peninsula live

Indians who hunted whales as recently as 50 years ago. They whaled in

much the same way as did the early Eskimos, with detachable stonetipped

lances and sealskin floats. It is believed that the whale they hunted

was the California gray. Boats were hewn from the massive trunks of

cedars. From the bark and wiry branches, a tough flexible line was

woven, strong enough to withstand the terrific pull of the whale. These

Indians repeatedly lanced the whale until its death. The generation of

Indians who knew this skill is gone, and the present generation only

remembers vaguely the tales of their grandparents. The Washington State

Historical Museum in Seattle has managed to interview the old-timers and

collect their gear which is now on display there.

The Kamchadal and Chuchee Eskimos whose villages looked out on the

summer grounds of the California gray were not inclined to whale. They

did, however, feed on any which happened to wash ashore.

_Historic Whaling_

Commercial whaling began in Spain during the Middle Ages. At that time

the black right whale was plentiful along the coast of the Basque

province, and it provided an ideal quarry because it could be sighted

from lookout towers along the coast and it was not difficult to

approach. Equally important, these whales floated at death so they could

be pulled ashore. They were prized for their oil, meat, and the baleen

which was sold throughout Europe. The Biscayan whalers gradually reduced

the local population of whales and began to range farther in their

search. They came at last upon the haunts of another right whale which

frequented the ice-filled seas of the North Atlantic. Here there was not

a satisfactory method to preserve the meat so this was thrown away.

There is an extensive and fascinating history of this early whaling but

only the briefest outline can be mentioned here. Throughout the story

there is a constant search for new whaling grounds to sustain operations

and to meet the increased demand for whaling products. As the industry

expanded it was forced to capture less desirable species because the

other species could not hold up against the onslaught.

Other nations took up whaling and soon the English and Dutch had large

fleets of ships manned by Basque whalers. These ships were based in

Greenland and Spitzenberg. The irregular coastlines of these wind-swept

lands provided many harbors in which shore whaling stations could be

situated. The camps were well constructed, and daily during the arctic

summer, the ships put out for whales in waters which were rough,

cluttered with icebergs, and shrouded in fog. Naturally, under such

difficult conditions, there was great loss of ships and men. The

companies were not friendly with one another and periodically raided the

shore camps of each other, stealing and burning supplies and buildings.

Under normal circumstances such activities would have been provocative

of war. However, since communications were poor and the countries

concerned were preoccupied with colonizing America, the situation took

care of itself, for in time the whales diminished and the whaling

companies failed.

[Illustration: Cutting-in, from the book _Nimrod of the Sea or The

American Whaleman_ by Wm. M. Davis. _Courtesy San Francisco Maritime

Museum Association._]

Soon after this the colonists in America wrote to relatives in Europe

about the richness of the country, not the least of its resources being

the whales which spouted just off shore along the entire Eastern

seaboard. Whaling companies were formed and these were concentrated

along the New England coast. After the separation of the colonies from

England, whaling developed locally with the ships which had been engaged

in commerce between the colonies and the mother country. It did not take

long to exhaust the populations of whales, so the Whalers began to range

afar.

This led to the discovery of the haunts of the sperm whale in the open

oceans of the tropics and subtropics. Yankee ingenuity developed a new

kind of whaling in which the whales were brought alongside the base ship

for processing. It took a great deal of skill to strip the blanket of

fat from a whale which was three-fourths submerged and pitching and

rolling on the restless surface. The blubber once removed, was hauled

aboard and cooked in kettles to free the oil which was then placed in

barrels and stowed below. This form of whaling was called pelagic

whaling. It was not uncommon for ships to be away from home port for a

year or two before the casks were full. This whaling was dominated by

the Americans, and it contributed much to the prosperity of New England,

providing much of the capital which later financed its manufacturing

developments. This was the golden era of whaling so superbly described

by Herman Melville in _Moby Dick_. Here is a real yarn about whaling

written by a Whaler who later became a superb author.

The discovery of petroleum in Pennsylvania brought to the fore new

illuminating fuels, kerosene and natural gas which were much cheaper

than whale oil, so the whaling industry declined rapidly. This happened

at the same time steam ships were replacing sailing ships, so it is not

surprising that the beautiful sailing vessels which had been the

mainstay of whaling were brought home to every little coastal village in

New England to rot away, sad memorials to better days.

_Modern Whaling_

By the 20th century whaling was again possible because of new uses for

whaling products. Chemistry has succeeded in finding new uses for whale

oil. Fat derivatives such as soaps, margarines and a few other products

owe their abundance and low cost to the whaling industry. Packing house

technology has been applied to the butchering of whales so that the

entire animal has many uses. Tasty meats are finding their way into the

diets of many countries and the tougher, less tasty parts are ground and

used to feed cats and dogs. Farms that raise mink and other mammals for

the fur trade are heavy buyers of this source of meat to feed their

animals. The remaining parts, blood, bones, and meat scraps, are dried

and ground into nutritious meals which are used by the poultry and

livestock industries as supplementary feeds. Currently each whale

produces over $5,000 worth of products.

The heart of the processing operation is the pelagic factory ship which

is nearly as large as an aircraft carrier. They are supplied by huge

tankers which carry off the oil and by refrigerated ships which return

the meat to port. In the 20th century the United States has not

seriously participated in whaling and has not a single fleet in

competition with the other countries which now have billion dollar

investments in ships and gear. For the past 70 years, the leader in the

whaling industry has been Norway. The industry is very competitive

however, and England, Japan, Netherlands, USSR, and Germany have big

investments.

The Norwegian lead was due principally to Svend Foyn who invented the

harpoon with an explosive head. The harpoon was fired by a deck-mounted

cannon and it had sufficient range and accuracy to permit killing those

whales which heretofore were too fast and wary to be handlanced. The

harpoon head had a time delay bomb which insured that the explosion

occur deep in the vitals, and that the whale was made fast to a manila

line so that it would not be lost. The cannon is mounted in the bow of a

small fast ship known as a killer boat. These little ships operate for 1

or 2 days away from the factory ship in search of whales. The gunner who

is responsible for firing the cannon is the most important member of the

crew and on his experience and skill depend the entire operation. If he

misses or fails to kill the whale, it will alarm the other whales and a

day or two of searching may have been in vain.

[Illustration: Whalebone drying; from the book _San Francisco

Whaling_ by Pacific Steam Whaling Co., San Francisco. Ships in

picture--the _J. D. Peters_ on the right and the steam whaler _Orca_

on the left. _Courtesy San Francisco Maritime Museum Association._]

[Illustration: Trinidad, Calif., whaling shore station; two humpback

whales on the platform. _Courtesy San Francisco Maritime Museum

Association._]

The whaling season is extremely short and as soon as the yearly quota

has been reached, all countries must stop. Naturally every country tries

to get as many whales of the total as possible. Once a whale is killed,

it is hauled alongside, and the body cavity is inflated with compressed

air to make the whale buoyant. It should be remembered that the whales

which are now being processed are the "wrong" whales and they would

otherwise sink. The whale is then flagged, lighted, and a radio

transmitter secured to it, and it is cast adrift while the killer boat

continues to search for more victims. At the end of the hunting period,

the killer boat retraces its route, picking up the whales it has killed.

These are secured to the sides of the ship and brought back to the

factory ship for processing.

Naturally, the technological improvements which make whaling profitable

again would have been meaningless without the discovery of new whaling

grounds. About 1900 the seas around the antarctic continent were found

to be teeming with whales. These were principally three species--the

humpback, the finback, and the blue. The blue whale is distinguished by

the fact that it is the largest mammal on earth, reaching sometimes 100

feet in length and weighing over 100 tons. It is the species preferred

by whalers but it is not as plentiful as its close relative, the

finback, which is the second largest species, ranging in length from 60

to 80 feet. The humpback whale has never been too abundant, but along

with the rorqual, or Sei whale, it has provided an extra dividend for

the business.

The extreme richness of the antarctic whaling grounds is due to the fact

that the entire perimeter of the continent is open to oceanic waters,

allowing whales free access to a tremendous area of fertile waters. The

limited richness of the arctic whaling grounds is due to the fact that

the Arctic Icecap is flanked principally by the land masses of Eurasia

and North America and the whales have access only to those portions

opening from the Bering Sea and to a small area in the North Atlantic.

Whales cannot swim too far in along the coast of either mainland because

the period of open water is brief. Even in the antarctic whales tend to

work near the ice floes and occasionally get caught by the sudden

closures of the ice.

It is too difficult to estimate the number of whales which were taken

from the arctic during the many seasons that whalers worked there.

However, it cannot compare with the numbers which are realized annually

from the slaughter around Antarctica. As many as 45,000 whales have been

taken in a brief whaling season of less than 2 months. Contracting

governments under provision of the International Agreement For

Regulation of Whaling enforce the regulations as regards the number

taken and there is a penalty if a juvenile whale is killed. Nursing

mothers are also protected. The regulations are made by the

International Whaling Commission and the number of whales which can be

taken each year is determined from the statistics of the populations and

these quotas are recommended by the Commission. It is hoped that by

these regulations and studies, the industry can continue to prosper. The

problems and activities of the scientists, the majority of whom work for

the various governments' agencies, will be considered shortly.

[Illustration: Blubber ready to process at the Moss Landing, Calif.,

whaling shore station, photographed 1919. _Courtesy San Francisco

Maritime Museum Association._]