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The Advent and End of Modern Whaling

Before electricity, before synthetic lubricants, before plastic, there were whales. More than any other industry, Americans have whaling to thank for the country we know today. Whaling ships helped win America’s war of independence, and provided the nation with a lucrative industry that accelerated its industrial revolution and generated the financial resources to build a country. For centuries we slaughtered them, and today we watch them. Whale watching is a peaceful ending to the long, brutal history of humans and whales. In today’s world, it is primarily whale watching on Antarctica tours or during travel to Argentina and elsewhere that brings humans in contact with whales.

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The Advent and End of Modern Whaling

Commercial whaling in North America began innocently enough. When whales washed up dead on the shores of Massachusetts, colonists butchered them to rid the beaches of the stench, salvaging what was of value. Eventually, seamen began going out in boats to kill the whales in shallow waters and haul them back to shore. They discovered that Nantucket was a predictable place to find whales as they migrated south from the Arctic. This upstart country had joined the whaling nations of the world.

Humans found a variety of uses for the whale’s ample body parts. These included oil, meat, and in the baleen species, their namesake feeding mechanism, a lightweight, pliable precursor to plastic that was used in an array of popular products from corsets to fishing poles.

Whale stocks close to home eventually became depleted. Assisted by the technological innovations of the industrial revolution, whaling nations took to the high seas to hunt their prey, allowing them to even travel to Antarctica. By the mid-1800s, whalers had begun using steam-powered instead of sailing ships. It was the golden age of whaling though trouble was brewing from an unexpected source. Scientists had begun experimenting with coal to make kerosene. A century before whaling nations passed an international treaty intended to ensure the sustainability of the industry, the whale’s most important body part was on its way to becoming obsolete.

Whalers continued to find ways to make the industry more efficient. Whaling ships became larger and faster, allowing more whales to be killed by ships on travel to Antarctica and other remote places. No invention was more important than the deck-mounted harpoon cannon developed in Norway. It eliminated the need for whalers to jump into open boats and move close enough to the whales too use nets and hand-held weapons. By devising a harpoon gun that would explode when imbedded, it hastened the whale’s death, turning what could be a battle lasting many hours into a struggle that might be over in minutes.

Hauling carcasses was slow, tedious business, a problem solved in part by locating whaling stations in remote places near Antarctica where the animals were killed. The stations allowed whalers to travel to Antarctica, kill the whales and harvest them nearby. Seven stations were eventually established on South Georgia, turning it into the center of a booming whaling industry. By the 1920s, shipboard equipment has been developed that could haul carcasses on to ships outfitted as factories. Workers could be processing one whale while shipmates manning smaller craft called catch boats could be out hunting the next, which vastly increased the annual catch. As harsh a livelihood as whaling was for seamen, for nations with the technology and expertise, it was a dream come true, an industry with seemingly insatiable demand and an unending supply of whales.

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