History

Whaling at its beginnings, was a subsistence activity, not a commercial enterprise, where native peoples used the whales because it was available to them as part of their environment and whale hunting became part of their indigenous culture. However, by the early 1600 and 1700s commercial merchant ship owners realized the profits of the whaling trade and a shift began toward large scale whaling by companies.

Early commercial ventures were limited in their ability to expand by their capability to hunt whales further from shore. Not until larger and faster shipping vessels were developed, and better hunting and butchering methods were discovered was the true profit potential of whaling realized.

The first commercial ventures were organized in Europe. In 1610, England began whaling expeditions in Greenland, by the Muscovy Company. In 1640, the Massachusetts Bay Colony began whaling on its shores. Long Island, New York, began whaling along the shore by 1650. Cape Cod had whaling operations in place from 1600 to 1700. The height of the whaling trade for the Dutch was 1700. Throughout the 1700s the whaling industry exploded in the American colonies, with 1789 being a key time when the first American whaleship set sail from Nantucket into the Atlantic Ocean.

Geography

Initially, all commercial whaling operations where centered near shores where whales stayed close enough to shore to be hunted. This included only Greenland, Labrador and Norway shores. It was not until improvements were made in ships, and hunting and butchering methods that the routes for whale hunting opened up across the oceans.

Whaling became an important economic activity along American and Canadian shores, as well as around Europe. It wasn't until much later, with more advancement in shipbuilding and technology/weaponry, that whaling extended into the South Polar Seas area.

Types

Indigenous people used fairly primitive methods to hunt whales. This basically consisted of being out in an open boat and using a harpoon or long knife to kill the whale. This was extremely dangerous for the hunter so, of course, the exploits of an established hunter made him well respected among his people for his bravery and skill.

Later, when whaling moved from a subsistence focus to a commercial one, other methods were employed. At first, the commercial ventures looked much like the indigenous ones. Open boats, perhaps larger with more men, were used and harpoons were still the weapons of choice. Hunters waited for a whale to surface and then had to quickly strike or else be forced to wait until the whale resurfaced, which might be an hour or so.

Swivel guns were first used in the early 1700s but usually were impractical until improvements in the 1800s. The main problem was the recoil of the gun versus the weak structure of the boats used.

Not until the mid-1800s were further weapons used widely in whaling, and those included the shoulder gun and darting gun. The latter proved the most useful and therefore popular. The shoulder gun was not reliable and not widely used.

Benefits

When whaling moved into a business trade, it was because merchant ship owners discovered all the markets available for whale products. Whale oil was used for lamps, and baleen or whalebone was used in buggy whips, parasol ribs, and dresses and corsets. Sperm whales were harvested especially for the substance in their heads to make candles, and the meat was sold as well.

Because of the variety of products derived from whales, whaling became a big industry during the 1700s. America became especially dependent on the whale trade and much of the new nation's economy was set upon whaling. While indigenous people relied on whaling for survival, merchants set up companies and workers relied on those company profits to keep them financially secure.

Effects

With the development of the trywork in 1750, a huge expansion in whaling began, much like a gold rush, in which people crowded into commercial operations looking to make personal fortunes, pushing farther out into the sea in pursuit of wealth.

When better methods were employed, the balance fell out of the whale's favor. The dangers of whaling decreased, profits increased, and naturally, the whales were being killed off in higher and higher numbers to meet the demands. The whale stocks were being depleted faster than they could be restored.

Today, whaling is monitored by nearly every nation, although subsistence whaling by native peoples is generally allowed. What species of whales are still in danger depends on which source is cited. Whaling industry people insist that they have numbers to indicate that their enterprises can be done in such a way as to not create a negative toll on the whale populations, while environmentalists sound alarms over the rapid losses and even extinctions of certain whales.