A history of the whale fisheries;: From the Basque fisheries of the tenth century to the hunting of the finner whale at the present date,

by James Travis Jenkins

Many of the earliest books, particularly those dating back to the 1900s and before, are now extremely scarce and increasingly expensive. We are republishing these classic works in affordable, high quality, modern editions, using the original text and artwork.

336 pages, Unknown Binding

First published March 4, 2009

Reviews

[dragonhelmuk · Rating 4 out of 5]

Public domain, kindled for free: This is the best English language book I have been able to find covering all scholarship on whales up to the 20th century. The author is writing at the end of the period when whaling was common, and in some ways is more "in touch" with the whaling industry than modern readers can ever be. The book covers the major "ages of whaling" from Basque right whale fisheries of the 10th centuries through the Dutch fishing of the Greenland [right] whale (now called the bowhead whale) and the american fisheries of the atlantic and pacific (especially sperm whales). The book finishes off with modern whaling using the gun harpoon and the hunting of smaller whales like sei whales. That's still the sort of fishery done by Norway, Iceland and Japan so in that way it's still fairly current.

Obviously lots of the research behind the writing is now out of date. In particular most of the whales have changed names which can be a bit confusing. It's not terribly hard to keep up if you read the whole thing though. In addition, lots of modern scholarship will still start off by approaching things from this 20th century point of view - for example any history might start off with Basque whaling, even though we now know that whaling certainly had currency all around Europe in the tenth century and before that too. There are now more accurate books around introducing you to whales and whaling, but this book contains the classic viewpoint which everyone will have heard of.

One quote! :

{whale products}
Originally whales were hunted for their oil. Their bodies are covered, immediately underneath the skin, with a layer of fat or blubber, which in a large specimen is from twelve to eighteen inches thick, In young whales this blubber resembles hog’s lard, in old ones it is of a reddish colour. Boiling this yields thick, viscous oil (“train oil” from dutch “traan” a drop). It was used in old fashioned whale lamps, but has now been replaced. At the beginning of the nineteenth century it was used in streetlamps
...
At one point in the history of whaling, whale-bone was the most important product of the fishery. “Whalebone” is a substance of horny nature adhering to the parallel laminae to the upper jaws of certain species of whales [including right whales]. It acts as a strainer in the whale’s mouth, detaining its food. Some three hundred of these plates are found in the mouth of an adult whale, their length being in the Greenland Whale from ten to twelve feet. They are very flexible, strong, elastic and light. The value of the “bone” lies in the fact that when softened with hot water or by heating before a fire, it retains any given shape, provided it is secured in that shape until cold.’
...Towards the end of the nineteenth century, the American fishery depended almost exclusively on whalebone.
...
Ambergris, another product of the whale fishery, is now regarded as a secretion from the intestines of the Sperm Whale, a result of disease. It may be defined as a light, inflammable, fatty substance, opaque in lustre, ashy in colour, with variegation like marble, and giving forth a pleasant odour when heated. It is now used exclusively in the preparation of perfumes, having the property of adding to the strength of other perfumes. Ambergris is comparatively rare and is worth more than its weight in gold.