Whaling
vessels at New Bedford, Massachusetts, in October 1901. Some
parts of the world are synonymous with whaling, New Bedford and
nearby Nantucket island are amongst them. Towns with a history of
whaling are dotted all the way along the New England coastline.
They began with offshore whaling towards the late 1600's and
progressed to deep sea whaling initially to hunt sperm whales by
choice and eventually by necessity as the earliest prey, the right
whale became increasingly rare close to shore.
The golden age of American whaling lasted from
around 1835 - 1860 when the most profitable whaling grounds were
discovered. New Bedford was the largest and greatest of the
whaling ports at the time sending ships out to wherever there were
whales in the world.
By the time of this picture, modern whaling
methods with steam-powered catcher boats and explosive harpoons
were taking over the old ways with sailing ships and open whaling
boats that were rowed by the crews.
The barrels piled up in the foreground were for the
purpose of being filled with whale oil at sea and brought back
home. Even in the early "primitive" days whales were
brought back to shore as semi-processed goods bearing no
resemblance to the animal itself. In this way, voyages could last
for years until the ships holds were filled.
Image courtesy NOAA
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