Saint Pierre, France, Whaling - Baleen whale
Whales and Whaling pictures 43

This French Channel port of Saint Pierre is not a whaling station to the degree that many others were and this large baleen whale, a fin or maybe a blue whale was probably an opportunistic catch. But like so many other parts of the world by the sea, the prospect of a whale was too tempting prize. Sometimes, if the whale could not be processed, it was simply caught and brought ashore as a curiosity drawing crowds from many miles away. Even if the whale's carcass could not be used to supply whale products, it could be profitably used as an attraction for making money by other means.

The fate of this particular specimen is not known.

Postcard