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"Abundantly
laden with the riches of the ocean": Why whales were hunted.
Whaling
was an exceptionally dangerous business both physically and economically.
In the Yankee whale fishery injuries and death were common to
almost every voyage. Many vessels were lost. Few individuals got
rich whaling and most of those were owners and agents. The answers
to why so many people went whaling are many and varied but the
underlying principle is that whale products had a strong commercial
value if one knew how to exploit it.
"Success
to the old Marcella may she speedily return to her original
haven abundantly laden with the
riches of the ocean."
Original
verse from the journal of Henry Smith kept aboard the bark Marcella
of New Bedford, 1840-1841, Benjamin Ellis, master. (KWM # 742)
In
Men and Whales, Richard Ellis writes that, until the beginning
of the twentieth-century, whaling was considered an admirable
occupation. " . . . it is only through the lens of hindsight
that the whaleman's job becomes malicious or cruel. . . Oil was
needed for light and lubrication; baleen was needed for skirt
hoops and corset stays. That whales had to die to provide these
things is a fact of seventeenth-, eighteenth-, and nineteenth-century
life. . ."
Whale
products: The primary products of the Yankee whale fishery
were sperm oil, spermaceti, whale oil and whalebone and occasionally
ambergris if any were discovered.
Sperm
oil: Oil from sperm whale blubber otherwise known as body
oil is of a light straw color. It has particular qualities separating
it from almost any other type of oil. One in particular is that
it retains its lubricating qualities in extreme temperatures making
it ideal for light, rapid machinery. Another feature is its superb
qualities of illumination. It burns very clearly and brightly
and without smoke or odor. Great quantities of sperm oil went
into public and private lighting as well as lighthouses. A byproduct
of the sperm oil refining process was high quality soap. About
half of the crude sperm oil obtained by American vessels at the
height of the fishery was exported to other countries.
Spermaceti:
Unlike any other whale oil apart from sperm whale body oil
and the material found in the head of the bottlenose whale (Hyperoodon
ampulatus) spermaceti is a liquid wax. It was known as "head
oil" or "head matter" as it was found in the heads
of sperm whales where its true anatomical function is still debated.
While in the head it is a rose-tinted, semi-transparent liquid
that crystallizes upon contact with the air. It was barreled separately
from any other oils obtained in the fishery. This material was
the most valuable product of the Yankee whaling industry as it
has a high melting point and burned cleanly and brightly and without
odor. It made the highest quality candles. Their high illuminating
power made spermaceti candles the standard for photometric measurements.
Before its use in candle making spermaceti was used as a medicinal
ointment and as a sizing in wool combing. Although Americans had
ceased to hunt sperm whales the commercial uses of spermaceti
and sperm oil both lasted throughout the 20th century
and well into the 1960’s in a variety of industries including
leather tanning, cosmetics, the garment industry and in the manufacture
of typewriter ribbons.
Whale
oil: Otherwise known as "train oil" the whale oils
are varying shades of brown in color, depending upon the age of
the blubber from which they were boiled and the general health of
the animal from which they were obtained. Whale oils were the first
of all oils — animal or mineral — to achieve commercial
importance. The principle sources for whale oil in the days of Yankee
whaling were right whales, bowhead whales and humpback whales. Yankee
whaling merchants sometimes adopted the phrase "brown oil is
better than no oil," in their instructions to their ship captains
meaning that rather than return home without having filled the ship
with sperm oil, they were to take other whales instead. Whale oil
has an ancient history having been used in medieval Europe as an
illuminant and a lubricant as well as food. It saw new uses during
the 19th century Industrial Revolution both in Europe
and America in the tempering of steel, screw cutting and cordage
manufacture. It continued to be used as an illuminant particularly
in the headlamps of miners. By-products of the whale oil refining
process were soap and stearin a material that was added to spermaceti
to decrease its brittleness and to make a smoother burning candle.
Baleen:
Instead of teeth, baleen whales have long strips, known as baleen,
which hang from the roofs of their mouths, and which they use
to strain out krill from sea water. Baleen is made of keratin,
the same substance found in human nails, hair, hoofs, and claws.
It was used in a variety of nineteenth-century products: * Buggy
whips; * Carriage springs; * Corset stays; * Fishing poles; Hoops
for women's skirts; * Umbrella ribs; * Other applications for
which plastic or steel would now be used.
If baleen was not carefully cleaned as soon as removed from the
whale's jaw, it developed an unpleasant smell that lowered its
value.
Ambergris:
The following description is quoted verbatim from Charles
H. Stevenson "Aquatic Products in Arts and Industries,"
Report of the Commissioner for the Year Ending June 30, 1902,
U.S. Commission of Fish and Fisheries, Part 28 (Washington,
1904).
"Ambergris
is a wax-like substance found at rare intervals, but sometimes
in relatively large quantities, in the intestines of the sperm
whale. With the exception of choice pearls and coral it is the
highest-priced product of the fisheries, selling upward of $40
per ounce. It is now generally conceded that ambergris is generated
in either sex of the sperm whale, but far more frequently in the
male, and is the result of a diseased state of the animal, caused
possibly by a biliary irritation, as the individuals from which
it is secured are almost invariably of a sickly appearance and
sometimes greatly emaciated. It occurs in rough lumps varying
in weight from less than one pound to 150 pounds or more. It generally
contains fragments of the beak or mandible of squid or cuttle-fish
which constitutes the principle food of the sperm whale. When
first removed from the animal it is comparatively soft and emits
a repugnant odor, but upon exposure to the air, it grows harder,
lighter in color, and assumes the appearance it presents when
found floating on the ocean. Its color ranges from black to whitish
gray, and is often variegated with light stripes and spots resembling
marble somewhat." Although ambergris was used as an aphrodisiac,
incense and medicine in ancient times it came to be used principally
in perfume manufacture because it served to impart homogeneity
and permanency to different ingredients employed.
The
success of a voyage:
When the New Bedford whaler, Benjamin Tucker, returned to home
port in 1851, she carried: * 73,707 gallons of whale-oil; * 5,348
gallons of sperm oil; * 30, 012 pounds of whalebone (baleen).
How
the profits were divided:
After expenses, the net profit of the Benjamin Tucker's voyage
was $45,320. The usual share for the owners of a ship was between
60 and 70 percent. In this case, between $13,596 and $18,128 would
have been left to be divided among the captain and crew for several
years of work.
When the Ship Milton returned to port in 1836, the captain received
a lay of 1/17th or $5,882; the first mate 1/22nd or $4,545; the
boatsteerer (harpooneer) 1/75 or $1,333; and the blacksmith 1/140th
or $714. The best paid seaman earned $800, while the worst paid
received $571. On another voyage of the Milton, one of the ordinary
seamen earned only $10.10.
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