Whaling

"Mad with the agonies he endures from these fresh attacks, the infuriated Sperm Whale rolls over and over; he rears his enormous head, and with wide expanded jaws snaps at everything around him; he rushes at the boats with his head; they are propelled before him with vast swiftness, and sometimes utterly destroyed." -Thomas Beale's History of the Sperm Whale, 1839

Whaling has been evident in many coastal communities since 3000 BC.  Industrialized whaling emerged in the 17th century due to increased demand for whale oil and blubber which was used to make soap and to light street lamps.  The spermiceti produced by Sperm Whales was used to make candles, lubricants, cosmetics and shoe polish.  The commercial whaling industry, which peaked between 1820 and 1840, was eventually replaced by the petroleum industry.   -The Canadian Encyclopedia Online


The world's leading whaling port was once based on Nantucket Island, Massachusetts.  Nantucket is where Ishmael begins his whaling journey on the Pequod.


If you're interested in reading more about whaling, check out the following titles:
Harpoon: Into the heart of whaling by Andrew Darby
Leviathan: The history of whaling by Eric Jay Dolin
Petticoat whalers: Whaling wives at sea by Joan Druett
A whale for the killing by Farley Mowat
Whaling will never do for me: The American whaleman in the ninteenth century by Briton Cooper Busch