Part Mark Kurlansky and John McPhee, -- authors I love -- Eric Dolan has written an absolutely fascinating book about whales and the history of the whaling industry. Much as those authors bring quotidian things and events to life. It's also part literary criticism and biography.

The first whaling was done by settlers who copied the Indians dismantling of stranded pilot whales along the coast. This was succeeded by shore-based whaling as the value of whale oil became apparent leading to taxation and division of the spoils according to detailed rules. What happened, for example, when a whale washed up on the beach attached to a harpoon? Who "owned" the whale? This led to marking harpoons and lances, much as lobster fishermen do to buoys today, to help identify who might own a share.

Gradually, as the Indians, who had performed much of the labor connected to whaling, died off from diseases brought back by those same ships, and as the value of the product rose immensely, blacks were hired to work. The case of Prince Boston was to have profound implications nationally. He was an excellent boat steerer, and having returned from a voyage was due the princely sum of 28 pounds, a substantial amount. His owner, Swain, claimed the money belonged to him and when Roach, the ship's owner, who despised slavery, insisted on paying Boston directly, Swain sued. He lost in all venues. In the Mass. Supreme Court, Boston was not only awarded the money but also given his freedom.

Whaling leveled racial animosity. Escaped slaves would often seek out berths on whaling vessels as a way to earn money (they got equal wages with their white counterparts) as well as escape the depredations of the slave catchers. Most Nantucket whaling captains wanted nothing to do with racial animosity and valued their black sailors. There were exceptions. One Second Mate who became captain after the deaths of the Captain and his First Mate, decided he could make a lot of money by turning his ship into a slaver and sailed off to Africa where he obtained a load of slaves, a profitable voyage, indeed. Whale ships were designed to have lots of room in the hold making them well-suited for such evil transactions.

The story behind Moby Dick is interesting. Melville had signed on has a hand on a whale ship for a 1/175th share (the whole section on how they were paid and the pittance ordinary seamen earned is revealing.) During a GAM -- when two whale ships met in the ocean they would hang our for several days mingling crews and exchanging gossip -- Melville met a young man by the name of Chase who recounted his time on the Essex, a ship that was rammed by a large sperm whale and battered until it sank. The few crew members who survived did so by consuming their companions. (See my review of Nathaniel Philbrick's In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex.) Melville was so taken by the story he used it for, well, you know...

The heyday of whaling was the 1850's before the discovery of coal gas and kerosene as alternative lighting options. The predations of the confederate raiders Shenandoah and Alabama which preyed almost exclusively on the whaling fleet -- they couldn't shoot back so it was easy pickings, destroyed many ships, but the great ice-in of 1871 and 1876, when with typical white man hubris they had ignored the warning of the Eskimos in the Arctic, not only destroyed many ships, but badly hurt the insurance industry which had to take the brunt of the losses. (The story of of 100 whale boat trek to open water is quite a story in itself.) The ever-increasing availability of oil and its refinements spelled doom for the whaling industry, which diminished to nothing by the end of the 19th century.

Wonderful read. ( )

I really enjoyed this book it is a good overview of whaling in America. I was surprised by how critical whale oil was before petroleum was found in PA. Now I need to go visit the New Bedford Whaling Museum. ( )

A thorough and deeply researched history of the American whaling industry. Great read from start to finish. ( )

A complete and detailed history of whaling in America, starting with precolonial times and culminating with the demise of American whaling in the early 20th century. It shows how enormous the whaling industry was and the riches it brought to many. The story gives great detail on the process of hunting whales and rendering their bodies into salable products. Profits from whaling were immense in the golden years, but waned when buffeted by political events (mainly wars) and economic impacts. The advent of petroleum used for lighting and lubrication in the late 19th century marked the inexorable decline of whaling as a viable economic venture.

The book focuses extensively on the whaling community in Nantucket, but gave also insights into other whaling towns in the East. (I was unaware that Hudson, NY, not far from Albany on the Hudson River, was a significant whaling town.) Whaling also had major international implications, principally with England whose policies closely impacted on the success of whaling. When faced with a choice between patriotism to America and collaboration with England, the Nantucketeers made preservation of their economic interests their main aim.

The author makes clear at the onset that he will not address the ethics and environmental aspects of whaling; the sensibilities most Americans hold about whaling today. That's fair as this is a history looking back to a time of different cultural views and economic necessities. ( )

A superlative book which describes with incredible detail, the economic, social, and historic ties of the American people to whaling over the course of 300 years.
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