Whaling

Whaling in the American Colonies

  European settlers began whaling in its earliest form almost from the time they established their first settlement in North America. Native American peoples along the coast were seen to harvest dead whales that had drifted to shore, and settlers soon began to do so themselves - though not for meat, a use some Native people had for the whales. Settlers began hunting whales a short distance from shore, especially right whales, in order to use their blubber for oil and the "bone" (the sheet-like structures of baleen some whales use to feed by filtering small organisms from the sea water through their open mouths) for tools and to add structure to stays and corsets.   By the 1700s, sperm whales had become the preferred species to hunt. The oil derived from the blubber of sperm whales burned more brightly and cleanly, and served as a much better lubricant than oils produced from the blubber of right whales. Sperm whales could also provide two additional materials: ambergris and appearance  

At the time of the American Revolution

By the time of the American Revolution, whalers from the colonies were going on voyages that lasted months at a time to hunt whales. Crews could number up to 35 and could be fairly diverse. Depending on where a ship originated from, the crew might include Native Americans as well as free black people and slaves who had been hired out to the ship owner. Nantucket was a major center of whaling in the colonies, but not the only one.   The war practically stopped whaling in the American colonies. Many whalers were impressed and forced to serve on British navy vessels. There were also some American whalers who were forced into supplying Britain instead of America with their catches. Unable to continue their way of life, some whalers turned to privateering, often by converting their whaling vessels into privateers.  

Post-Revolution

After the American Revolution the whaling industry picked up again in the United States, though it had issues again during the War of 1812. Despite the setbacks, areas like Nantucket and New Bedford became major players in the global whaling economy until the late 1800s.