Tales of the whaling industry
After the Basques: The Whaling Stations of Newfoundland and Labrador
By Anthony B. Dickinson and Chesley W. Sanger DRC Press
$19.95 278 pages
Newfoundland and Labrador exist because of the maritime resources sought out and exploited over centuries. The most common images linked to this historical activity would be fish, especially of course cod, and seals. But whaling occupied a vital niche, too.
Even when thinking of whaling, most would imagine the Basque whalers, who flourished so adventurously in the 16th century. But that, too, isn’t the whole story, as co-authors Anthony Dickinson and Chesley Sanger illuminate and illustrate with this, their latest, collaboration. “After the Basques” is just that, an examination of the latter days of the now defunct trade and occupation.
The format of the book first covers the overall industry economics and technology, and then focuses on individual commercial shore-stations and associated vessels. There are lots of black and white photos, and sidebars of notable personalities (“Newfoundland Whale Catchers in British Columbia”), and intriguing industry subsidiaries (“Guano Production at Aquaforte). There are fascinating asides like P. T. Barnum’s 19th century attempts to exhibit beluga whales in New York and England (which unfortunately ended quite terribly for the whales). There are graphics, charts, engravings, naval plans, paintings, book endplates, and even poems.
In short, its packed with information. As a kind of round-up, here are Five Things You (likely) Didn’t Know About Modern Whaling in Newfoundland and Labrador:
• No. 1 While European interest in whales off Newfoundland and Labrador arguably pre-dates John Cabot’s gathering and delivering a whale’s rib with his 1497 voyage, “Modern Whaling” is the period from 1898-1972. Its sector in Newfoundland and Labrador involved twenty-seven companies, 60 vessels, and 21 stations “to process at least 19,600 whales,” primarily fin but also blue, pilot, and orca for local and international markets.
This was further divided into four phases. The first, 1898-1919, “began with formation (29 December 1896) of the Cabot Steam Whaling Co., the joint venture between the Harveys’ and Norwegian entrepreneurs” and over-spanned the 1902 Act intended to regulate the industry. The second, 1923-1937, opened as “two new companies, the Newfoundland Whaling Co. (1923) and the Britishnorwegian Whaling Co. (1926) entered the industry” and the businesses, as well as the globe, moved through the postwwi years and the Great Depression. The third, 1939-1951, carries on through WWII and into more oversight from the International Whaling Commission (IWC), while the fourth and last closes in 1972 with the Canadian moratorium on whaling.
• No. 2 Right whales were so-named because they were so right for hunting: their “high blubber content caused these docile slow-moving creatures to float when dead, making them easier to kill and retrieve, although still at considerable risk.” These were the whales that first brought to Basques to Labrador in the early 16th century, where they set up at least eleven station locations, including Red Bay, now a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
• No. 3 Whaling harvests were divided between small and large species: the former included pothead and minke; the latter mainly fin as blue and humpback came under IWC protection in 1955.
• No. 4 Whale blubber was rendered into oil, graded on clarity, “viscosity,” and “pungency.” This “was shipped initially in 40-gallon (imperial) wooden barrels, later in bulk, to Europe, primarily the United Kingdom, for conversion into margarine and soap.” Bones and meat went to Japanese markets as “Arctic meats,” or its components utilized for pharmaceutical research and products.
• No. 5 Most stations based here involved some measure of Newfoundland financial investment, but one, Atlantic Whale Manufacturing Co., at Aquaforte, was founded and run by a Norwegian family, the Ellefsens. This happily led to the first Newfoundland-norwegian marriage, when Eda Hopkins Melvin wed Anders Ellefsen on January 5, 1903, at the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist in St. John’s. He had boarded with her family while the station was being built, and she was hired to help him learn English.
Trinity is also known for its Newfoundland-norwegian family ties, beginning in 1911, and where the Eriksen Premises is now restored into a restaurant and seven room inn.
“After the Basques” concludes with a complete list (ship-ographies?) of whaling vessels, organized alphabetically: “Catchalott II: 1911 … Contracted to the Newfoundland government (1916-1918) then returned (1919) to Hawke Harbour. Later used by the Royal Navy for sonar training.” As well, there are four appendices, of “Total and Station Catches,” “Legislation Affecting Newfoundland and Labrador Whaling,” “Newfoundland Whaling Companies,” and “The Blue Whale Prize.” It’s a thorough and get-atable look at an industry which has now been replaced with the more eco- (-andall-round-) friendly one of whale-watching.