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Pacific Postcards

Dead Whale Lashed to the Side of a Whaling Vessel

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Whaling in the Pacific (Rafael Perez)
Whaling in the Pacific
The historical records we have of American Pacific history dates back hundreds of years. Much of the knowledge we have about the Pacific stems from trade and commerce. One of the main animals that was hunted in the Pacific for not only food, but also to make clothes and extract oil, was whales. Proof of this historical fact is contained in a picture from 1846, of two men on an American whaling vessel with a whale that they killed. This photograph helps to visualize the practice of whaling, which was once thought of as a safe and ethical way to attain resources, but today is banned in almost every country in the world. Whaling historically was intertwined with trade, which was one of the main narratives of American Pacific beaches.
The image seen above relates a lot to the trade and commerce in the Pacific during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The image clearly depicts two men smiling while holding onto the whale they killed. They are most likely smiling because in this time period, catching a whale was a very profitable venture. The title of the image is “Dead Whale Lashed to the Side of a Whaling Vessel”, and the caption below the image says, “Dead Whale, Showing Interesting Portions of His Anatomy, Lying Along Side Whaling Vessel”. These describe what is depicted in the image very well, but do not connect it to the whaling industry or the global economy at that time. However, this image relates a lot to the global economy in the Pacific during that time period because whale oil was a huge part of trade, and American whaling vessels, like the one depicted above, were a main factor in this trade.
To understand whaling and the ecological risks of reducing the whale population, we first need to understand how and why they are essential to an ecosystem. Whales feed deep down in the ocean and as they come up to the surface to breathe they circulate nutrients that help other organisms thrive. The main beneficiary of these nutrients is phytoplankton. Phytoplankton need these nutrients to survive, and they are very important because they not only absorb a third of human-generated carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, but they also produce half of the earth’s oxygen. When whales are killed, as seen in the source image, human beings and the earth’s delicate ecosystem are harmed. Yet during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, whales were being slaughtered at an alarming rate.
Much like whaling, the narrative behind Pacific beaches has changed a lot in the past couple hundred years. Back in the eighteenth century, beaches were used mainly as trade destinations and for acquiring food and resources. Since there was no way to get around the world besides by boat or ship, beaches became very important to the development of society. The growth of many societies in the Pacific depended on trade, and therefore they depended on beaches. There was also no real sense of the importance of sustainability, so every society tried to get as much as it could of the natural resources provided by the beach and the ocean, without giving thought to the harmful effects it could have. Today, the narrative around Pacific beaches has changed drastically. When we think of Pacific beaches what most likely comes to mind is a positive and relaxing recreational experience.
The picture of the whale hunt represents a time where whaling was a very accepted and popular mode of acquiring resources, and a hot commodity in international trade. In one of the readings we analyzed in class, The Great Ocean: Pacific Worlds from Captain Cook to the Gold Rush by David Igler, one chapter talks about trade and commerce in the Pacific. One of the main trade items at that time was whale oil and meat. Whales at the time were very difficult to capture and kill, which made them an even more valuable trade item. In the reading, Igler writes, “Decades later, the Pacific’s unsurpassed population of whales encountered the rapidly expanding US whaling fleet. A tremendous slaughter commenced for the sake of whale oil, with American factories as the main beneficiary.” (Igler 14). This point by Igler is meant to show how important whaling was to the world’s economy in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Igler’s theories help to exemplify the link between whaling and trade in the Pacific that are shown in the picture.
The world started cracking down on whaling around the mid 1900’s. Before then everything was pretty much fair game in the whaling industry, which made the whale population worldwide decline rapidly. The shift to stopping the practice of whaling occurred in part because by 1970, the world whale population was dangerously low, and many species of whale were even classified as endangered. This change parallels the transformation in the narrative of Pacific beaches, as the narrative went from using the beaches’ resources as much as possible, to realizing that if we did not change our habits of polluting and over-fishing, the ecosystems of many Pacific beaches would be destroyed. Along with banning whaling, the U.S. and many other countries started to think more seriously about the future of our world, and the fact that if we didn’t change our ways, the planet will eventually be destroyed.
It is clear that both whaling and the commercial usage of Pacific beaches were once very important in the world trade network. Nowadays they are both much less important, losing their relevance for similar reasons. Whaling is no longer an important world trade factor because it was not sustainable, and viable alternatives were eventually discovered. Whales are very important to the ocean’s ecosystems and if we had not stopped or severely decreased the amount of whaling that was going on, the world’s ecosystems would have been completely disrupted. That fact forced us to innovate, and for that reason whaling and whale trading contribute almost nothing to the global economy today. This point is made clear in the essay, Whales and Whaling in the Western Pacific, by Robert Lever. In this essay Lever speaks on the history of whaling and why the practice of whaling declined. He underscores the main theory about why whaling declined when he writes, “The short-sighted policy of ruthless slaughter caused the number of whales to be drastically reduced, and they were only saved from virtual extinction by the discovery of petroleum in Pennsylvania in 1859.” (Lever 4). Lever’s hypothesis is that whales would have become extinct, and our economy would have been left with a huge hole to fill, if we had not discovered and put to use petroleum and other fossil fuels. The discovery and shift to a reliance on the more efficient and easily accessible petroleum was a key reason for the diminishing whaling industry in the early twentieth century.
As both authors discuss, Pacific beaches used to be hotspots for trading. Although trading and commerce through the use of ships still occurs, it is far less prevalent than it was hundreds of years ago. Similar to the reasons whaling became irrelevant, Pacific beaches lost some of their importance due to innovations like planes, trains and automobiles, which led to an increase in commerce away from the coastlines. Many goods that are traded in the world's economy today do not have to be transported by water, and are instead shipped directly to specific destinations via air or on land.
Whaling was used for very different purposes between different cultures and societies. In indegenous and less developed societies, whaling was used mostly for food and clothing. Pretty much every single part of the whale was used because they were rare and hard to kill, so when a whale was captured, all its resources needed to be put to good use. Indegenous societies in places like Hawaii and the northern coast of what would later become the contiguous United States, were some of the most prolific whale hunters in the world. Whales were a huge part of their societies, not only for the food they provided, but also due to the trade value they had, which the indegenous people could then use to obtain other goods necessary for survival and for achieving advancement.
On the other hand, Europeans, who would trade with indigenous societies as well as capture their own whales, primarily used whales’ resources for different purposes. The Europeans were making luxury items such as Corsets and skirts, while most indigenous tribes used whaling to try to feed their people. Europeans also had better tools to hunt whales, which made it significantly easier for them to kill and capture the whales than it was for indigenous tribes throughout the Pacific. This lack of efficiency in the whaling practices of indigenous populations made it even more difficult for indigenous societies to thrive and grow.
By the start of the nineteenth century, the U.S. was becoming an important world power. The industrial revolution had just begun and American factory production was booming. At the time, whale oil was needed to run a lot of the machines in factories. This made whale oil a hugely important resource. In response to this demand, the U.S. ramped up its whaling industry, as seen in the image. Soon after, the U.S., along with the rest of the world, realized that there was a much more abundant whale population in the Pacific Ocean than anywhere else. The U.S. proceeded to deploy hundreds of whaling fleets, one of which is depicted in the source image, to compete with other world powers in the whaling industry. With increased investment into the whaling industry, the U.S. and other powerful nations like Russia and England fought for control over the whale trade. This rush to slaughter whales in the Pacific can be equated to the gold rush that occurred in the mid 1800’s, because of the sudden high demand for whale byproducts. This influx of people trying to harvest a single resource was extremely profitable in the short run, but similar to the gold rush, the resources being harvested were finite.
The image of the U.S. whaling vessel in the Pacific again relates back to another excerpt in The Great Ocean: Pacific Worlds from Captain Cook to the Gold Rush, by Igler. In chapter four of his book, Igler makes a point of describing just how gruesome and inhumane the practice of whaling is. This is exemplified when he describes the practice by writing, “Yet, the moments when those mammals became lifeless carcasses on distant beaches or bays involved tremendous— and largely thoughtless— brutality.” (Igler 105). This relates directly to the source picture of the whale ship, because the image really sears into the audience's mind the lifelessness of a killed whale, which parallels this excerpt about the gruesomeness of the whole whaling process. Igler’s theories also highlight how the native populations are often depicted as the savages, but that the real savages are actually the non-natives who are killing whales at a high rate. This idea is supported by the image, because in it, the two American men are smiling while standing next to the whale they had just slaughtered, like it was some sort of prize.
As the source image and both authors establish, whaling was a huge trade factor in the Pacific during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. For the reasons explored by Igler and Lever, and as the image of the whaling boat illustrates, the historical uses of the Pacific beaches which were based upon trade, eventually lead to the successful but ultimately unsustainable whaling industry. Today, that narrative has changed drastically. In the exact area where the source image shows the slaughtered whale and its smiling killers, many Americans and tourists would happily spend a hot and sunny day, participating in recreational activities.

Work Cited

Igler, D. (2013). The great ocean Pacific worlds from Captain Cook to the gold rush . Oxford University Press.
Lever, R. (1964). Whales and Whaling in the Western Pacific. South Pacific Bulletin, 33-36.
The Two Sides of Whaling (Ethan Vicente) Whale oil was one of the key ingredients in the industrial revolution that changed how the world operated. In the mid-1800s demand for this oil sent superpowers and laymen alike to the Pacific to get involved in this global economy. My source depicts a dead whale held by a whaling vessel that looks hardly longer than the whale itself, with two men smiling over the edge of the vessel. Though there is no exact date or location on the image, the fact that it was taken near California means it was likely from the southern edge of what is now known as the state of California. The image can be seen as gruesome but also telling of the scope of whaling during this time.

Chapter Four in David Igler’s The Great Ocean focuses on the mass hunting of marine animals in the Pacific starting in the mid-1800s. Specifically focusing on gray whales, Igler emphasizes how whale oil affected the entire American economy as well drew interest from powerful countries across the globe. This oil was used to lubricate factory machinery in the North that then went on to impact the production of cotton in the South. Of course, this now-forbidden practice of whaling was very widespread. Igler makes sure to detail the cruelty and also the intense human risk that went into harvesting the whale oil. Hunting ships would travel to the spots on the coastline where the whales would go and nurse their young, then strike knowing that the mother whale would never abandon the calf and would become an easy target. Not only were the actions of the whalers cruel towards the whales and the ecosystem of the Pacific, but whaling could be deadly to the crews on those whaling ships. Igler writes how whales could cripple ships simply with their tail, mangling crewmembers and potentially sinking ships. Death numbers were not closely tracked, but given that every part of obtaining the whale oil held a risk for death, there was a significant amount. This kind of “carnage” was completely detached from those buying and using the oil in the East. There were hardly any actions that were taken against whaling over the next century. No one voting on these potential policies had seen the things that were often left out at sea. Plus, whale oil was fueling industrialization in the United States and hence their imperial expansion. The pursual of power took precedence with those who could have changed the whaling industry. The decades of whaling nearly brought some whale species to extinction.

My source does not show any of the disturbing actions detailed by Igler. In the image, the two members of the crew are smiling over the dead body of the whale. This says a lot about the experience of the men on board the whale-hunting ships. Men saw consistent accidents where their crewmates would be seriously injured or killed, yet continued to go out for months at sea collecting barrels of oil. Igler’s chapter on this provides a personal account of the chaos that was often brought on by hunting whales. They tell stories from Magdalena Bay, a place this picture very well could have been taken, where “a young man was killed by a whale . . . and he sunk before they could reach him” (Igler 119). In the picture, despite only seeing part of the whale it does not seem to be that much smaller than the boat it is attached to. If it had hit the boat just in the wrong spot the whale could have staved in the boat. The happiness shown in the photo over killing the whale shows how they had become completely detached from the harsh reality of their actions. Igler would certainly agree with this. Igler cites a first-hand account from a whaling ship that says the “men were undoubtedly ‘happy,’ . . . because each pot of rendered blubber translated into more pay” (Igler 123). The sailors appear to be proud of what they’ve done, but often they were not going on grand hunts for monster whales. They preyed on the calves and used them as live bait to capture the mothers. Igler’s interpretation of whaling is very negative. Besides acknowledging how important whale oil was in the world economy, Igler paints a dark picture of that part of the Pacific.

Another author, Fichter, may look at this photograph differently. His work, So Great a Profit, looks at the United States with a larger focus on their trade with other countries. In the first chapter, Fichter starts by detailing the role the trading of tea played in the buildup to the American Revolutionary War. Many American historians focus on the taxation of tea as one of the final straws for the colonists, but Fichter focuses on the monopoly the East India Company held. He asserts that many Americans at the time felt a monopoly was a slight against liberty. They saw the tyranny the Company had executed in places like Bengal, and even “equated monopoly with monarchy and slavery” (Fichter 20). This anti-monopoly sentiment continued long after the Revolution was over. For example, this thought appeared in 1832 where President Andrew Jackson stopped the creation of the Bank of the United States (Fichter 23). Eventually, the American East India trade began and left the English East India Company in shambles, proving that free trade could be far more effective and efficient. Later in his eighth chapter, Fichter focuses on the United States’ trade relationship with China in the early nineteenth century. Free trade principles in the Indies allowed the U.S. to become the majority presence for trade. Fichter discusses how the US had many different options for trade, and for a place far away like China, the returns from the trip had to be heavily profitable to make the journey worthwhile. Even though it was a long journey, they replaced other European shipping companies because they were able to make the trip more times than could the Europeans. Americans would pack their ships with as much value as possible, and transporting silver became the only viable option. However, it was not an ideal one. Americans were very eager to find a replacement good and tried to mostly with fur and sandalwood (Fichter 206). In the Pacific Northwest, where the fur trade was the booming item, free trade also allowed Americans to dominate, where two-thirds of the ships arriving were theirs. Only after the end of the East India Company’s China-trade monopoly did British merchants overtake Americans in the number of vessels arriving in the Northwest (Fichter 213). At the end of the chapter, Fichter brings up the opium trade, a good that could be considered even more harmful to the world at large than whale oil. Fichter acknowledges the Chinese concern for the amount of opium that was being brought in and consumed in their state but does not focus on its negative effects. Instead, the focus is more on the British and Americans utilizing its very efficient value-per-volume dynamic. Fichter writes, “[Opium] was compact, unlike furs or sandalwood, making it easier to replace a shipful of opium with a shipful of tea (Fichter 230). Through his language on the opioid trade, it is clear Fichter is writing purely to explain the economic effects of his topics and the United States’ involvement with them.

Looking at the image through Fichter’s eyes, the men on the boat have good reason to be smiling. Fichter writes extensively about the development of the United States trade from its birth as a nation. Despite devoting a significant amount of time to the trade of fur and opioids, there is little space taken to explain the negative consequences of such industries. He does explain how and why the Chinese government was forced to take action against opium but does not make attempts to portray the opium trade as a harmful practice overall. On top of this, there is no mention of the often cruel practices that were used to obtain the large levels of fur being traded that he discusses. Deriving from this reading, there is reason to believe Fichter would have hailed the hunting of whales for their oil as a grand boost to the United States economy. His more detached opinion on the US economy may not think as harshly of the massive whaling industry. Fichter’s perspective on the photo would be that the seamen deserve to be happy and that they are doing good in supporting the US. Fichter is surely aware of the part whale oil played in both the U.S. economy and in bringing the U.S. to higher economic relevance in the nineteenth century. Whale oil could be used as both a lubricant as well as a tool to produce light. Because of this, sperm and whale oil was now heavily sought after for use in factories and also for personal use. England, a country Fichter frequently discusses, had their whaling industry, but as the United States’ started to boom, their’s declined, and England again pushed U.S. trade to greater heights (Igler 118). The United States became the world’s most successful supplier for whale oil; “by 1850, some seven hundred US ships in the Pacific comprised over three-quarters of the world’s whaling fleet” (Igler 118). My source does not show the scope of the whaling industry, but it can be assumed that the sailors depicted were happily involved with it and reaped the rewards of the mass amount of attention brought on the American Pacific coast.

Both Igler and Fichter would acknowledge the widespread impact that whaling had on the United States. Its significance is undeniable. However, based on their works, the two authors would look at my source, and the industry as a whole, in different ways. Even though Igler does take time to go over the economic impact of whaling, he spends far more time detailing the process of whaling itself and emphasizing the cruelty and environmental effects of the industry. Had Fichter discussed whaling, he would have gone into a lot more detail on the role it played in creating economic relationships for the United States. This dynamic is shown by how each author discusses the fur trade. Fichter never mentions how the furs were obtained, focusing more on their value as a good being imported to China (Fichter 210). Igler however, takes care to show the brutality of that industry, comparing the “taking of fur seals” to “an industrial slaughterhouse” (Igler 112). Fichter stays away from this firey language in his writing. The title of the image, “Dead whale lashed to the side of a whaling vessel”, leans more towards Igler’s writing. Although not exactly firey, the title is evocative and very physical. Hearing about a creature being treated purely as a resource evokes a more emotional response like that which Igler seems to be attempting to evoke through his work. Maybe Fichter would have titled the photo regarding the bigger economic picture with something like “whaling vessel brings in a whale for oil”.

Whaling brought a lot of prosperity to the United States but also crippled the population of whales in the Pacific. My source represents both sides of that with the smiling sailors juxtaposed with the whale belly up alongside the boat. Even though major whaling practices have been gone for almost 200 years, whale populations are still recovering. On the other hand, having a strong economy is key to holding power, and if whaling helped spring the United States into a strong position then it may have been worth it for some people. While there is no excuse for whaling today, the gains that the U.S. earned from whaling are no small matter, and the trade played a large role in developing the U.S. into a recognized power.

Works Cited

Fichter, James R. So Great a Proffit: How the East Indies Trade Transformed Anglo-American Capitalism. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2010.

Igler, David. The Great Ocean: Pacific Worlds from Captain Cook to the Gold Rush. Oxford University Press, 2013. ProQuest Ebook Central, https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/socal/reader.action?docID=1132284. Accessed 7 March 2021.