Evening star., 1940-04-21
War Menoces Morse
WhuIers
BIZ Frederic J. Hdskir.

in the whaling industry has been en-
visioned as one result of the plunging
Of Norway into the vortex Of European
warfare, especially in view Of the Amer
ican determination to hold aloof from
the struggle. Such possibility seems
more credible in view of the fact that,
with the enforced withdrawal Of the
American merchant marine from so
many waters and trades, there will be
diligent search for ways Of its employ
ment.
Since about the beginning Of the pres
ent century, the kingdom Of Norway has
held the supremacy in whaling which
had been held, In turn, by the Dutch, the
English and the Americans. Today the
Morse supremacy is challenged only by
the Japanese and, up to the present, the
Japanese have been q tagging second.
Should the war compel the Morse to
withdraw, the field will be left open to
the Japanese who will not be slow to
seize every opportunity, unless American
mariners make a bid for their old-time
pre- -eminence.
Doubtless, to many modern Americans,
whaling seems an industry merely of his
torical and romantic interest Whaling
is thought of in this country chiefly in
terms of Herman Melville's "Moby Dick"
and the brave days when the whalers
sailed out of New England ports and New
Bedford was the whaling capital of the
world. The fact is that the whaling
industry is bigger than it ever was be-
fore in terms of value of product, al
though, indeed, most of the romance has
been sacrificed to a production
commercialism.
The fact that Norway for nearly 40
years has held the whaling supremacy is
an example of history coming full circle
because the industry had its origin with
the Norse.e Records show that as long
ago as the 9th century, Norsemen took
the whale in the icy seas around Spitz-
bergen.
Gradually the Dutch entered the field
1t was during that period when the
Dutch were the foremost mariners of
the Western. World, period which saw
the Dutch challenging the sea power of
Britain. They proved themselves even
more venturesome than the Norsemen,
for they pursued the whale much far
ther offshore, indeed, into the distant
waters of Greenland, the habitat of the
right whale, in many respects the most
valuable of the entire species.
X **
Fyenchmen participated to some ex-
tent and they, with the Dutch, prac-
tically exterminated the whales of the
Bay of Biscay where once they had been
numerous.
| Then came fresh chapter. The Brit
ish took up whaling on an important
scale. Ever jealous of the commercial
success of any other nation, they had
long been enviously aware Of the Dutch
whalers' success with their 260 whaling
ships afloat, employing some $4,000 men
and bringing rich treasure in oil home
to Dutch ports.
The British Parliament took q hand
in the matter and offered bounties for
the capture of whales This and the
promised commercial rewards resulted
in the fitting out Of scores Of ships
From Liverpool they sailed, from Leith
and Dundee in Scotland, but Hull be-
came the whaling capital of the British
Isles and held that position for genera
tions. In fact, the very last of the old
time whaling ships under sail put ou,
from Hull in 1868.
While the American Colonies we're still
under the British crown. whaling began
on this side and it proved that Ameri-
cans were destined to become the greatest
whalers OF all time. The first Of the
Americans was fitted out at New Bed
ford in 1755. Then from Nantucket
from Newburyport, from Boston, from
every New England port the whalers be-
gan to sail.
Then came the Revolutionary War
which brought pause in activities be-
cause the British would capture every
Yankee whaler they could and impress
the crews. When that stubborn war was
ended, whaling was renewed with fresh
vigor. but the War of 1912 was another
serious interruption. The whalens took
to the more profitable business Of priva-
teering. It was not until after the Treaty
of Client that the American whaling In
dustry began its real rise. Then, indeed
1t fourished
The Yankee whalers ventured farther
and farther afield. They burst into the
Pacific to find new types of whales, and,
for long, the Pacific became the chief
hunting ground. The Yankee whalers
were, perforce, explorers and on the
charts of today is many an island, many
a reef which first was sighted by whalers.
Between 1845 and 1850 the American
industry reached its peak. At that time
there were $50 whalers at sea, employing
an aggregate of 10000 men. The oil was
used chiefly as an illuminant, but had
some medicinal uses also, while whale.
bone. the baleen plates of the right whale
taken from the NAV of the great man.
NAL, furnished the whalebone which until
not so very many years ago stif1ened the
corsets, bonnets and other millinery of
the women of the world. At one time
whalebone was worth $4,000 q ton.
Then came the Civil War to destroy or
divert scores upon scores Of ships and
there also came the development Of coal
oil or kerosene, to say nothing of gas, to
infringe the monopoly which whale oil
had enjoyed as an illuminant. Rapidly
the industry declined to almost nothing.
It was In 1904 that Norseman invent
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