A savage history: the story of whaling in the Pacific and Southern Oceans

310 Pages·2013·49.772 MB·English

by  Newton, John Sefton

A Savage History
To many, the history of whaling has illuminated the best and
worst characteristics of mankind. In early days, it demonstrated
his courage and endurance, as he matched his wits against the
giants of the sea for a miserable wage. In the modern era, it has
pinpointed his inhumanity and total disregard for the affliction of
suffering, in hunting these splendid creatures almost to extinction,
with small risk to the hunter and using equipment and weapons
which give the whale no chance of escape.
Max Colwell
Whaling Around Australia
J O h n n e W t O n
A
S a va ge
Hi s t o r y
Whaling in the Pacific
and Southern Oceans
Abbreviations Measurements
ASDIC echo sounder, named after the Allied Ton refers to the imperial measure equal to
Submarine Detection Investigation 2240 pounds or approximately 1016 kilograms,
Committee whereas tonne denotes the metric measure equal
ESA Endangered Species Act to 1000 kilograms.
ICR Institute of Cetacean Research
IUCN International Union for Conservation
of Nature
IWC International Whaling Commission
A NewSouth book
Published by
NewSouth Publishing
University of New South Wales Press Ltd
University of New South Wales
Sydney NSW 2052
AUSTRALIA This project has been assisted by the Australian
newsouthpublishing.com Government through the Australia Council for
the Arts, its arts funding and advisory body.
© John Newton 2013
First published 2013
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
This book is copyright. Apart from any fair
dealing for the purpose of private study, research, Design Di Quick
criticism or review, as permitted under the Cover and endpapers Whale breaching, Corbis;
Copyright Act, no part of this book may be Whale breaching, Thomas Ryan, National
reproduced by any process without written Library of New Zealand
permission. Inquiries should be addressed to Printer Everbest
the publisher.
All reasonable efforts were taken to obtain
National Library of Australia permission to use copyright material reproduced
Cataloguing-in-Publication entry in this book, but in some cases copyright could
Author: Newton, John (John Sefton) not be traced. The author welcomes information
Title: A savage history: Whaling in the Pacific in this regard.
and Southern Oceans/John Newton.
This book is printed on paper using fibre supplied
ISBN: 9781742233741(hbk)
from plantation or sustainably managed forests
9781742241432(epub)
9781742246321(epdf)
9781742243887(mobi)
Subjects: Whaling – Pacific Ocean– History.
Whaling – South Pacific Ocean – History.
Dewey Number: 639.2809164
Contents
Introduction 13
1 The Slaughter of the Leviathan 17
2 Whaling in Ancient Times 29
3 New South Whales 37
4 Whaling Among the Maori and Missionaries 55
5 The Business of Whaling 75
6 The Pacific Capital of Whaling 85
7 The Floating Abattoir 97
8 Exploration and the Whaling Boom 117
9 The Stockbroker and the Artist 143
10 Whaling Craft 165
11 Life, Food, Booze and Sex 181
12 Women Go Whaling 197
13 Mechanised Slaughter 207
14 The Norwegians in Western Australia 221
15 Ten Thousand Years of Eating Whale 229
16 Japan Against the World 239
17 End Game 253
18 What Now for Whales? 269
Whaleography 277
Bibliography 299
Acknowledgments 301
Picture credits 302
Index 306
6
red bay, newfoundland
neah bay
washington
north
america nantucket
south
japan america
moda island
taiji
kochi wakayama
south georgia
cape horn king edward cove
7
paulet island
snow hill bay
australia
hervey
bay
shark bay
moreton island
point lookout
stradbroke island
byron
fremantle
carnac island
fowlers bay
bathers beach mosman bay
sceale bay sydney bennelong pt
manly cove
esperance beach
cape leeuwin cheynes beach thistlec iasplaen bdu ffon
frenchman bay kangaroo island
albany victor harbour
great granite island
australian twofold bay
boydtown
bight onkaparinga
portlapwnodarr tb rfanayairmybool otway bass strait cape barren islands
kelly basin
coles bay
kelly point hobart schouten island
slopen island maria island
south west cape storm bay
recherche bay
doubtless bay cloudy baybruny island
kororareka bay
new zealand
kapiti island
tipi bay
fishing bay
te awaiti
cook strait
port underwood
kakapo bay
kaikoura
otago harbour
wellers rock
macquarie island
victoria land
antarctica
8
ross sea marie byrd land
blue whale surfacing.
sea of cortez,
california, mexico
byron
mosman bay
bennelong pt
manly cove
twofold bay
boydtown
cape barren islands
whaleboat showing position of
crew, early nineteenth century
Contents 9
marie byrd land
10 A Savage History