The Rise and Fall of American Whaling

People used to hunt whales and now they don't!!! what's up with that!!

Illustrations by Anna Messechkova and Alexandra Burda
ig: @messe4inart

sources:

[willymac]

It’s crazy to think about the fact that Bowhead whales live 200 years or longer….so there are probably some of them out there that remember the height of the whaling industry. Some of them were probably chased but escaped, and managed to outlive the industry. They probably don’t like humans very much.

[juniorjames]

My mother lives in nursing home in Fall River, Massachusetts. When visiting her, I used to wonder why almost everybody in this area had a Portuguese last name, EVERYBODY!!! Apparently, according to one of the residents explanation, whaling ships would leave Portugal with a new crew assembled from surrounding Lisbon area. By the time the ship arrived in Rhode Island or Massachusetts after six months to one year of catching whales, the crew- pockets fat with a year's salary, had zero desire to get back on that ship. They stayed in New England to start of new life, while the ship returned to Portugal practically empty. Repeat this a thousand times on a thousand ships from the 1800s to the 1920s, and thats why over half the population of some Rhode Island cities are descended from Portuguese and Cape Verde.

[DFM]

I live in "The Whaling City" of New Bedford. We have an excellent museum on the history. Thank you for shining a light on the story of whaling. It was one of the first true industries and showed writing on the wall of what was to come of the future of industrial capitalism. Whaling still runs deep in our culture here

[emirkalac]

This video gave so much context and helped my students understand Moby Dick better. Greatly appreciated content!

[rachelchapman]

This was a great video to supplement our whaling history lesson. Hope you make it to 1, 000 subscribers soon!

[gborka]

Great video. Especially the parallels to nowadays resources based industries, worth farther digging. Thank you for the enlightenment.

[chrstopherblighton-sande]

Whales are truly amazing animals and we still have so much to learn about them. It's tragic and awful to think how they were hunted and in such larger numbers. Human beings can be so terribly short sighted as were the whalers of the past. It seems that Quakers were at the very centre of the whaling industry in the USA, certainly a blight on their history, however Greenpeace was co-founded by Quakers which is a rather pleasing irony that shows we can all learn from our mistakes. I hope that the ongoing damage to the oceans can be speedily reversed and that whales and all the other inhabitants of the sea will have a better future.

[DeandePean]

Your channel is highly underappreciated. Keep it up Kook! Your style reminds me of Vox meets Dr. Seuss. Subbed and hit the bell!

[YNnonsense]

very good resource of information and you have a very amazing art talent

[piotrgeist]

I'm binge watching the content of this channel as I type this. Amazing videos! Keep riding the Horses ;)

[joshuariddensdale]

I've been to the whaling museum in New Bedford, MA. And having seen the big three whale species in the northeast on whale watches (humpback, fin, and minke), it's such a shame that whaling still exists in other countries nearly a quarter of the way through the 21st century. At least measures are finally being undertaken to protect them from ship strikes. From November through April, the waters south and east of Block Island are a federal whale migration zone. All vessels over 65 feet are required to slow to 10 knots. Nonetheless, there are commercial fishing boats who disregard NOAA regulations regarding space and speed restrictions around whales. A few years ago, a whale watch out of Plymouth, MA had an encounter with a commercial dragger who went right through a pair of humpbacks within ten feet of them. Said boat was promptly reported to the Coast Guard.

[AC-rjcq]

Terrific video, thanks for making this. For a long time I wondered why whaling died off so quickly and you explained it very well.

[brucewayne]

This to me is one of the coolest occupations in history.

[joshuapatterson]

I love this Chanel so much, im watching every video starting from the fist. Keep it up 👍

[DiamondKingStudios]

My great-great-grandparents arrived in New London, CT from Sicily. While New London used to be home to a large commercial whaling industry, by the time they arrived, it was a much more quiet coastal town, yet to start building the nation’s submarines.

And I guess Eugene O’Neill was spending a lot of time there so there’s that

[jacksonc]

Excellent. If I were to introduce someone to your channel, I'd show them this video.

[kinetoscopes]

Excellent video! Great underlying message.

[paul-gsbe]

5:22, 2000 barrels per second equals 172 800 000 barrels per day. No way that happened.

[jonno]

Holy shit just found this. Keep it up man your art and subjects are awesome

[brucewayne]

The work was dirty dangerous and painful. Yah that’s adventure. That’s fulfilling work that’s action. Action like that doesn’t really exist in America anymore.