A history of whaling

Humans have been hunting whales for thousands of years. Small communities in the North Atlantic, North Pacific and Arctic Ocean were killing and using whale products by 3000 BCE and people in Japan are thought to have practised some kind of whaling during the Jōmon period, 13000–300 BCE.

Small-scale coastal whaling is recorded in places like Norway from the 10th century, and Japan and Iceland from the 12th century. This continued until the 19th century, when these countries became more involved in large-scale commercial whaling.

Ancient archaeological finds show the long and complicated history humans have had with whales. A Neolithic petroglyph in southern Korea showing whales tethered to boats dates from 6000–5000 BCE, and whale remains have been found in Japanese ancient burial mounds.

Similarly, a whalebone figurine depicting a human was found in Scotland in 1850 and is thought to date from between 2900–2400 BCE. This figurine, nicknamed ‘Buddo’, was discovered at Skara Brae but was lost for about 150 years. It was rediscovered in 2016 in the collections at Stromness Museum.

Weaving combs made of whalebone dating from around 400 BCE to 100 CE have also been found in Britain, particularly around Orkney and Somerset.

North American whaling declined on the East Coast in the early 20th century, but continued on a small scale along the West Coast until the 1970s. Today, it is still practised by some small communities, such as the Makah tribe in northwestern America.

In comparison, Norway, Japan and Iceland became much bigger players in commercial whaling during this period. From the 19th century European whalers increased their activity in Iceland, hunting blue and fin whales, while whalers in Japan started to adopt more modern methods of whaling, hunting the North Pacific right, humpback, fin and grey whales. Whalers in Japan became very heavily involved in commercial whaling during the 20th century.

In Norway, Svend Foyn—considered the father of modern whaling—invented, among other things, a steam-powered whale catcher in 1863, and held a monopoly on whaling in Norway between 1873 and 1883. After the monopoly broke, Norwegian whaling competition multiplied and, due to depleted stocks, expanded whaling activities to Iceland and beyond.

With the introduction of new technology in the 20th century, the whaling industry surged, and British and Norwegian whalers dominated the industry. Britain provided a lot of the capital, while Norway organised many of the expeditions and improvements. In the first decade annual catches rose from 2,000 to 20,000. This rose exponentially and reached a peak of 66,000 in 1961.

Floating ship factories, some fitted with aircraft for whale spotting, replaced many shore stations just before the First World War, enabling whalers to reach previously unreachable waters. Early factory ships were converted merchant vessels.

During the 1930s, the number of catchers per factory ship rose from four to eight, and ships became much faster. This enabled whalers to better hunt swimming rorqual whales like the huge blue whale.

Huge factory ships were built after the Second World War, as whale oil and flesh became increasingly important to supplement fat and meat rations. From the 1960s, as whale populations continued to decline, many European companies started to withdraw from the whaling industry. No large factory ships sailed after 1978, but small-scale whaling and whaling for scientific purposes continue to this day.

During the Second World War, whale meat was consumed to supplement the British diet during a long period of rationing. Food was rationed from 1940 and restrictions on butter, cheese and meat lasted until 1954. Food shortages started to increase towards the end of the war and so rationing was much stricter in the late 1940s.

The first post-war whaling expedition set off from Southampton in October 1946 after a stop in Norway to enlist sailors for the trip. The whaling factory ship called Balaena sailed first to Cape Town, South Africa, then on to Antarctica. The whalers were accompanied by scientists working for the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research to test the food value of whale meat for the British diet.

The expedition was a success, and several thousand tons were imported to Britain from 1947. The government promoted whale meat as an unrationed alternative to beef, claiming that it tasted the same and had similar health benefits. Corned whale meat—or ‘Whacon’ as it was called—was then introduced in 1951 as an alternative to corned beef. However, despite attempts by the Ministry of Food to encourage consumption through inventive recipes, it was never a popular dish.