Whaling

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From the mid-eighteenth century to the early nineteenth century, American whalers #controlled *dominated #possessed #sailed the seas. Whaling not only #achieved #engendered *generated #manufactured saleable products but also offered careers to numerous men of little means, including escaped slaves. However, as the industry hunted whales to the brink of extinction and as other, less expensive, products took the place of those supplied by whales, the industry eventually *collapsed #disintegrated #failed #thrived. | In the United States, commercial whaling was #combined *connected #joined #related with the Quaker colony of Nantucket for much of its early history. As members of a religious minority, the Massachusetts colony’s Quakers had been forced to live on Nantucket Island, where farming was impossible and the only way to make a #life #lifestyle #livelihood *living was by fishing. | In 1712 a whaler brought in a new kind of whale, a sperm whale. During the 1750s Nantucket Islanders began fortifying the ships for long sea voyages. Whaling became increasingly #beneficial #enjoyable *profitable #sustainable over the next forty years. A ship’s crew earned a portion of the vessel’s profits from selling whales, theoretically #empowering #influencing *motivating #requiring them to stay at sea until the ship’s hold was full of oil. #Although #Furthermore *However #Sadly , as the men had to buy almost all their supplies from the ship’s owners while at sea, they often spent their profits before returning to shore. | #Concerns #Expectations *Perceptions #Visions of whales and whaling began to shift during the 1970’s, and whaling was seen as both unnecessary and cruel. Finally, in 1982 the IWC declared a moratorium on all whaling, with only minor loopholes, to give whale populations a chance to #rebuild *recover #restore #resume .