US History

Expansion and Reform (1801-1861)

This collection uses primary sources to explore the American whaling industry.

Excerpts, including illustrations, from an 1839 text describing how whalers captured and killed the sperm whale.

The available pages of this text describe large whaling ships and the small whaleboats launched from them, which were used to hunt sperm whales in the 1830s. The illustrations depict the dangers faced by crew members sent out in small whaleboats to harpoon whales.

A “skimmer” tool used in the processing of whale oil aboard nineteenth-century ships.

This “skimmer” was used aboard whaleships to remove solid bits as blubber was processed into oil.

The introduction to a 1918 text about John Manjiro (Nakahama Manjiro) and William H. Whitfield, including source documents and photographs.

This book was published by the Fairhaven Public Library in Fairhaven, Massachusetts, to commemorate the presentation of a ceremonial sword by the descendents of Manjiro to the descendents of Whitfield. In 1814, Manjiro was rescued and adopted by Whitfield, a whaling captain, while shipwrecked off the coast of Japan. Manjiro eventually rose to the position of first mate of an American whaling ship before returning to a life of prominence in Japan. Majiro is the first widely recognized Japanese immigrant to the US. His story has also become an important piece of Asian-American history and the history of the American whaling industry.

A photo of John Manjiro and a bearded man, possibly Captain Whitfield.

This recently discovered photo is a rare image of John Manjiro, who, when a young man, was rescued and taken aboard an American whaling ship after being shipwrecked off the coast of Japan. His rescuer, Captain Whitfield of Fairhaven, Massachusetts, adopted him, integrated him into life in Fairhaven, and helped Manjiro as he rose to the rank of first mate aboard American whaling ships. Ultimately, Manjiro returned to Japan where he became a prominent scholar and diplomat. He is still celebrated in Japan as the first prominent Japanese immigrant to the US. The photo was taken in 1870 when Manjiro returned from his life in Japan to visit his friends and adopted family in Fairhaven.

An excerpt from Herman Melville’s 1851 novel about whaling, *Moby Dick*.

Herman Melville, who worked aboard a whaleship out of New Bedford for four years, drew on his own experiences at sea when he wrote the great whaling novel *Moby Dick*. This excerpt includes the famous first paragraph of the novel and a portion of a confrontation between Captain Ahab and the great white whale, Moby Dick, which Ahab has been pursuing for years aboard the whaleship *Pequod*.

A photograph of the interior of the Seamen’s Bethel Church in New Bedford, Massachusetts.

This church, which served the whalers of New Bedford for over a century and which is mentioned in Herman Melville’s *Moby Dick* as a place of worship attended by whaleship crew and captains, remains open to visitors. It is located across from the New Bedford Whaling Museum.

An 1845 world map showing sea currents and whaling grounds.

A whaling voyage would often take two or three years and circumnavigate the globe. This map shows in shading the areas of ocean that would most likely be visited by whaleships deployed from New England.

A photograph of a model whaling ship and whaleboats.

This scale model of the whaleship *Lagoda* is on display at the New England Whaling Museum. The whaleboats located alongside it would have been dropped from a whaling vessel with a small number of crew seeking to harpoon whales for slaughter. The deceased whales would then be processed into oil aboard the larger whaleship.

An 1882 photograph of African American sea captains.

African Americans often served aboard whaling ships, or, like Frederick Douglass, worked in seafaring industries based out of New Bedford, Nantucket, and other New England cities. This photo shows four African American sea captains from a period in which the maritime industry of New Bedford was transitioning from whaling to fishing.

A scrimshaw tooth from 1840, carved aboard a whaling ship.

Scrimshaw was an art form practiced by crew members of whaling ships. Seeking to pass the time aboard, they would carve intricate designs into whalebones or whale teeth and would give these items as presents to loved ones upon their return.

A photograph of the New Bedford whaleship *Plantina*.

This photograph shows the whaleship *Plantina*, which sailed between 1847 and 1917. Crew members would typically spend two to three years aboard ship.

A map showing Boston’s top-five foreign languages spoken at home in 2015.

This map, created by the Boston Planning and Development Agency in 2017, shows the five languages other than English spoken at home in Boston as of 2015. The presence of Cape Verdean (a creole language rooted in Portuguese and African dialects) as one of these top-five languages shows the enduring presence of this community in Massachusetts, and its roots can be traced back to the whaling industry. Whaleships would often seek harbor on the islands of Cape Verde off the coast of Africa to purchase supplies, but also to acquire crew members who were experienced sailors, and who would return with the ships to the US. These Cape Verdeans formed permanent communities on the south shore of Massachusetts as well as in the city of Boston.

A photo of Bishop Charles M. Grace, a Cape Verdean American pastor and community leader who was born in the 1880s and died in 1960.

This photo of Bishop Charles Grace, or Marcelino Manuel da Graça, depicts a prominent Cape Verdean American member of New Bedford society who founded the United House of Prayer in New Bedford. Massachusetts’s large Cape Verdean and Portuguese communities originated with the whaling industry. Ships would replenish their crews with stops in the Azores (Portugal) and Cape Verde; upon returning to Massachusetts, these crew members often settled and sent for their families.

A whale-oil lamp.

This is a double-wick brass-chamber lamp of the type commonly used between 1750 and 1850. Whale oil was highly prized as the best lamp fuel as it burned very brightly and with little smoke. This small lamp was likely used in a bedroom; it could easily be carried from room to room without going out. 

Questions

1. Use the [text describing how whalers captured and killed the sperm whale](https://dp.la/primary-source-sets/the-american-whaling-industry/sources/1578), the [“skimmer” tool](https://dp.la/primary-source-sets/the-american-whaling-industry/sources/1579), and the [excerpt from *Moby Dick*](https://dp.la/primary-source-sets/the-american-whaling-industry/sources/1582) to explain how whales were hunted and processed aboard ship as well as what dangers were experienced by those engaged in whaling.
2. How did the whaling industry change the population of Massachusetts? Why might whaling have been an attractive career for free African Americans or those who had escaped slavery and for new immigrants from Cape Verde? Use the [photograph of African American sea captains](https://dp.la/primary-source-sets/the-american-whaling-industry/sources/1586), the [map showing Boston’s top five foreign languages](https://dp.la/primary-source-sets/the-american-whaling-industry/sources/1589), and the [photo of Bishop Charles M. Grace](https://dp.la/primary-source-sets/the-american-whaling-industry/sources/1590) in your response.
3. Consult the 1918 [text about John Manjiro and William H. Whitfield](https://dp.la/primary-source-sets/the-american-whaling-industry/sources/1580), the [photo of John Manjiro and a bearded man](https://dp.la/primary-source-sets/the-american-whaling-industry/sources/1581), and the [map showing currents and whaling grounds](https://dp.la/primary-source-sets/the-american-whaling-industry/sources/1584). Why do you think that Manjiro and Captain Whitfield are still celebrated pioneers of cultural exchange in both Japan and the United States? What cultural exchanges would likely occur as whaleships traveled around the world?
4. Examine the [photograph of a model whaling ship and whaleboats](https://dp.la/primary-source-sets/the-american-whaling-industry/sources/1585) and the [photograph of the whaleship *Plantina*](https://dp.la/primary-source-sets/the-american-whaling-industry/sources/1588). How would you describe these ships?
5. Consider the architecture of the era of whaling in the United States. When you examine the [interior of the Seamen’s Bethel](https://dp.la/primary-source-sets/the-american-whaling-industry/sources/1583), where whalers often worshipped while in port in New Bedford, what elements of the design stand out to you?
6. Consider the [image of scrimshaw carving](https://dp.la/primary-source-sets/the-american-whaling-industry/sources/1587). Why do you think that pieces of scrimshaw are now considered valuable examples of American folk art?

Activity

Project this image of [indigenous women and children in Alaska](http://cdm16786.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/harriman/id/196) engaging in the traditional practice of whale hunting for students to view and consider. Remind students that although the American whaling industry was in decline by the end of the nineteenth century, and although whales are now protected by international agreements, nations including Japan and Norway and indigenous peoples of the United States and Canada still engage in whaling. Have students work in four groups to research current whaling in these four areas of the world; each group should then explain to the full class both the rationale for whaling and protests against whaling that have taken place. Ask each group to express an opinion on whether this nation/group’s continued practicing of whaling is justified.

Teaching Guide: Exploring the American Whaling Industry

Resources

1. [New Bedford Whaling Museum](https://www.whalingmuseum.org/explore/collections/database). 
Search the collection of the New Bedford Whaling Museum to find more objects, art, documents, photographs, and maps related to the whaling industry.
2. [Clip from *Down to the Sea in Ships*](https://vimeo.com/34586186). 
This twenty-three minute film clip comes from a 1922 documentary filmed on board a whaling ship.
3. [Maritime Art and History](https://www.pem.org/explore-art/maritime-art-and-history), Peabody Essex Museum.
Explore the maritime art collection of the Peabody Essex Museum to see visual representations of New England’s fishing and whaling industries in an era before photography.

Overview

The American whaling industry has its roots in the seventeenth century, in small coastal villages on Long Island, New York and Nantucket, Massachusetts, where right whales were so plentiful that they could be caught close to shore and brought back to port for processing. At the height of the whaling industry, however, in the early nineteenth century, large ships would travel the globe for two to three years at a time, killing whales and processing them on board before returning home to sell resulting products. Most important was whale oil, the preferred fuel for lighting American homes prior to gas and electric lighting; it was derived from a whale’s blubber or, in the case of a high-quality sperm-whale oil, from a whale’s head. Flexible baleen from the jaws of whales was also used to make the bones of women’s corsets and a number of other household items. Sailors often passed the time aboard ship by carving designs into whale teeth and bone, an art form known as scrimshaw.

The whaling industry fueled the growth of many New England cities, including Fall River, New Bedford, and Salem in Massachusetts. Crews aboard whaling ships and staff on the docks of whaling ports were remarkedly diverse, employing a large number of free African Americans, including Frederick Douglass after he escaped from slavery. Ships would often supplement their crews as they traveled throughout the world; Herman Melville’s *Moby Dick* features crew members from the South Pacific, for example. A young Japanese man named John Manjiro eventually rose to the position of first mate on an American whaling vessel and became the United States’ first prominent Japanese immigrant. 

After 1860, the whaling industry collapsed rapidly, as oil obtained by drilling in the ground quickly became a less-expensive fuel source for lighting. A more diverse population, however, remained a lasting impact of the whaling industry in Massachusetts, as the example of Manjiro and others shows. Sizable Portuguese and Cape Verdean communities who came first to work aboard whaling vessels stayed to work in the fishing industry. Massachusetts—and the United States—became more linguistically, ethnically, and racially diverse.

English

The American Whaling Industry

american-whaling-industry_02_cc9ab2ef05dd7161cacaa080341d3c87.jpg

Courtesy of National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center via Smithsonian Institution.

“Whaleship Skimmer,” Digital Public Library of America, https://dp.la/item/cc9ab2ef05dd7161cacaa080341d3c87.

A “skimmer” tool used in the processing of whale oil aboard nineteenth-century ships.

Cite this item

Tips for Students

Item 2 of 14 in the Primary Source Set The American Whaling Industry