1 History

 

The development of the modern whaling

I show you my collection on the postal history of whaling from 1904 to 1964. For questions and/or remarks , you can send me a mail: a.ruijne@hetnet.nl

 The old way of hunting whale was based at small row-boats, and the whaler threw a small harpoon with his hands. This capture method became improved by Svend Foyn, a man from Tønsberg, in the years 1860-1870. His method implied the use of strong steam powered whaling boats armed with small grenades shot from cannons. This method renewed the whale hunting.


Old type of whaling

By using a steam boat, not only for the hunting but also in the processing of the whale, leaded up to an industrialization of the whole way of whaling. The companies that was established for using the new type of hunting whale, did have the same goal as all other industry; producing as much as possible in short time to achieve maximum of profit. This gave big income for the owners, but did also lead to dramatic consequenses for the whale population world wide.



The whaler Nancy Grey, built in 1883 on it`s way for the station Skaarø at Karlsøy in Troms country, late at the 1890`s. The same ship did also hunt for whales at South-Georgia, then named Mathilde.


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