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Whaling in Norway
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Whaling in Norway
Whaling in Norway involves hunting of minke whales for use as animal and human food in Norway and for export to Japan. Whale hunting has been a part of Norwegian coastal culture for centuries, and commercial operations targeting the minke whale have occurred since the early 20th century. Some still continue the practice in the modern day, within annual quotas.
Norwegians caught whales off the coast of Tromsø as early as the 9th or 10th century. Vikings from Norway also introduced whaling methods for driving small cetaceans, like pilot whales, into fjords in Iceland. The Norse sagas, and other ancient documents, provide few details on Norwegian whaling. The sagas recount some disputes between families over dead whales but do not describe any organized whale fishery in Norway.
Spear-drift whaling was practised in the North Atlantic as early as the 12th century. In open boats, hunters would strike a whale with a marked spear, with the intent of later locating the dead beached whale to claim a rightful share.
From the early 17th century through the 18th century, Basque whalers hunted as far north as Svalbard and Bear Island, to include participation in Dutch and English whaling expeditions there. Competition between nations led to over-exploitation of whale stocks and multiple armed naval conflicts in the early 17th century. By the middle of the 17th century, other European nations also hunted whales in these lucrative waters.
The whales were primarily hunted to render oil from the blubber for production of soap, paint, varnish, oil for illumination, and more. The baleen, or whalebone, was also used in products like corsets and umbrellas. On arrival at Spitsbergen, the whalers would set anchor, then construct a shore station with materials from the ship. The whales were spotted from shore, then chased and lanced repeatedly from the bow of a shallop. The whale carcass was next towed back to the shore station where the blubber was removed and boiled down. Finally, the whale oil was stored in wooden casks which were loaded onto the anchored ship.
The Dutch used Jan Mayen Island as a base for whaling. They also established a semi-permanent shore station in the early 17th century on Amsterdam Island, Svalbard, which became the village of Smeerenburg. Norwegian ships were also sent to Svalbard during the 18th century.
New techniques and technologies developed in the mid 19th century which revolutionized the whaling industry and Norway's prominence as a whaling nation.
In 1865, Thomas Welcome Roys and C. A. Lilliendahl, tested their experimental rocket harpoon design and set up a shore station in Seyðisfjörður, Iceland. A slump in oil prices after the American Civil War forced their endeavor into bankruptcy in 1867. A Norwegian, Svend Foyn, also studied the American method in Iceland.
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Whaling in Norway
Whaling in Norway involves hunting of minke whales for use as animal and human food in Norway and for export to Japan. Whale hunting has been a part of Norwegian coastal culture for centuries, and commercial operations targeting the minke whale have occurred since the early 20th century. Some still continue the practice in the modern day, within annual quotas.
Norwegians caught whales off the coast of Tromsø as early as the 9th or 10th century. Vikings from Norway also introduced whaling methods for driving small cetaceans, like pilot whales, into fjords in Iceland. The Norse sagas, and other ancient documents, provide few details on Norwegian whaling. The sagas recount some disputes between families over dead whales but do not describe any organized whale fishery in Norway.
Spear-drift whaling was practised in the North Atlantic as early as the 12th century. In open boats, hunters would strike a whale with a marked spear, with the intent of later locating the dead beached whale to claim a rightful share.
From the early 17th century through the 18th century, Basque whalers hunted as far north as Svalbard and Bear Island, to include participation in Dutch and English whaling expeditions there. Competition between nations led to over-exploitation of whale stocks and multiple armed naval conflicts in the early 17th century. By the middle of the 17th century, other European nations also hunted whales in these lucrative waters.
The whales were primarily hunted to render oil from the blubber for production of soap, paint, varnish, oil for illumination, and more. The baleen, or whalebone, was also used in products like corsets and umbrellas. On arrival at Spitsbergen, the whalers would set anchor, then construct a shore station with materials from the ship. The whales were spotted from shore, then chased and lanced repeatedly from the bow of a shallop. The whale carcass was next towed back to the shore station where the blubber was removed and boiled down. Finally, the whale oil was stored in wooden casks which were loaded onto the anchored ship.
The Dutch used Jan Mayen Island as a base for whaling. They also established a semi-permanent shore station in the early 17th century on Amsterdam Island, Svalbard, which became the village of Smeerenburg. Norwegian ships were also sent to Svalbard during the 18th century.
New techniques and technologies developed in the mid 19th century which revolutionized the whaling industry and Norway's prominence as a whaling nation.
In 1865, Thomas Welcome Roys and C. A. Lilliendahl, tested their experimental rocket harpoon design and set up a shore station in Seyðisfjörður, Iceland. A slump in oil prices after the American Civil War forced their endeavor into bankruptcy in 1867. A Norwegian, Svend Foyn, also studied the American method in Iceland.