Fisheries: What About Whaling?

Whaling Scene

Whaling was a minor Maine fishery. In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries a few hunted whales from the shore and a few places continued whaling into the nineteenth century: Vinalhaven, Winter Harbor, Prospect Harbor, and Mount Desert Island. Whalers from Portland, Wiscasset, Bath, and Bucksport made some trips to the Pacific in the 1830s and 40s, but could not compete with whaling communities such as New Bedford, Nantucket, and other southern New England ports.

Harpoon, Lance, and Spade

In shore whaling, the whale was harpooned, allowed to tire itself out, then lanced from boats rowed from shore. Whalers towed the whale to tryworks set up on shore.   Blubber flensed from the whale was rendered into oil. Whale oil was valuable for illumination before kerosene and electricity. Right whales contained the most blubber and were most desirable. Today, right whales are an endangered species. Fin, humpback, and minke whales are the most common whales found along the Maine coast. To protect them, modern fishermen must use gear that will break if entangled with a whale.

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