Call Me Ishmael: The Barbados Whaling Industry

Whaling is truly one of the great tragedies of humanity. Though there are multiple groups and societies that have always sustainably  hunted whales such as the Inuit, the rise of the commercial whaling industry in the 17th century was anything but. Spearheaded by the British and Americans, whaling quickly became a race to catch as many whales as possible. Whalers all over the world hunted indiscriminately, attempting to outdo each other in an industry that lasted over four centuries. Indeed, by the 1930s over 50,000 whales were being killed a year (Francis 2010) leading the International Whaling Commission (IWC) to ban commercial whaling because most whale species had become endangered. Even in the Caribbean, Trinidad, St Vincent and Grenada were active and competent practitioners, however this article will investigate the often underdiscussed Barbadian whaling industry.

Barbados has a long seafaring history. This country itself was the gem of the British empire, and as such was a major destination for British and later American ships. During the 17th to 19th century, the Bridgetown and Speighstown ports were necessary stops in order to offload and reload cargo and supplies for the voyage back to their original ports of origin. The practice of whaling was no different. Indeed, most whaling ships made their stop at Barbados more so for the restocking of supplies rather than for hunting (Cresswell & Romero 2010). A point further supported by the diary of Mrs Annie Holmes Ricketson, the wife of a whaling captain Daniel L. Ricketson. In it she notes that after their trip through the Indian Ocean, the ship made anchor at the Bridgetown port where they docked for supplies after a collision with another ship in 1874. However, it should be said that whalers were opportunistic beings (albeit to the detriment of the marine ecosystem). One newspaper recounts the American whalers hunting a humpback whale spotted off the coast of Carlisle Bay in 1859 (Liberal Newspaper 1859). This repeated contact with Yankee and British whalers would lead many locals to join their crews and learn their techniques as early as 1765, when these men returned, they would apply these skills to shore whaling.

Caribbean whaling varied vastly from island to island. Trinidadian whalers sailed in pirogues a small oar powered boat  with indigenous roots manned by six rowers and a harpooner. In Bequia, whalers used open sailing boats (25 ft to 30ft) modelled after Yankee whalers in Nantucket needing only six men, including the harpooner and captain, while in Grenada steam powered Norwegian whaling ships that could tow up to five whales while needing only a small crew to run it were the order. Barbadian boats however were as long as the boats used in Bequia, using both oars and sails. This meant that between 6 to 14 men were required to perform hunts successfully. The large crew and medium size of the hunting vessels of Barbadian whalers seemed to be the most inefficient of the time. This idea is further perpetuated in the actual practice of shore whaling (Cresswell & Romero 2010).

Unlike the other territories, Barbadian whalers had no permanent buildings save for the shacks where the equipment was kept (harpoons, ropes, bomb lances etc). Whilst they stored their boats near the jetty. Around the year 1867 the first whaling operation, The Speighstown Whaling Industry was introduced, their presence noted in “The Times” newspaper catching a 50 ft whale in 1868 (The Times 1868). Shortly after however, two other operations opened, one more in Speighstown and one in Holetown. Most of the whaling was conducted between January and May as during this time plantation workers were less occupied as it was not harvest season, this allowed the whaling operations to recruit workers more easily. Quarrels between the two Speighstown companies led to the government passing the Fisheries Regulation Act in 1904 which detailed the ownership of the whale by the boat which struck it first as well as making provisions for if the whale was struck simultaneously (Cresswell & Romero 2010)

Shore whalers set out to catch a whale only if they had spotted one first, from the shore, almost exclusively humpbacks as their migratory routes passed along the west coast of Barbados. They would then rush to set their boats out and pursue, using their oars for steering and control during the hunt and the sails at other times. After they had gotten within striking distance the harpooner would attempt to strike the whale in order to secure it, before striking it with a bomb lance to kill the creature. Whalers preferred to hunt a mother and her calf, specifically targeting the young first as they knew the mother would not leave their child. If no such pair was available, they would then target lone adults. Hunting whales was dangerous, many men died or were seriously injured by getting caught up in the harpoon ropes as the whales dived, or drowned when the whales struck and broke the boats. If the whale was successfully killed, the crew would jump into the water in order to sew its mouth shut to stop it filling with water and sinking. In order to harvest the whale, the crew would then drag it to shore where the process of flensing would be undertaken. This usually took about 24 hours after which the blubber was boiled for another 48 hours in copper kettles in order to make whale oil. These copper kettles were of the same make as the boilers used to make sugar. The oil was then exported to America, Canada, Britain and Demerara at between 13 to 18 pounds sterling per ton, making a great profit for the owner of the whale (Cresswell & Romero 2010)

Of course, the whaling industry was not sustainable and by 1920, Barbadian whaling had ended. Though some consideration can be given to the rise of mineral oils as a factor in the demise of Barbadian whaling, the main factor is simply that they were overhunted. Whales reproduce at an extremely slow rate, producing only one child through a gestation period that lasts over a year. With whalers consistently hunting mother and calves over centuries not only in Barbados but in Trinidad, Bequia, Grenada and even Venezuela, the whale population quite simply could not recover. To this day, humpback whales are still not as plentiful In Barbadian waters and almost a rarity to be seen from the shore, though it is possible to see one occasionally around May.

Bibliography

“Deplete Locally, Impact Globally: Environmental History of Shore-Whaling in Barbados, W.I.” The Open Conservation Biology Journal 4, no. 1 (2010): 19–27. https://doi.org/10.2174/1874839201004010019.

Francis, Daniel. “Whaling.” The Canadian Encyclopedia, 2006. http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/whaling.

The Journal of the Barbados Museum and Historical Society vols 26, 29, 32(n.d.).