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    Leviathan: The History of Whaling in America
    Leviathan: The History of Whaling in America
    Leviathan: The History of Whaling in America
    Audiobook15 hours

    Leviathan: The History of Whaling in America

    Written by Eric Jay Dolin

    Narrated by James Boles

    4/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    This is the epic history of the "iron men in wooden boats" who built an industrial empire through the pursuit of whales.

    "To produce a mighty book, you must choose a mighty theme," Herman Melville proclaimed, and this absorbing history demonstrates that few things can capture the sheer danger and desperation of men on the deep sea as dramatically as whaling. Eric Jay Dolin begins his vivid narrative with Captain John Smith's botched whaling expedition to the New World in 1614. He then chronicles the rise of a burgeoning industry-from its brutal struggles during the Revolutionary period to its golden age in the mid-1800s, when a fleet of more than 700 ships hunted the seas and American whale oil lit the world-to its decline as the twentieth century dawned. This sweeping social and economic history provides rich and often fantastic accounts of the men themselves, who mutinied, murdered, rioted, deserted, drank, scrimshawed, and recorded their experiences in journals and memoirs. Containing a wealth of naturalistic detail on whales, Leviathan is the most original and stirring history of American whaling in many decades.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherTantor Media, Inc
    Release dateJul 16, 2007
    ISBN9781400174843
    Leviathan: The History of Whaling in America

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    Reviews for Leviathan

    4/5

    75 ratings9 reviews

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    • 5/5
      Part Mark Kurlansky and John McPhee, -- authors I love -- Eric Dolan has written an absolutely fascinating book about whales and the history of the whaling industry. Much as those authors bring quotidian things and events to life. It's also part literary criticism and biography. The first whaling was done by settlers who copied the Indians dismantling of stranded pilot whales along the coast. This was succeeded by shore-based whaling as the value of whale oil became apparent leading to taxation and division of the spoils according to detailed rules. What happened, for example, when a whale washed up on the beach attached to a harpoon? Who "owned" the whale? This led to marking harpoons and lances, much as lobster fishermen do to buoys today, to help identify who might own a share.Gradually, as the Indians, who had performed much of the labor connected to whaling, died off from diseases brought back by those same ships, and as the value of the product rose immensely, blacks were hired to work. The case of Prince Boston was to have profound implications nationally. He was an excellent boat steerer, and having returned from a voyage was due the princely sum of 28 pounds, a substantial amount. His owner, Swain, claimed the money belonged to him and when Roach, the ship's owner, who despised slavery, insisted on paying Boston directly, Swain sued. He lost in all venues. In the Mass. Supreme Court, Boston was not only awarded the money but also given his freedom.Whaling leveled racial animosity. Escaped slaves would often seek out berths on whaling vessels as a way to earn money (they got equal wages with their white counterparts) as well as escape the depredations of the slave catchers. Most Nantucket whaling captains wanted nothing to do with racial animosity and valued their black sailors. There were exceptions. One Second Mate who became captain after the deaths of the Captain and his First Mate, decided he could make a lot of money by turning his ship into a slaver and sailed off to Africa where he obtained a load of slaves, a profitable voyage, indeed. Whale ships were designed to have lots of room in the hold making them well-suited for such evil transactions.The story behind Moby Dick is interesting. Melville had signed on has a hand on a whale ship for a 1/175th share (the whole section on how they were paid and the pittance ordinary seamen earned is revealing.) During a GAM -- when two whale ships met in the ocean they would hang our for several days mingling crews and exchanging gossip -- Melville met a young man by the name of Chase who recounted his time on the Essex, a ship that was rammed by a large sperm whale and battered until it sank. The few crew members who survived did so by consuming their companions. (See my review of Nathaniel Philbrick's In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex.) Melville was so taken by the story he used it for, well, you know... The heyday of whaling was the 1850's before the discovery of coal gas and kerosene as alternative lighting options. The predations of the confederate raiders Shenandoah and Alabama which preyed almost exclusively on the whaling fleet -- they couldn't shoot back so it was easy pickings, destroyed many ships, but the great ice-in of 1871 and 1876, when with typical white man hubris they had ignored the warning of the Eskimos in the Arctic, not only destroyed many ships, but badly hurt the insurance industry which had to take the brunt of the losses. (The story of of 100 whale boat trek to open water is quite a story in itself.) The ever-increasing availability of oil and its refinements spelled doom for the whaling industry, which diminished to nothing by the end of the 19th century.Wonderful read.
    • 4/5
      I really enjoyed this book it is a good overview of whaling in America. I was surprised by how critical whale oil was before petroleum was found in PA. Now I need to go visit the New Bedford Whaling Museum.
    • 4/5
      A thorough and deeply researched history of the American whaling industry. Great read from start to finish.
    • 4/5
      A complete and detailed history of whaling in America, starting with precolonial times and culminating with the demise of American whaling in the early 20th century. It shows how enormous the whaling industry was and the riches it brought to many. The story gives great detail on the process of hunting whales and rendering their bodies into salable products. Profits from whaling were immense in the golden years, but waned when buffeted by political events (mainly wars) and economic impacts. The advent of petroleum used for lighting and lubrication in the late 19th century marked the inexorable decline of whaling as a viable economic venture. The book focuses extensively on the whaling community in Nantucket, but gave also insights into other whaling towns in the East. (I was unaware that Hudson, NY, not far from Albany on the Hudson River, was a significant whaling town.) Whaling also had major international implications, principally with England whose policies closely impacted on the success of whaling. When faced with a choice between patriotism to America and collaboration with England, the Nantucketeers made preservation of their economic interests their main aim.The author makes clear at the onset that he will not address the ethics and environmental aspects of whaling; the sensibilities most Americans hold about whaling today. That's fair as this is a history looking back to a time of different cultural views and economic necessities.
    • 3/5
      This is a wonderfully researched book that provides the reader with a terrific overview of the history of whaling and the importance of the industry in years past. However, I found the writing style quite distant. The book read more like a history lesson than an emotive account of the industry.
    • 4/5
      Eric Jay Dolan offers an intriguing and in-depth look at the history of whale hunting in the United States. Drawing from primary sources as well as previous studies, Dolan adopts a journalistic approach without attempting to judge the past. He is especially adept at using the sources to paint a picture of life in the colonies and early nation -- one gets a real sense of the life of whaling communities and the joys and sorrows they experienced. A great read for anyone interested in learning more about early American history.
    • 5/5
      Excellent work. A well-researched, engrossing tale of adventure and exploitation on the high seas.
    • 5/5
      bought this book as a background to research into my family history and because I am very interested in that era and place. It was well researched and fully documented. If you look in the back of the book, you will find that the footnotes have many interesting asides to this history of whaling. I really like the detailed information about the different kinds of whales and learning about the hazards of whale fishing in the Arctic region. I do wish that the illustrations were larger so that it would be easier to read the type, especially for the maps. This book never got boring for me. There was a discussion of who was the first to kill the sperm whale. The common thought was that it was Christopher Hussey but he was a young child at the time. I thought the discussion was a little drawn out. With all the detail about the whalers, the ships and the politics of the day, I was disappointed that it was not mentioned that Hussey women owned ships! I would that is an interesting detail. Why did they own the ships? Was this unusual for the time period? Other than that I was surprised to not find any part of this book boring. It is a long book, not because of the number of pages but the font size. I think anyone who is interested in the history of whaling, whaling towns and whales would enjoy this book.
    • 5/5
      I bought this book as a background to research into my family history and because I am very interested in that era and place. It was well researched and fully documented. If you look in the back of the book, you will find that the footnotes have many interesting asides to this history of whaling. I really like the detailed information about the different kinds of whales and learning about the hazards of whale fishing in the Arctic region. I do wish that the illustrations were larger so that it would be easier to read the type, especially for the maps. This book never got boring for me. There was a discussion of who was the first to kill the sperm whale. The common thought was that it was Christopher Hussey but he was a young child at the time. I thought the discussion was a little drawn out. With all the detail about the whalers, the ships and the politics of the day, I was disappointed that it was not mentioned that Hussey women owned ships! I would that is an interesting detail. Why did they own the ships? Was this unusual for the time period?Other than that I was surprised to not find any part of this book boring. It is a long book, not because of the number of pages but the font size. I think anyone who is interested in the history of whaling, whaling towns and whales would enjoy this book.