United States History Student Edition

B

Whaling in the Atlantic Whales offered colonists a number of important resources. The whale’s blubber, or fat, would be boiled down to make whale oil. Colonists burned whale oil in lamps. Some whales had baleen, a flexible, bone-like material that could be used to manufacture various products, such as petticoats, corsets, collar stiffeners, and buggy whips. While whaling off of New England could be profitable, it also could be dangerous. The drawing from 1722 shows a whaling crew in a boat as they attack a whale. PRIMARY SOURCE: JOURNAL “ This day a whale-boat being alone, the men struck a whale and she coming under ye boat in part staved it, and tho ye men were not hurt with the whale yet, before any help came to them, four men were tired and chilled, and fell off ye boat and oars to which they hung and were drowned. ” — Rev. Nathaniel Huntting, 1719 staved smashed a hole in

PRIMARY SOURCE: DRAWING

EXAMINE THE SOURCES 1. Identifying How do the quote and the drawing reflect the dangers of whaling? 2. Drawing Conclusions What does the drawing tell you about the process of whaling at the time?

PHOTO: East Hampton Historical Society; TEXT: Huntting, Nathaniel. Diary entry of Feb. 24, 1719, quoted in A History of the Town of East-Hampton, N.Y. by Henry P. Hedges. Sag-Harbor: J.H. Hunt, 1897.

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The English Colonies Are Settled and Grow