THE HISTORY OF WHALING IN THE AZORES 303 



mentioned, although intermittently and in decreasing numbers, for several whaling stations between 

 1905 and 1926. Bomblatifos are listed for 1929, and I believe that carabinas (' carbines ') were shoulder- 

 guns and espingardas (' muskets ') were darting-guns, but I cannot prove this because the American 

 terms have no Portuguese equivalents. Compared with the listed numbers of hand weapons, few of 

 these guns were in use at any time, and it is unlikely that they were ever popular with the islanders, 

 if only because of the relative expense involved. In San Miguel there were still two espingardas available 

 in 1934, but these seem to have been the last. Firearms are never used at the present time anywhere 

 in the Azores. An experimental hand lance with an explosive head, electrically detonated, has been 

 tried in Fayal, but not adopted (Figueiredo, 1946, p. 104). The weapons of Azores whalemen today 

 are patterns of hand harpoons and lances which existed a century ago. Why small-arms have been 

 completely relinquished is not very clear. A similar shift to the old hand weapons took place in the last 

 years of the whaleships when these also were manned largely by Portuguese. Ashley attempted to 

 explain this by the need for economy, or by the possibility that Portuguese whalemen had less assurance 

 with explosives than the Americans (1926, p. 88). Firearms certainly had one disadvantage in Sperm 

 whaling : they were best reserved for lone bulls because schools were frightened and dispersed by the 

 detonations; and it is a fact that most whales round the Azores are in schools. 



In the 1920's an important event for Azores whaling was the formation of the Gremio dos Arma- 

 dores da Pesca da Baleia, an official organization with offices in Lisbon. This Association of Whaling 

 Owners has something of the attributes of a medieval guild. All whaling owners or companies are 

 members of the Gremio and it includes representatives from the Ministries of Marine and of Econo- 

 mics. Its functions are to safeguard the welfare of the whaling industry, promote its development and 

 increase its efficiency ; to arrange the most advantageous terms for the sale of sperm oil and whale 

 products in foreign markets ; to make rules for the conduct of the fishery and for the rightful ownership 

 of disputed whales ; to regulate the equipment and manning of the whaleboats and motor tow-boats 

 and regulate the conditions of recruitment, organization and pay of the whalemen ; to collect statistics 

 and records, and make regulations for conserving the whale stocks ; and for all these rulings to establish 

 against their non-observance penalties of money fines or the withdrawal of whaling licences. The rules 

 and regulations of the Gremio were published in 1925 and a revision of the constitution and admini- 

 stration was issued in 1945 (Gremio dos Armadores da Pesca da Baleia, 1925, 1945). 



The Azores catches fluctuated considerably in the 1920's although the general trend was a rising 

 one. London and Lisbon received most of the oil, and little was exported direct to the U.S.A. The 

 general slump of 1930-31 is clearly seen both in the world and in the Azores catches (Figs. 2 and 4). 

 But by 1930 new uses were beginning to be found for sperm oil and spermaceti in the chemical and 

 textile industries. Research and development in this field were particularly active in Germany, and it 

 is significant that between 1930 and the outbreak of the Second World War the oil produced by the 

 Azores found-a market in Hamburg as well as in London and Lisbon. The catch figures for the world 

 (representing largely Antarctic catches) and for the Azores, and the increased effort shown by the 

 Azores catch of whales per whaleboat (Table 10) together boldly reflect this renewed interest of in- 

 dustrial markets in sperm oil during the 1930's. Today new uses continue to be found for the oil. 

 Its chemical composition is very different from that of oil from Whalebone whales, which consists of 

 true fats capable of being hardened into edible oils. Sperm oil is largely a mixture of waxes. It does 

 not provide edible oils, but its present applications cover a wide field including cosmetics, soap, 

 liniments and medicines, machine oils, plasticizers and fillers, paints and varnishes, roofing board, 

 and the hardening of metals. A good deal goes to make sulphonates for the textile industry (Norsk 

 Hvalfangsttid. 1948, p. 456), and for the new sulphonated detergents. 



In the Azores the increasing prosperity after 193 1 was accompanied by the introduction into one 



