OPEN BOAT WHALING IN THE AZORES 



THE HISTORY AND PRESENT METHODS OF A 



RELIC INDUSTRY 



By Robert Clarke, M.A. 



(National Institute of Oceanography) 

 (Plates XIII-XVIII, Text-figs. 1-7) 



INTRODUCTION 



The Azores or Western Islands comprise a volcanic group of nine islands lying around latitude 

 38 N. some 900 miles from Portugal and towards the middle of the North Atlantic (Fig. 1). The 

 islands lie in three groups whose outriders are distant from each other about 100 miles, and the 

 distance from Corvo in the Western Group to Santa Maria in the Eastern Group is nearly 400 miles 

 (Fig. 3, p. 297). The archipelago is administered not as a colony but as an integral part of Portugal. 

 For this reason, when reference is made in the present account to the mainland or its inhabitants, these 

 are usually distinguished as 'continental Portugal' and the 'continental Portuguese'. 



At present (1953) there are three Portuguese whaling centres in the North Atlantic (Fig. 1). Setubal 

 on the mainland of Portugal conducted steam whaling for Fin and Sperm whales between 1925 and 

 1927, and in 1944 resumed operations from a fine new station. In the archipelago of the Azores and 

 in Madeira the fishery is of a different kind and only Sperm whales are taken. Sperm whales are the 

 largest of the Toothed whales : the male Sperm whale can grow to 60 ft. in length and the female to 39 ft. 



Fig. 1. Portuguese whaling centres in the North Atlantic in 1953. Open boat whaling is conducted 

 from the Azores and from Madeira, and steam whaling from Setubal. 



Sperm whaling in these islands is especially interesting because the methods employed are a sur- 

 vival of that old-time whaling generally believed to have quite vanished from the seas. Shore whaling 

 off the coasts of the Azores, prosecuted with the hand harpoon and lance from open boats under oars 

 or sails, is still a considerable industry. Moreover, these antiquated methods, learned from American 

 whalers in the nineteenth century, are not confined to the chase, but extend at most places equally to 

 the ' cutting in ' of the whales and to the ' trying out ' of their blubber in iron pots on the shore. An 



