324 FOLLOW THE WHALE 



At that time not even a ship returning full of the best blubber oil 

 could pay its way. A ship had to bring back not only enormous 

 quantities of refined oils of many kinds, but also a number of rare 

 substances obtainable only through very costly chemical and me- 

 chanical processes, and a considerable tonnage of lower-priced by- 

 products, before it could even start to cover the cost of its voyage. 

 When the whaling companies started totaling up the amounts of 

 each that were needed to achieve this economically feasible objec- 

 tive, they were so stunned that they almost gave up the whole busi- 

 ness. The little converted cargo vessel with two pressure cookers in 

 her belly, some tanks, a surfeit of davits, and a large crew would no 

 longer suffice as a floating whale factory. The ship had to be almost 

 as large as the biggest liners afloat in order to carry the equipment 

 needed alone, and then it had to be moved by a vast army of mari- 

 ners, technicians, and even office personnel, all of whom had to be 

 looked after. Next, there was the matter of catching the whales. This 

 manifestly had to be done by chasers, and these in turn had to be 

 manned, stocked, and serviced. Finally, the most crucial point of all 

 loomed up. What about the whales? Where on earth were they still 

 to be found in sufficient quantity and concentration to keep such a 

 vast machine supplied fast enough to make its operation pay? 



About 1920 there seemed to be no answer to this last question and 

 the whole industry was slipping into a slough of despond when one 

 man who was not fazed by the enormity of these problems came to 

 its rescue. He had been born to whaHng and he had pursued the busi- 

 ness since his youth. Moreover, he had not traveled the world as a 

 mariner only, but also as a scholar. His agile mind was not unique, 

 but it was of rare caliber, more like that of a promoter, and some- 

 where between those types best exemplified by Cecil Rhodes, on the 

 one hand, and P. T. Barnum, on the other. In other words, he was 

 what we call a "businessman" in the truest sense. His name was Carl 

 Anton Larsen, and his is probably the most important name in the 

 whole ten thousand years of the history of whaling. He was born at 

 Tj0lHng, near Larvik, in i860 and he went to sea as a youth in the 

 Arctic bottlenose-whale fleet. His life from then on became not 

 only an integral part of modern whaling but practically its main 

 theme. 



As we have already noted, it was this man who organized the 



