WHALES AND WHALING 293 



and flesh were not utilized. The spermaceti was not 

 separated from the sperm oil on board the whaler, 

 but the crude oil was taken to the home port, where 

 it was refined in a sperm-oil factory. 



In 1850, when oil was worth more than a dollar a 

 gallon, voyages yielding three thousand barrels of oil 

 worth a hundred thousand dollars or more were not 

 uncommon. Under those conditions many fortunes 

 were made in whaling. New Bedford, Nantucket, and 

 the other whaling ports enjoyed prosperity hitherto 

 unknown. 



During the Civil War the New England whaling 

 industry received a blow from which it never re- 

 covered. Many w^halers were either burned or seized 

 as prizes by the Confederates, and, in addition, 

 about forty of the whale-ships were purchased by the 

 federal government for use as war-ships. Many 

 whalemen, besides, joined the navy and aided the 

 Northern cause. 



Later, with the general introduction of kerosene, 

 whale oil, sperm oil, and spermaceti were no longer 

 absolute necessities and soon rapidly dropped in 

 price, with the result that the whaling business 

 slumped still more. 



Modern Whaling 



The invention of the harpoon gun by Svend 

 Foyn in 1864 completely revolutionized the industry, 

 however. While modern whaling still offers many 

 thrills, it is not nearly so dangerous as formerly, for 

 the whaler does not chase the whales in frail row- 

 boats but remains secure in a much larger craft pro- 



