HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION 33 



Other elastic substances had taken its place; America supplied beef in 

 abundance; and paraffin, gas and electricity provided all the illumination 

 that was needed. But with greater emphasis on bodily hygiene there arose 

 an ever-increasing demand for soap, and with a larger population a 

 greater demand for edible fats. Now, butter has forever been in short 

 supply and hence a luxury, and margarine, which is not a dairy product, 

 had to serve as substitute for the poorer classes. Ground-nuts and coconuts 

 had long been the only source of this fat, as whale oil, becavise of its sinell 

 and taste, was thought unfit for human consumption. But disaster struck 

 the whales in 1901, when Sabatier and Sendérens discovered a new 

 process which Bedford, Norman, and others applied to the hardening of 

 fat some years later. By hardening is meant the saturation of unsaturated 

 fatty acids (see page 326), and during this process the taste and smell of 

 the oil are so improved that it can be mixed with vegetable fats. In 1929 

 chemists working for the Margarine Union (later merged into Unilever) 

 managed to improve this process to svich an extent that whale-oil could 

 be used entirely by itself. 



Still, Norwegian whalers did not immediately derive all the benefits 

 they would have liked from the new situation. While increasing demand 

 caused a steep rise in prices, there was a shortage of Rorquals within reach 

 of the land stations. However, the Norwegians soon remembered that the 

 Northern Arctic, where the Greenland Whale had by then become almost 

 extinct, had an annual influx of Rorquals, which came there in search of 

 food. It was decided to return to the old trade, but now in modern guise. 

 The first modern factory ship, the 450-ton Telegraph, was sent to Spits- 

 bergen waters by Christian Christensen in 1903. In 1904 the Admiralen 

 followed, and by 1905 seven 'floating factories' were operating in the 

 Arctic. 



A brief glance at a map will show that the Arctic is a fairly small area, 

 particularly when we compare it with the Antarctic. It soon became 

 apparent that the lucrative trade would have to be extended to southern 

 waters with their far greater number of whales. Now, the Antarctic was 

 very far away from Europe, but after all, Jacques le Maire, who had 

 rounded Cape Horn in 161 6 in his small ships Eendracht and Hoorn, had 

 pointed out that he had come across so many whales 'that he had his tiine 

 cut out keeping them at bay'. Moreover, Cook, Ross, Weddell, and other 

 subsequent explorers had also stated time and again how many great 

 whales they had encountered in the Antarctic. Since then, however, the 

 Southern Right Whale had become so reduced in numbers that a Dundee 

 expedition which set out in 1892 returned almost empty-handed, and the 

 same fate befell the three ships which were sent out in 1894 by a number 

 of Hambui-g shippers. But Captain C. A. Larsen, who took part in the 



