36 WHALES 



number of catcher boats. Clearly, a ration of a certain numl^er of animals 

 per ship is called for, and would effect considerable economies, but this 

 measure has so far been opposed because it is felt that it would curb free 

 competition on the open seas. Still, a national quota has once again 

 become an important subject of discussion. Meanwhile, Holland, which 

 started whaling in 1946 with a rel^uilt Swedish tanker, is using the new 

 M 'illem Barendsz II, built in 1 955, a 26,830 tonner which, with its contingent 

 of 506 men is a really big factory-ship. The Russian ship Soviet skay a 

 Ukraina (36,000 tons) is the biggest of all. 



The crew of a modern whaler is kept hard at work during the entire 

 season. Once the first harpoon has been fired and a successful catch has 

 been made, the winches on deck rattle away day and night, the boilers 

 keep bubbling ceaselessly and the catchers are out for 24 hours a day. 

 To keep the mother-ship well stocked, the crew have to woik in two shifts 

 with only short breaks for meals. Life is extremely hard and very tiring, 

 and for three long months it revolves round two questions only : how many 

 tons of oil have we got today, and how big will our bonus be ? Everyone 

 from the captain to the lowest deck hand shares in the proceeds and 

 returns home with jingling pockets. Whaling is a lucrative but also a very 

 fatiguing and often an icy cold job. Still, it is not nearly as dangerous or 

 arduous as it used to be. All mother-ships and catcher boats are adequately 

 heated, the berths are comfortable, washing facilities are good, and there 

 are many pleasant distractions. The ship's doctor watches over the crew's 

 health and has the most up-to-date medical equipment; the diet is both 

 pleasant and balanced. Vitamin and other nutritional deficiencies are 

 things of the past. 



The most important whaling product nowadays is oil, but before we 

 deal with this product more fully, we must first remove a persistent error : 

 the constant confusion of whale-oil with fish-liver oil. The whale supplies 

 no fish-liver oil whatsoever; fish-liver oil is the product of the livers 

 particularly of halibut and cod, fish which abound in northern waters. 

 The remedial effects of cod- and halibut-liver oil are based on the 

 presence of vitamins A and D, both of which are essential to human health. 

 Thus, if children lack vitamin D, they may get rickets. Whale oil, too, 

 contains some vitamin A, and the livers particularly of Blue Whales and 

 Sperm Whales are so rich in it that they are an excellent source of the 

 substance. But no part of the whale contains any vitamin D whatsoever, 

 so that real cod-liver oil is quite a different product. 



Whale-oil is primarily a fatty oil used in the manufacture of soap and 

 margarine, and to a lesser extent as a drying oil as used in the paint 

 industry. Inferior grades are used for tanning, and particularly in the 

 manufacture of chamois leather. Sperm oil (a mixture of Sperm Whale 



