HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION 17 



which has become a rare animal, may be found in the North Atlantic 

 (either alone, in pairs, or in very small schools). Things were quite 

 different once upon a time, when schools of over loo of them were often 

 found throughout the Northern Atlantic right down to the Azores, and 

 particularly in the Bay of Biscay - whence the animal's name. 



The Basques inhabiting the coasts of the Bay of Biscay, and particularly 

 the inhabitants of Biarritz, Bayonne, St. Jean de Luz and St. Sebastian, 

 began to hunt these animals in about the eleventh century. Although there 

 is no direct evidence, it seems likely that they learnt this art from the 

 Flemings and Normans who in turn picked up their knowledge from 

 the Norsemen, who often raided their covmtry. In any case, the Basques 

 turned whaling into a large-scale industry, and extended it farther and 

 farther across the Atlantic Ocean. As long as the whalers restricted their 

 activities to the coast alone they could use the flesh of the animals, but 

 as the hunt took them to distant parts their interest centred more and 

 more exclusively on only two whale products: lamp oil and whalebone. 

 At a time when steel and elastic were unknown, whalebone was the ideal 

 material for whips, umbrellas, stays, crinolines, and countless other 

 articles. With the increasing prosperity of \\' estern Europe, whale oil and 

 whalebone came into ever-greater demand. As houses required better 

 lighting and women better clothes and as the local stock decreased, 

 whaling spread from the Bay of Biscay to other parts of Western France, to 

 the coasts of Spain, to Portugal and even to England, where the whale 

 was proclaimed a royal fish, and the king was made an Honorary 

 Harpooner, entitled to the head of all captured whales, while the 

 baleen was given to the queen. Meanwhile whaling continued to spread 

 farther afield still, so much so that by 1578 thirty Basque ships are known 

 to have lain at anchor in Newfoundland. 



The pursuit of Biscayan Right Whales continued well into the twentieth 

 century (Hebridean 'fishery'), though Basques and Spaniards alike had 

 ceased whaling almost completely by the end of the sixteenth century - not 

 so much because whales had become too scarce, but rather because 

 capital, ships, and crews could be far more profitably employed otherwise. 

 It was the time of the great voyages of discovery and of colonial con- 

 quest. The expansion of Europe meant the doom of the Basque whaling 

 industry. 



Oddly enough, it was the desire for Oriental spices and other treasures 

 that caused the development of Greenland whaling. Britain and Holland, 

 anxious for their share of the good things of life, yet finding the southern 

 trade route barred by the Spaniards and Portuguese, decided to pioneer 

 a northern passage. As early as 1583 an Englishman, Jonas Poole, sailed 



