Whaling in the 19th century, by the numbers: A quantitative look at maritime history.
Take a look at a genuine list of all the stuff the operators of New Bedford's whaling fleet bought in 1858 to outfit their ships.
A while back, never mind why, I got to reading a book about the history of the American whaling industry in the 19th century. (No, I’m not planning to do a video on it, but it was adjunct to something else I was researching). There was an interesting section on the whaling industry of New Bedford, Massachusetts, which was the primary port for whalers during that century. The book—In Pursuit of Leviathan by Lance E. Davis, Robert E. Gallman and Karin Gleiter—is primarily an economic history. If that makes your eyes glaze over, I don’t blame you, but sometimes economic history can be pretty illuminating.
Anyway, in this book I found an interesting list of everything that the owners and outfitters of the New Bedford whaling fleet purchased during one year, 1858, in order to keep their fleet of 65 whaling vessels going. It’s eye-popping. For what it’s worth, here, by the numbers, is a list of what they bought during one year, preserved in a publication called the Whalemen’s Shipping List.
