History Of Whaling Research Articles

Overview of Balaenoptera whales strandings in Southern Brazil from 1993 to 2018

The ecology and distribution of most baleen whales are poorly known in Brazilian waters, despite the history of whaling and the recent increase in the research effort. Although stranding data presents some caveats, it is useful to understand patterns of distribution and occurrence and to detect population trends. In this scenario, data from 25 years of a monitoring marine mammal stranding program were used to evaluate the composition and spatial-temporal patterns of Balaenoptera whales in southern Brazil. A stretch of 270 km on the coast of Rio Grande do Sul State (from 29°20’S to 31°21’S) was surveyed year-round between 1993 and 2018. Whales were identified, measured and sex determined whenever possible. Molecular identification through mtDNA analysis was obtained for 22 individuals and confirmed field identification in 17 cases. Forty-eight whales of four species were recorded: common minke whale B. acutorostrata n = 27, Antarctic minke whale B. bonaerensis n = 1, Bryde’s whale B. brydei n = 13, fin whale B. physalus n = 1. In addition, six whales were not identified at species level due to advanced decomposition. The larger number of strandings of common minke and Bryde’s whales may be related to their greater abundance and/or more coastal distribution. Both species were recorded year-round, but strandings of common minke and Bryde’s whales occurred mostly during winter/spring (77.77%) and spring/summer (66.66%), respectively. Although Bryde’s whales appear to remain in southern Brazilian waters during the entire year, the results suggest the existence of seasonal inshore-offshore movements. Moreover, the greater number of strandings of juveniles of common minke whales compared to adults (ratio 1.86:1) and their occurrence in different seasons suggest that some immature individuals may not leave this region, as previously pointed out by other studies. This long-term survey brings new evidence of the importance of this region in the Southwestern Atlantic Ocean for some Balaenoptera species.

A history of whales in contemporary Brazil: A study of media reports on deaths of cetaceans

This essay seeks to understand the sensitive responses of contemporary perspectives and experiences in dealing with whales washed up on beaches killed largely by plastic pollution in our seas and oceans. Identified in Brazilian online mass-circulation periodicals and denounced by environmentally engaged art, the interactions between the bodies of whales and culture are interpreted in the light of studies of the history of human–non-human–animal relationships, human sensibilities triggered by this contact, and media reports denouncing the current environmental crisis and raising awareness of the importance of protecting species, in this case cetaceans. Through the Brazilian periodical press, one can see, in the record of whale deaths, the sensitivity toward non-human animals and the concern with the explanations of this phenomenon.

Yankees in the Indian Ocean: American Commerce and Whaling, 1786–1860 by Jane Hooper (review)

Reviewed by: Yankees in the Indian Ocean: American Commerce and Whaling, 1786–1860 by Jane Hooper Nancy Shoemaker (bio) Keywords Whaling, Maritime history, Indian Ocean, Commerce, Trade Yankees in the Indian Ocean: American Commerce and Whaling, 1786–1860. By Jane Hooper. (Athens, OH: Ohio University Press, 2022. Pp. 247. Cloth, $90.00.) In Yankees in the Indian Ocean, Jane Hooper explores the Indian Ocean from the vantage point of American merchants, sea captains, sailors, and whalemen. This is a timely addition to the historiography since the last [End Page 344] decade has seen rising interest in the topic of the early republic United States in a global context, and as Hooper observes, American activities in the Indian Ocean have not received the same amount of attention as they have in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. Using mainly mariners' memoirs, journals, and logbooks along with U.S. consul records and newspapers, Hooper tackles a variety of topics in her six chapters: the earliest American whaling voyages to the Indian Ocean in the 1790s; Salem merchants' trade in hides, tallow, dried beef, gum copal, tortoise shell, and ivory in exchange for cotton cloth in the 1820s and 1830s; the several hundred American whaleships frequenting Saint Augustin Bay in the 1830s and 1840s, which includes a lengthy discussion of the sex trade; how maritime work allowed for the development of tourism centered on exotic landscapes; the environmental consequences of extractive industries and mariners' demands for food, water, and fuel; and how, as in the Atlantic, Americans in the mid-century Indian Ocean made no declamations against the slave trade amid British efforts to extinguish it. One of the book's strengths is its coverage of both whaling and commerce. Hooper incisively illuminates how American mariners conducted these businesses in different ways. Salem's merchant vessels operated out of larger ports, used money as their form of exchange, and developed networks that relied on an ethnically diverse trade diaspora of Arabs, Indians (South Asian Indians), and resident Americans who acted as middlemen. These middlemen accumulated trade goods from the African interior and, in the case of one Salem merchant, even ran a slaughterhouse to stockpile cargos of hides and tallow. In contrast, whaling ships acted more like hit-and-run vehicles, stopping at thinly populated islands and coasts to barter for food, water, firewood, and sex with bits of manufactured cloth, iron hoops, and trinkets. The same vessel or captain might return months or years later, but whalemen did not have to develop relationships to get what they wanted. Consequently, they also sparked more incidents of violence than did the more fixed commercial outposts favored by Salem merchants. Since most historians seem to specialize within the maritime trades—some focusing on whaling, some on commerce, others on fishing or the Navy—Hooper's consideration of two industries and their overlapping yet varying routes and practices illustrates the value of such comparative treatments. Another thought-provoking observation is Hooper's distinction between the environmental impacts of formal European colonialism and the [End Page 345] informal, or purely economic, colonialism practiced by Americans in the first half of the nineteenth century. Pointing to botanic gardens in French and British colonies, where these empires grew merchandisable plants such as coffee and cinnamon, Hooper casts informal colonialism as more damaging to the environment since whaling, fishing, cutting wood for firewood, and demanding food provisions from local communities had no undergirding of a conservation, or sustainable use, ethic. Hooper's intention to spotlight this one corner of the world is thus a worthy endeavor but proves to be not as enlightening as one might expect—for two reasons. First, anyone who has read Brian Rouleau's With Sails Whitening Every Sea: Mariners and the Making of an American Maritime Empire (Ithaca, NY, 2014) or is otherwise acquainted with whaling history and maritime trade in the 1790–1860 period will wonder what we gain by Hooper's focus on the Indian Ocean. Her rationale is that this is her area of specialization. She does not claim that the Indian Ocean offers an analytical lens revealing new insights into U.S. history. Indeed, her description of American mariners in the Indian...

History of whaling in Trinidad and Tobago

Shore whaling for humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) in Trinidad represents a largely overlooked aspect of North Atlantic whaling history. Literature and archival sources were searched for information on the chronology, nature and extent of this whaling. The first shore station began operations in about 1826 on one of the islands in the Dragon’s Mouth, the strait connecting the southern Caribbean Sea with the Gulf of Paria. At least four stations were active in this area at one time or another and the maximum documented one-year catch was about 35 humpbacks. Whaling effort had begun to decline by the 1850s and was largely ended by the 1880s. Oil for domestic consumption as well as export was the main product. Removals by the shore whalers were in addition to those by American pelagic whalers who occasionally called at Port-of-Spain and whaled in the vicinity of Trinidad and along the Spanish Main. No evidence was found of organised shore whaling in Tobago.

A simulation-based approach to evaluating population structure in non-equilibrial populations

The standard null model of panmixia used to test for population subdivision is based on a set of assumptions that can be violated given recent events likely to result in non-equilibrial genetic composition coupled with the complex life histories of many species. Bowhead whales (Balaena mysticetus) represent such a species. Bowhead whales also have a well-documented history of severe commercial harvest in the recent past which would be expected to leave a population out of genetic equilibrium. They also have a very long life span, overlapping generations, and age and sex-structured migrations. In addition, samples come from whales killed in a hunt known to be non-random with respect to size at different whaling villages. Sampling of such a population could lead to erroneous conclusions regarding population structure, which could have real consequences for aboriginal whaling. To better interpret the results of standard population genetic analyses, an individual-based model of bowhead whale population dynamics and genetics was created using the R package rmetasim. The model re-created as closely as possible all aspects of the demography, genetics, and whaling history of bowhead whales. Simulated datasets were generated by sampling from the simulated population in a way that matched the age, sex and geographic distribution of empirically collected samples. The empirical bowhead datasets were compared to null distributions generated from the simulated datasets for a variety of genetic analyses. The analysis indicates that the empirical genetic data sampled from the Bering-ChukchiBeaufort (BCB) stock of bowhead whales are more consistent with the model of a population with the same whaling history and demographic composition as BCB whales than they are with a single, randomly-mating population in genetic equilibrium under a standard Wright-Fisher model. Additionally, it was demonstrated that by failing to account for the unique features of the population dynamics of the species, standard tests of genetic differentiation based on panmixia may produce misleading results. The approach outlined will likely prove useful for evaluating population structure in other species likely to be out of equilibrium.

The future of marine citizenship is now: Cetacean conservation in the eyes of young Spanish citizens

Abstract The number of young conservationist movements is increasing worldwide, as new generations become more aware of the environmental problems that are having an impact on the planet. Consequently, young people appear to play a fundamental role in developing successful conservation strategies. This research examines young citizens’ knowledge, attitudes and engagement in cetacean conservation in coastal and non‐coastal regions of Spain, and assesses the influence of whaling tradition. A total of 902 anonymous surveys were conducted with students between 14 and 16 years old at 10 high schools located in nine different study areas, six located along the Cantabrian coast (Southern Bay of Biscay) and three located in inland regions of Spain. In general, results showed low levels of knowledge about cetaceans and whaling among young people, but high concern about cetacean conservation. As it was expected, knowledge about the history of whaling was higher in participants from areas with than without a whaling tradition. However, no statistically significant differences were found regarding attitudes towards cetaceans between these two groups. Significant differences were detected between genders with respect to cetacean conservation and engagement. Females showed more positive attitudes towards cetaceans when compared with their male counterparts. A correlation between knowledge and positive attitudes regarding whales and dolphins was found in areas located along the Cantabrian coast, and a correlation between positive attitudes and engagement in cetacean conservation was observed in all study areas. Although the majority of participants showed strong support for the protection of whales and dolphins, less than two‐thirds stated that they were willing to engage in cetacean conservation. The results of this study may contribute to the implementation of improved marine education programmes. These programmes should not only raise awareness of the marine environment, but also promote pro‐environmental behaviour and engagement in the protection of the ocean.

Bill Dawbin, Tasman Diplomacy, and the Great South Pacific Humpback Collapse of 1959–62

ABSTRACT The history of industrial whaling in Oceania, along with crucial moments in the diplomatic histories of Australia and New Zealand, sometimes turned on questions of whale behaviour. So did individual human lives. This article puts together the histories of whale communities and the history of cetacean science in order to unravel the meaning of some key moments in the environmental history of the South Pacific, including Oceanian attempts to increase their share of post-war whaling and the subsequent great humpback whale collapse of 1960–62. In the middle of these histories were the efforts of cetologist Bill Dawbin to understand humpback whale migrations in the late 1950s. Interwoven throughout was the crucial fact of humpback whales’ historical split into several different populations and their migratory choices, and the difficulties humans face in understanding these complex and mobile creatures.

Incorporating non-equilibrium dynamics into demographic history inferences of a migratory marine species.

Understanding how dispersal and gene flow link geographically separated the populations over evolutionary history is challenging, particularly in migratory marine species. In southern right whales (SRWs, Eubalaena australis), patterns of genetic diversity are likely influenced by the glacial climate cycle and recent history of whaling. Here we use a dataset of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) sequences (n = 1327) and nuclear markers (17 microsatellite loci, n = 222) from major wintering grounds to investigate circumpolar population structure, historical demography and effective population size. Analyses of nuclear genetic variation identify two population clusters that correspond to the South Atlantic and Indo-Pacific ocean basins that have similar effective breeder estimates. In contrast, all wintering grounds show significant differentiation for mtDNA, but no sex-biased dispersal was detected using the microsatellite genotypes. An approximate Bayesian computation (ABC) approach with microsatellite markers compared the scenarios with gene flow through time, or isolation and secondary contact between ocean basins, while modelling declines in abundance linked to whaling. Secondary-contact scenarios yield the highest posterior probabilities, implying that populations in different ocean basins were largely isolated and came into secondary contact within the last 25,000 years, but the role of whaling in changes in genetic diversity and gene flow over recent generations could not be resolved. We hypothesise that these findings are driven by factors that promote isolation, such as female philopatry, and factors that could promote dispersal, such as oceanographic changes. These findings highlight the application of ABC approaches to infer the connectivity in mobile species with complex population histories and, currently, low levels of differentiation.

Reforming the International Whaling Commission: Indigenous Peoples, the Canadian Problem and the Road Ahead

The International Whaling Commission (iwc) conceals within its history a perennial battle between nations. Since the moratorium on commercial whaling took effect in 1986 both sides of the whaling debate have been unable to substantively advance their cause. This has led many commentators to question its purpose and ability to adapt to issues of modern significance. Given the interdisciplinary breadth of the debate at hand, this article primarily focuses on place of Indigenous peoples within the history of whaling and what role, if any, they will play in the future relevance of the iwc. It is argued that Canada’s withdrawal from the iwc, in the interest of its Indigenous peoples, should generally be regarded as a domestic regulatory success. Nevertheless, the time is ripe for Canada to re-establish itself at the international level with the goal of reforming the state of the Aboriginal Subsistence Whaling exception and perhaps the iwc itself.

Evolution: Fossil Ears and Underwater Sonar

A key innovation in the history of whales was the evolution of a sonar system together with high-frequency hearing. Fossils of an archaic toothed whale's inner ear bones provide clues for a stepwise emergence of underwater echolocation ability.

Living with Whales: Documents and Oral Histories of Native New England Whaling History

Book Review| April 01 2016 Living with Whales: Documents and Oral Histories of Native New England Whaling History Living with Whales: Documents and Oral Histories of Native New England Whaling History, Nancy Shoemaker. ELIZABETH HANNAN KADING ELIZABETH HANNAN KADING Search for other works by this author on: This Site Google Connecticut History Review (2016) 55 (1): 98–99. https://doi.org/10.2307/44370288 Cite Icon Cite Share Icon Share Facebook Twitter LinkedIn MailTo Permissions Search Site Citation ELIZABETH HANNAN KADING; Living with Whales: Documents and Oral Histories of Native New England Whaling History. Connecticut History Review 1 January 2016; 55 (1): 98–99. doi: https://doi.org/10.2307/44370288 Download citation file: Zotero Reference Manager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex toolbar search Search Dropdown Menu toolbar search search input Search input auto suggest filter your search All Scholarly Publishing CollectiveUniversity of Illinois PressConnecticut History Review Search Advanced Search The text of this article is only available as a PDF. © 2016 The Association for the Study of Connecticut History2016 Article PDF first page preview Close Modal You do not currently have access to this content.

A spatially explicit estimate of the prewhaling abundance of the endangered North Atlantic right whale.

The North Atlantic right whale (NARW) (Eubalaena glacialis) is one of the world's most threatened whales. It came close to extinction after nearly a millennium of exploitation and currently persists as a population of only approximately 500 individuals. Setting appropriate conservation targets for this species requires an understanding of its historical population size, as a baseline for measuring levels of depletion and progress toward recovery. This is made difficult by the scarcity of records over this species' long whaling history. We sought to estimate the preexploitation population size of the North Atlantic right whale and understand how this species was distributed across its range. We used a spatially explicit data set on historical catches of North Pacific right whales (NPRWs) (Eubalaena japonica) to model the relationship between right whale relative density and the environment during the summer feeding season. Assuming the 2 right whale species select similar environments, we projected this model to the North Atlantic to predict how the relative abundance of NARWs varied across their range. We calibrated these relative abundances with estimates of the NPRW total prewhaling population size to obtain high and low estimates for the overall NARW population size prior to exploitation. The model predicted 9,075-21,328 right whales in the North Atlantic. The current NARW population is thus <6% of the historical North Atlantic carrying capacity and has enormous potential for recovery. According to the model, in June-September NARWs concentrated in 2 main feeding areas: east of the Grand Banks of Newfoundland and in the Norwegian Sea. These 2 areas may become important in the future as feeding grounds and may already be used more regularly by this endangered species than is thought.

Living with Whales: Documents and Oral Histories of Native New England Whaling History

Book Review| January 01 2016 Living with Whales: Documents and Oral Histories of Native New England Whaling History Living with Whales: Documents and Oral Histories of Native New England Whaling History. Edited by Shoemaker, Nancy. (Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 2014. 232 pp., afterword, appendix, notes, index. $80.00 cloth, $19.95 paper.) Brian D. Carroll Brian D. Carroll Search for other works by this author on: This Site Google Ethnohistory (2016) 63 (1): 175–176. https://doi.org/10.1215/00141801-3135418 Cite Icon Cite Share Icon Share Facebook Twitter LinkedIn MailTo Permissions Search Site Citation Brian D. Carroll; Living with Whales: Documents and Oral Histories of Native New England Whaling History. Ethnohistory 1 January 2016; 63 (1): 175–176. doi: https://doi.org/10.1215/00141801-3135418 Download citation file: Zotero Reference Manager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex toolbar search Search Dropdown Menu toolbar search search input Search input auto suggest filter your search Books & JournalsAll JournalsEthnohistory Search Advanced Search The text of this article is only available as a PDF. Copyright 2016 by American Society for Ethnohistory2016 Article PDF first page preview Close Modal Issue Section: Book Reviews You do not currently have access to this content.

A bioenergetics model to evaluate demographic consequences of disturbance in marine mammals applied to gray whales

While sophisticated tools are used to monitor behavioral changes of large marine vertebrates, determining whether these changes are meaningful for management and conservation is challenging. The Population Consequences of Disturbance model proposed a bioenergetics model to detect biologically meaningful population responses, where disturbance costs are linked to lost energy. The model assumes that changes in behavior, caused by disturbance, compromise maternal condition, reducing energy delivery to offspring, leading to reduced reproduction, increased offspring mortality, and eventually increased adult mortality. Given its coastal habits and past whaling history, gray whales' (Eschrichtius robustus) life history and ecology are better known than for many other baleen whales. However, their preference for coastal habitat increases their exposure to human disturbance. We created a female gray whale bioenergetics model to determine energy requirements for a two‐year reproductive cycle and determined the consequences of lost energy under three possible disturbance scenarios. An annual energetic loss of 4% during the year in which she is pregnant, would prevent a female from successfully producing/weaning a calf. For this reason, gray whale reproduction is particularly sensitive to disturbance during pregnancy. During the year in which she is lactating, she would wean her calf at a lower mass with a 37% energetic loss. A female would lack the energy to become pregnant during a year with a 30–35% energetic loss, and female mortality would likely occur at 40–42% annual energetic loss. Our model can be used for assessing disturbance costs or other effects associated with climate change and/or anthropogenic activities and can be applied to other species with similar life histories.

Viewing Moby-Dick through the Lens of the Charles W. Morgan

Viewing Moby-Dick through the Lens of the Charles W. Morgan Peter Norberg I was fortunate to be on the second leg of the 38th Voyage of the Charles W. Morgan, an outbound reach from Newport, Rhode Island, to Vineyard Haven, Massachusetts. I chose this leg of the voyage because it would overlap the course Melville sailed aboard the Acushnet and then follow in the imaginary wake of the packet schooner, Moss, which carried Ishmael and Queequeg from New Bedford to Nantucket. When the Morgan crossed the mouth of Buzzard’s Bay and sailed up Vineyard Sound, it would traverse both the actual and the imaginary routes Melville traveled and perhaps provide an opportunity, in the words of Nathaniel Hawthorne in “The Custom-House,” for “each [to] imbue itself with the nature of the other” (Hawthorne, Library of America Collected Novels, 149). To what extent would the historically accurate workings of a whaleship help me better understand the aesthetics of an epic novel that was inspired by the business of whaling? To answer this question, I planned to stage readings of passages from Moby-Dick that could be associated with material aspects of the ship and to capture video that could be embedded in an online module designed to supplement a range of courses in which Moby-Dick is taught at my institution, and perhaps beyond. My initial goals were modest: to create video illustrations for chapters like “The Line” or “The Try-Works,” while having other voyagers and crew members read relevant passages from these chapters in real time. This was primarily an experiment in pedagogy designed to discover the extent to which the Morgan could be used as a material source for understanding Melville’s novel. I intended to treat the Morgan as a source for Moby-Dick, but I learned that Melville’s novel is itself a potent source for scholars, informing and inspiring their work across a range of disciplines. When I described my project to the other eight voyagers onboard, I was surprised to learn that five of them had brought along their personal copies of Moby-Dick. More surprising still, each person had a favorite chapter that referenced source elements related to their own scholarly interests. The cetology chapters embody what I call an aesthetic of curiosity: these chapters mark moments when a range of intellectual pursuits intersect and inform one another, fueling the sort of critical, speculative thinking that leads to innovation. [End Page 120] Click for larger view View full resolution Peter Norberg at the wheel of the Charles W. Morgan en route to the island of Martha’s Vineyard. Photo courtesy of Peter Norberg. For example, Jason Smith, a historian interested in how cartography was used to define the ocean in commercial and strategic terms, was excited to read from chapter 44, “The Chart.” With a sea chest to serve as desk, and a variety of props including navigational charts “borrowed” from the Captain’s quarters, a sextant and compass, and a copy of Nathaniel Bowditch’s American Practical Navigator, Jason read up through the footnote describing the chart prepared by Lieutenant Matthew Fontaine Maury that recorded sightings of right and sperm whales. Joe Forbrich, a playwright and actor, gave an intense reading of the section of chapter 45, “The Affadavit,” that references Owen Chase’s Narrative of the Shipwreck of the Whale-Ship Essex. Joe’s most recent work, a play that dramatically brings to life Chase’s story of survival, was due to premiere the following night at the Martha’s Vineyard Playhouse, and he grabbed my battered copy of Moby-Dick eager to find the passage that showed his and Melville’s common inspiration: “I have seen Owen Chase, who was chief mate of the Essex at the time of the tragedy; I have read his plain and faithful narrative; I have conversed with his son; and all this within a few miles of the scene of the catastrophe” (NN Moby-Dick 206). [End Page 121] Jamie Jones, a cultural critic interested in the history of whaling, read movingly from chapter 87, “The Grand Armada.” Jamie’s research focuses on the cultural afterlife of the whaling industry, and...

Living with whales: documents and oral histories of Native New England whaling history

Native Americans along the coasts of southern New England and Long Island have had close ties to whales for thousands of years. They made a living from the sea and saw in the world's largest beings special power and meaning. After English settlement in the early seventeenth century, the region's natural bounty of these creatures drew Natives and colonists alike to develop whale hunting on an industrial scale. By the nineteenth century, New England dominated the world in whaling, and Native Americans contributed substantially to whaleship crews. In Living with Whales, Nancy Shoemaker reconstructs the history of Native whaling in New England through a diversity of primary documents: explorers' descriptions of their first encounters, indentures, deeds, merchants' accounts, Indian overseer reports, crew lists, memoirs, obituaries, and excerpts from journals kept by Native whalemen on their voyages. These materials span the centuries-long rise and fall of the American whalefishery and give insight into the far-reaching impact of whaling on Native North American communities. One chapter even follows a Pequot Native to New Zealand, where many of his Maori descendants still reside today. Whaling has left behind a legacy of ambivalent emotions. In oral histories included in this volume, descendants of Wampanoag and Shinnecock whalemen reflect on how whales, whaling, and the ocean were vital to the survival of coastal Native communities in the Northeast, but at great cost to human life, family life, whales, and the ocean environment.

Salt &amp; Storm by Kendall Kulper (review)

Reviewed by: Salt & Storm by Kendall Kulper April Spisak Kulper, Kendall Salt & Storm. Little, 2014 398 p Library ed. ISBN 978-0-316-40456-3 $27.00 Trade ed. ISBN 978-0-316-40451-8 $18.00 E-book ed. ISBN 978-0-316-40450-1 $9.99 R Gr. 8–10 Hoping to assume the traditional role of island witch on her rocky Atlantic island, Avery has been learning the old magic ways from her grandmother. She’s therefore horrified by the decision of her mother, an orthodox member of their nineteenth-century whaling community, to keep Avery from her destiny. Enter Tane, an off-islander covered in magical tattoos, who offers to break her free of her mother’s Victorian constraints and help her get back to what Avery believes she wants. It’s a complex island, built on generations of magic, and once the witching stops, things fall apart socially—and literally, as many of the whaling ships were held together with spells. Avery’s understanding of what power means is one of the most intriguing and memorable elements in the novel; though people tell her multiple times that all is not as ideal as she believes, she doesn’t accept the truth until the town turns against her. The well-developed romance between Tane and Avery is searing, all the more so because readers will spot rather early on that no happy ending awaits them. An author’s note offers a bit about American whaling history and the convergence of multiple cultures on whaling ships, but enough context is given within the novel that this glimpse into the realistic elements isn’t necessary but is merely a nice bonus. Copyright © 2014 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois

All Astir

All Astir Mary K. Bercaw Edwards This issue of Extracts appears as the 1841 whaleship Charles W. Morgan begins her historic 38th Voyage. The Morgan made 37 whaling voyages, the last of which ended in 1921. Now, 93 years later, she heads to sea again. The Morgan was built less than seven miles from and only seven months after the Acushnet, the whaleship on which Herman Melville sailed; the only remaining nineteenth-century whaleship bears a close resemblance to that on which Melville served. The crew for the Morgan’s present voyage is made up not of “meanest mariners, and renegades and castaways” (NN MD 117), but rather of scholars, teachers, artists, scientists, and descendants of whalers as well as professional sailors and Mystic Seaport staff. Among the scholars sailing aboard the Morgan are Hester Blum, John Bryant, Wyn Kelley, Peter Norberg, Daniel Payne, Elizabeth Schultz, Ellie Stedall, and Robert K. Wallace. Peter Gansevoort Whittemore, Melville’s great-great-grandson, will be aboard the Morgan as the whaleship enters New Bedford for the first time in over 90 years, along with Robert K. Wallace; Michael P. Dyer, Senior Maritime Historian at New Bedford Whaling Museum; British artist Vanessa Hodgkinson, whose powerful, intellectual images inspired by Moby-Dick will be exhibited in New Bedford; and Mary K. Bercaw Edwards. These 38th Voyagers will record their time at sea in a multiplicity of ways. Readers can learn more about the Morgan’s voyage at <http://www.mysticseaport.org/38thvoyage/>. The Morgan will spend nine days in New Bedford (June 28–July 6) and will be open to the public each day between 9 am and 5 pm. Among other activities, visitors can row a whaleboat, getting a taste of the experience Melville endured on the open ocean in the hunt for sperm whales. As part of the celebration in New Bedford, there will be a Whaling History Symposium, at which scholars and writers on Melville will speak, including Jennifer Baker, Mary K. Bercaw Edwards, Jaime Campomar, Jason Hine, Wyn Kelley, Timothy Marr, Dale Peterson, Laurie Robertson-Lorant, Christopher Sten, and Robert K. Wallace. See the Melville Society website for more information: <http://melvillesociety.org/>. Proposals for the Tenth International Melville Conference, “Melville in a Global Context,” which will be held in Tokyo, Japan, June 25–29, 2015, are due by August 15, 2015. This long-planned conference will be rich and rewarding, and all are encouraged to propose a paper and attend. The CFP can be found on the Melville Society website. Please note the inventive logo for the conference [End Page 83] (Fig. 1). At the Society site, you can find a high-resolution, color digital copy of the logo and also a digitized image of the Joseph Oriel Eaton portrait of Melville (1870), owned by the Houghton Library at Harvard University. A large image of the portrait can be seen by going to the “Credits” tab in the toolbar and clicking on the smaller Eaton image. Thanks are due to the Society’s expert webmaster, Robert Sandberg, for his continuing and creative work on the site. Click for larger view View full resolution Fig. 1. Logo for the Tenth International Melville Conference, “Melville in a Global Context,” designed by YOUCHAN (Yuko Ito). Courtesy of the Melville Society of Japan. In exciting digital news, Melville’s marked and annotated volumes of William Hazlitt’s Criticisms on Art (1843) and Lectures on the English Comic Writers [and] Lectures on the English Poets (1859) are now up on Melville’s Marginalia Online, along with Melville’s copy of A. J. W. Morrison’s translation of Goethe’s The Auto-Biography of Goethe, Letters from Switzerland, and Travels in [End Page 84] Italy (1849, his copy of Matthew Arnold’s Essays in Criticism (1865), and his copy of Ralph Waldo Emerson’s The Conduct of Life (1860). The marginalia in the Hazlitt volumes, owned by William Reese, have not been published before. The editors of Melville’s Marginalia Online—Steven Olsen-Smith, Peter Norberg, and Dennis Marnon—continue to expand our knowledge of Melville’s intellectual life. You can view these volumes, and many others, at <http://melvillesmarginalia.org/>. Click for larger view View...

Distribution and abundance of fin whales (&lt;i&gt;Balaenoptera physalus&lt;/i&gt;) in the Northeast and Central Atlantic as inferred from the North Atlantic Sightings Surveys 1987-2001

North Atlantic Sightings Surveys (NASS) is a series of large scale international cetacean line transect surveys, conducted in 1987, 1989, 1995 and 2001, that covered a large part of the central and eastern North Atlantic. Target species were fin (Balaenoptera physalus), common minke (B. acutorostrata), pilot (Globicephala melas) and sei (B. borealis) whales. Here we present new estimates of abundance for fin whales from the 2 most recent surveys and analysis of trends throughout the survey period. Fin whales were found in highest densities in the Irminger Sea between Iceland and Greenland. Abundance of fin whales in the survey area of the Icelandic and Faroese vessels (Central North Atlantic) was estimated as 19,672 (95% C.I. 12,083-28,986) animals in 1995 and 24,887 (95% C.I. 18,186-30,214) in 2001. The estimates are negatively biased because of whales diving during the passage of vessels, and whales being missed by observers, but these and other potential biases are likely small for this species. The abundance of fin whales increased significantly over the survey period. For all areas combined the estimated annual growth rate was 4%. An estimated annual increase of 10% in the area between Iceland and Greenland was responsible for most of this overall increase in numbers of fin whales in the area. Although high, the estimated rates of increase are not out of bounds of biological plausibility and can thus be viewed as recovery of a depleted population. However, the apparent pattern of population growth and the whaling history in the area indicate that fin whales made a significant recovery during the first half of the 20th century and that the recent observed high growth rates cannot be explained solely by recovery after overexploitation.

Writing with an Ear to the Ground: The Armenian Genocide's "Stubborn Murmur"

Writing with an Ear to the Ground: The Armenian Genocide's "Stubborn Murmur"