Arctic Whalers, Icy Seas: Narratives of the Davis Strait Whale Fishery

Nora T. Corley is a librarian in Ottawa.

The whale fishery in Baffin Bay-Davis Strait flourished for more than 200 years before World War I. During the nineteenth century, the period covered by this book, some 2300 voyages were made to the region in search of whales, the bowhead in particular, for the profit to be made from oil and baleen. Fifteen first-hand accounts of these dangerous and rigorous voyages are presented here, and they give a graphic and sometimes almost too colorful account of the life of the Arctic whalemen. Excerpts are given from the diaries, some never published before, of whaling masters and surgeons, a mate, a boatsteerer, and a sportsman-adventurer. Shipboard life, particularly on northern whalers, was generally uncomfortable and unhealthy, and very often dangerous. The diaries dwell, with good reason, on the weather, the sea, and the ice — foremost in their minds at all times. Along with descriptions of day-to-day activities, there are accounts of wintering over (intentional and otherwise), desertions, murder and cannibalism, crews of other ships, the Inuit and their customs, as well as hunting the whale, flensing (stripping off the whales’ blubber) and making off (cutting the blubber up for storage in casks). The descriptions of the whaling activities can be graphic indeed. The book is generously illustrated with old photographs (of people, ships, activities, and equipment) and drawings, many of which were done aboard the whalers. There are several maps, the first of which locates the place names used in the text. There is a glossary of whaling, sailing, and Inuit terms; notes on the sources of the material used in the book; and a bibliography of fifteen items. Professor Ross has studied the whaling industry in Canada’s North for many years. In this book he has condensed the texts of the diaries (daily life at sea can be repetitive) and has written introductions, connecting commentaries, and concluding remarks for each diary, to give the reader an insight into the background of these very personal accounts and explain them in the context of their time. This book is a fascinating and important contribution to Canadian history. It gives the reader a true feeling for the “magnificent human adventure containing countless moments of courage, endurance, heroism and achievement, in the face of dreadful conditions of sea, ice and weather” that was Arctic whaling.