251: Thar She Blows: The History of Whales and America

BackStory

History, Education

4.7 • 2.9K Ratings

🗓️ 31 July 2019

⏱️ 43 minutes

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Summary

Whale deaths are reaching record numbers in 2019. According to the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Association, gray whale deaths are “notably greater than the average” and have led the NOAA to declare the occurrence an Unusual Mortality Event (UME). In addition, NOAA considers the death rates of North Atlantic right whales an urgent conservation crisis leading the U.S. to begin working with Canada this month to help protect the species.

This week, BackStory revisits our two episodes on the history of whales and America. We’re re-releasing part one, “Thar She Blows” on July 31. In this episode, Brian, Nathan and Joanne explore how Native American whalers faced stereotypes within the industry, how whaling went from boom to bust, and learn how a real white whale named Mocha Dick became the inspiration for Herman Melville’s novel.

In part two, “Thar She Blows Again” (releasing on Aug. 2), Ed joins the rest of the team to uncover the story of Cabin Boys who were women in disguise, find out why a traveling whale was turned away from a Midwestern Town, and learn all about the Black whaler and entrepreneur who became one of the wealthiest men in America.

Images: Ep 1 - Jonathan Fisher woodcut, published in the 1833 book "Scripture Animals," courtesy of the Jonathan Fisher Memorial, Blue Hill, Maine.

Ep 2 - "Whalers Heading Towards A Whale" Source: The New York Public Library Digital Collections

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Major funding for backstory is provided by an anonymous donor, the National Endowment
0:04.6	Fifth Humanities, and the Robert and Joseph Cornell Memorial Foundation.
0:11.2	From Virginia Humanities, this is backstory.
0:20.4	Welcome to backstory, the show that explains the history behind today's headlines.
0:24.9	I'm Brian Ballot.
0:26.4	I'm Joanne Freeman.
0:27.4	I'm Nathan Connolly.
0:29.0	If you're new to the podcast, we're all historians in each week we explore the history of one
0:33.7	topic that's been in the news.
0:36.8	Let's start this episode off the coast of Chile, near the southern tip of South America,
0:41.9	where a great white whale was known to ram boats and terrorized sailors in the beginning
0:47.1	of the 19th century.
0:49.0	As legend has it, that whale sunk anything that crossed its path, collecting over 100
0:54.6	ships at the bottom of the ocean floor.
0:56.8	Joanne, I'm breaking into a cold sweat because I think I read this novel in high school.
1:02.4	No Brian, this is not movie dick.
1:05.0	We're actually talking about Mocha dick, a real white whale that's regarded as one of
1:10.3	the major inspirations behind Herman Melville's classic, Mocha dick.
1:15.2	And although rumors of Mocha dick struck fear in the hearts of sailors in the whaling
1:19.8	industry, it didn't gain widespread prominence until 1839, when an epic account of slaying
1:26.1	the albino beast was published in a New York literary magazine, which was read by none
1:31.4	other than Herman Melville.
	...

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