DUNDEE WHALING

The Industrial Revolution Gave rise to new developments for the use of Whale oil utilising It for lubricating the new machinery of the Industrial Revolution. There was a dramatic increase in the number of whaling ports operating in order to support the demand for the whale products.

In 1753 a group of Dundee merchants and ship-owners formed the Dundee Whale Fishing Company. A ship named the ‘Dundee’  was bought from London and with a crew of 45 it sailed for the Greenland Fishing grounds in April 1753. The ship brought back 143 casks containing blubber from four whales and  Captain William Chiene was awarded a ‘bounty’ of the grand sum £691. 5s.

The hard-won oil was needed to lubrucate the machines but more importantly  to soften or “Scutch” the jute for spinning.

So began the Dundee Whaling Industry, with a growing fleet of ships fitted in Dundee.

It was a tough and demanding life, it needed rugged hard-muscled men. The ever present danger of the seas, men in flimsy whaleboats, overturned by a harpooned whale, drowning in seconds in the freezing water, being stranded on ice flows as the ship was carried away by pack ice and men frozen to death on ice flows, not to mention  those who lost limbs from frostbite or met their fate from ‘scurvy’.

In 1892 James McIntosh of the schooner ‘Chieftain’  was stranded in an open boat with four others. He watched his ship mates die from drinking seawater. This made them insane.. He ate his own hat and survived, the last of his group. However, he had to have both frostbitten legs removed on his return to Dundee.  

The  1809 Dundee Directories list  The Dundee Whalefishing Co with the ‘MaryAnn ’ and the ‘Horn’.  Also the individual little conglomerates of individual ships run by an agent and committee – the Jane & Co – the ship ‘Jane ’, also the ‘Rodney’  which was captained by the gloriously named ‘Cornelius Frogget’.

When the whaling fleet left for the Davis Straits in April the departure often landed on a local holiday and the harbour was crowded  with sightseers watching the fleet put to sea. Emotional farewells were the order of the day, the ships’ horns sounded and the crews lined stern rails to give three final cheers as the fleet nosed out of Victoria Dock. The masters set their compasses northwards. This was a festive occasion, the ships bedecked with flags & bunting the cheers of vast crowds speeding them on their way with good luck. Tokens  of oranges, red herrings and pennies were thrown from shore to ship for luck by well-wishers as the passed out the lock gates. With them  inevitably, went boy stowaways hoping to avoid life as 'half-timers' in the city's jute mills.

The crew were usually so drunk that the ships had to anchor in the river until the men sobered up enough to put to sea.This was the last time the wives and families would see their menfolk until the fleet returned. This was an uncertain life for both the whalers and their families, from the time the fleet sailed out of the Tay in the spring, no word would be heard of it until they reappeared in the late summer or early autumn. The wives did not know if they would have a husband coming back and some were left destitute with large families to feed and clothe.  

The whalers brought back an essential  ingredient for the success of the Jute Industry, Whale oil was vital for softening the raw just to allow it to be spun.

The Whale Tooth sculpture by Alistair Smart

Is a lasting memorial to the Whakers of Dundee and sits at Lower Pleasance, Dundee.