Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-2brh9 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-26T03:25:51.783Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The economic significance of the 19th century Antarctic sealing industry

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 September 2012

Bjorn L. Basberg  and
Robert K. Headland
Bjorn L. Basberg
Affiliation:
Economic History Section, Department of Economics, Norwegian School of Economics, (NHH), N-5045 Bergen, Norway ([email protected])
Robert K. Headland
Affiliation:
Scott Polar Research Institute, University of Cambridge, Lensfield Rd., Cambridge CB2 1ER
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Sealing was the first exploitative industry in the Antarctic region. Throughout the 19th century it was characterised by large fluctuations in catches and shifts in hunting grounds as seals were almost exterminated in several locations. This paper reviews the historical literature on this industry. In particular it reviews sources and data that relate to its economic importance. So far, no one has succeeded in indicating the aggregate economic value of the industry. The main aim, therefore, is to investigate new data, especially on market prices that will enable a more accurate assessment of the significance of the industry.

Type
Research Article
Information
Polar Record , Volume 49 , Issue 4 , October 2013 , pp. 381 - 391
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2012 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Basberg, B.L. 2006. Perspectives on the economic history of the Antarctic region. International Journal of Maritime History 18 (2): 285–304.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bachrach, M. 1936. Fur. A practical treatise. London: Pitman and Sons.Google Scholar
Bonner, W.N. 1982. Seals and man. A Study of interactions. Seattle: University of Washington Press.Google Scholar
Brandt, K. 1940. Whale oil. An economic analysis. Palo Alto: Food Research Institute, Stanford University (Fats and Oil Studies 7).Google Scholar
Burton, R. 2006. History of sealing. In: Riffenburgh, B. (editor). Encyclopedia of Antarctica. New York: Routledge: 875–877.Google Scholar
Busch, B.C. 1985. The war against seals. A history of the North American seal fishery. Kingston: McGill-Queen's University Press.Google Scholar
Chatwin, D. 1997. ‘A trade so uncontrollably uncertain’. A Study of the English southern whale fishery from 1815 to 1860. Unpublished Master of Arts dissertation. Canberra: Australian National University.Google Scholar
Howard Clark, A. 1887. The Antarctic fur-seal and sea-elephant industry. In: Brown Goode, G. (editor). The fisheries and fishery industries of the United States. Section 5: history and methods. Washington DC: Government Printing Office.Google Scholar
Cooper, J. 2008. Human history. In: Chown, S.L., and Froneman, P.W. (editors). The Prince Edward Islands. Land-sea interactions in a changing ecosystem. Stellenbosch: Sun Press.Google Scholar
Davis, L., Gallman, R., and Gleiter, K.. 1997. In pursuit of the leviathan: technology, institutions, productivity, and profits in American whaling, 1816–1906. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Downes, M., and Downes, E.. 2006. Sealing at Heard Island in the nineteenth century. In: Green, K., and Woehler, E. (editors). Heard Island. Southern ocean sentinel. Chipping Norton NSW: Surrey Beatty & Sons: 184–195.Google Scholar
Deacon, G. 1984. The Antarctic circumpolar ocean. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Dickinson, A.B. 1987. A history of sealing in the Falkland Islands and Dependencies, 1764–1972. Unpublished PhD dissertation. Cambridge: University of Cambridge, Scott Polar Research Institute.Google Scholar
Dickinson, A.B. 2007. Seal fisheries of the Falkland Islands and Dependencies. An historical review. St. John's: International Maritime Economic History Association (Research in Maritime History 34).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dolin, E.J. 2007. Leviathan. The history of whaling in America. New York: W.W. Norton & Co.Google Scholar
Gibson, J.R. 1992. Otter skins, Boston ships, and China goods. The maritime fur trade of the Northwest Coast, 1785–1841. Montreal: McGill-Queen's University Press.Google Scholar
Headland, R.K. 2009. A chronology of Antarctic exploration. A synopsis of events and activities from the earliest times until the International Polar Years, 2007–09. London: Bernard Quaritch Ltd.Google Scholar
Jackson, G. 1978. The British whaling trade. London: A&C Black Ltd.Google Scholar
Jenkins, J.T. 1921. A history of the whale fisheries. London: H.F. and G. Witherby.Google Scholar
Jones, A.G.E. 1992. Polar portraits. Collected papers. Withby: Caedmon.Google Scholar
Kidder, J.H. 1876. Contribution to the natural history of Kerguelen Island. Washington DC: United States National Museum (Bulletin of the United States National Museum 3).Google Scholar
Laws, R. 1989. Antarctica. The last frontier. London: Boxtree.Google Scholar
Lund, J.N., Josephson, E.A., Reeves, R.R., and Smith, T.D.. 2010. American offshore whaling voyages 1667 to 1927. New Bedford: Old Darmouth Historical Society and New Bedford Whaling Museum (1–2).Google Scholar
McCulloch, J.R. 1852. A dictionary, practical, theoretical, and historical, of commerce and commercial navigation. London: Longman.Google Scholar
Morse, H.B. 1926. The chronicle of the East India Company Trading to China 1635–1834. Oxford: Clarendon Press.Google Scholar
Pearson, M., and Stehberg, R.. 2006. Nineteenth century sealing sites on Rugged Island, South Shetland Islands. Polar Record 42 (223): 335–347.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Richards, R. 2003. New market evidence on the depletion of southern fur seals: 1788–1833. New Zealand Journal of Zoology 30: 1–9.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Richards, R. 2010. Sealing in the southern oceans 1788–1833. Wellington: Paremata Press.Google Scholar
Ryan, S. 1994. The ice hunters. A history of Newfoundland sealing to 1914. St. John's: Breakwater (Newfoundland History Series 8).Google Scholar
Smith, I. 2002. The New Zealand sealing industry. Wellington: Deptartment of Conservation.Google Scholar
Starke, J. (editor). 1986. Journal of a rambler. The journal of John Boultbee. Auckland: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Stackpole, E. 1953. The sea-hunters. The New England whalesmen during two centuries, 1635–1835. New York: J.B. Lippincott and Co.Google Scholar
Starbuck, A. 1878. History of the American whale fishery from its earliest inception to the year 1776. Washington DC: United States Commission of Fish and Fisheries (Report of the Commissioners for 1875–1876).Google Scholar
Steven, M. 1983. Trade, tactics and territory. Britain in the Pacific 1783–1823. Melbourne: Melbourne University Press.Google Scholar
Sugden, D. 1982. Arctic and Antarctic. A modern geographical synthesis. Oxford: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Tower, W.S. 1907. A history of the American whale fishery. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania.CrossRefGoogle Scholar