Description

The Greenland whale fishery began as a bay fishery along the coast of Spitsbergen in 1611. After about 1650, when whalemen moved west of Spitsbergen in search of new bowhead stocks, the European fishery evolved from bay whaling to largely pelagic operations. From the mid-1600s on, the term "Greenland whale fishery" referred to pelagic whaling in the waters between Spitsbergen and Greenland. The name Spitsbergen does not appear on English prints, however, as both landmasses was referred to as Greenland. Whaleships followed the northward summer migration of the bowhead, sailing first to Spitsbergen, and then drifting west to the edge of the East Greenland ice pack. The season generally lasted four to five months.

This print was created as a pair with 'The North West or Davis's Streights Whale Fishery' (AF-MX-P002) during the peak of British whale fishing in the Davis Strait and Greenland. Both fisheries declined substantially during the American Revolutionary War. When peace was restored, British whale fishery prospered again until the surfeit of vessels and overfishing led to a quick decline again by the 1790s.

Type

graphite

Location

recto, bottom right

Text

P1

Type

ink

Location

verso, bottom left

Text

P1 X

Type

graphite

Location

verso, bottom right

Text

WB-P1

Type

graphite

Location

verso, bottom right

Text

1632...