Monday, November 21, 2011

Whaling in the United States



On Friday we started watching the Ric Burns documentary "Into the Deep: American and Whaling" that aired on PBS. This documentary ties whaling into American history by showing how dependent the U.S. economy was on whale oil and whale products and how whaling had a profound impact on American culture as well.

While the world was stuck in a global depression the northern ports such as Mystic, New London, Cold Spring Harbor, Sag Harbor, New Bedford, Portsmouth and Nantucket rose in wealth and prominence because of whaling. Whaling impacted thousands of jobs in America from rope making and barrel making, to blacksmiths and carpenters.

If you missed portions of the documentary here is the link to watch it so you can get caught up.

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