ARCTIC The Basque Whaling Establishments. i n Labrador 4536-1632- A Summary

• Main Author: Selma Huxle Y Barkham
• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Subjects: Arctic
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.550.6624; http://pubs.aina.ucalgary.ca/arctic/arctic37-4-515.pdf

Contrary to the spurious.claims of writers on the history of whaling who have based their findings on secondary evidence, the Basques never, at any paint, chased whales'further and fur-ther out into the Atlantic until they collided with North America. This ridiculous legend must be laid to.rest once and for all.Basque whaling was. essentially coastal. The Basques.had practised. whaling along their own-coasts from at least the twelfth century. and,probably before. It is clear. that during the sixteenth century the Biscay whale was still by no means exter-minated, and well into the seventeenth century Basques con-tinued to send small whaling crews out to Asturiasand Galicia,for ShoreLbased whaling operations. However, by the 154Os, simultaneously with this winter whaling along the Cantabrian coast, there. had been established.aiong the southern shore of Labrador a far more important Basque whaling industry. The commercial skills required for the organization of trans-