Scale of American whaling

  American sailing-vessel whaling saw its prime days from 1840 to 1860. It was a time when Japan was surprised by the U.S. demand to open its gate to the world. In its peak period, American whaling had become a global scale industry, developing whaling grounds in all of the oceans of the world, except the Antarctic. In hunting or fishing industries, up to the present time, there has been no case in which a single animal was hunted so extensively. In this sense, American whaling was an industry of historic stature.

  It boasted an enormous scale at its peak, with more than 700 whaling boats throughout the United States. As the number of crew in an average 30-ton-class ship-type vessel was about 30, 15,000 to 20,000 people were engaged in whaling operations on the sea. In the 1840s, more than half of the vessel headed for the Pacific, and a majority of them operated in the north Pacific. Therefore, around 10,000 people might have been mobilized in the area near the Japanese Archipelago. When workers on land were included, the industry as a whole employed approximately 70,000.

  The number of the whales caught was also overwhelming. Tentative statistics released in 1878 showed that about 410,000 whales--about 220,000 sperm whales and about 190,000 right whales--were hunted during the 72 years from 1804 to 1876. At that time, a diversity of whaling was conducted throughout the world, but the American whaling occupied an unmatched proportion of over 80% of the overall global hunt. Furthermore, in operations other than American-type whaling, specific whales were caught all the year round, and "harvesting-type" operations had been conducted on the assumption of reproduction of the resources. By contrast, American whaling alone adopted "mining-type" operations without regard to reproduction of the resources.

Toward the Pacific

  Initially in the 17th century, American whaling was a small operation along the coast, but gradually made advances into the oceans of the world. In the 18th century, sperm whale whaling started in addition to the hunt of right whales. In the meantime, as a result of focusing on these two species, American whaling came to face the risk of overexploitation, and countered this problem with the strategy of "development of new whaling grounds.

  " It took a century for American whaling to dominate the north Pacific after it left New England early in the 18th century. However, after it entered the southern Atlantic beyond the equator in the 1770s, it reached Cape Horn in only 10 years, and advanced from Cape Horn into the Pacific at the end of the 18th century. The vessels, which sailed around Cape Horn, moved northward along the coast of the South American continent and proceeded westward along the equator toward the Pacific.

  Galapagos Islands, situated at the mouth of the whaling grounds, became sperm whaling grounds in the 1810s. Galapagos later became the supply base for whaling vessels, and Galapagos turtles (which now are placed under strict protection) were overexploited as fresh meat that could be preserved alive on board. From Galapagos, "offshore grounds" and "on-the-line grounds" of a vast sperm whales whaling ground ranged along the equator. In the 1820s, the "Japan Ground"--the whaling ground surrounding the Ogasawara Islands and the Japanese Archipelago was developed. In subsequent years, development of whaling grounds, depletion of the resources and development of new whaling grounds occurred alternately. Development of whaling grounds continued to the Okhotsk Sea, the Bering Sea and the Arctic Sea until American whaling began declining.

Japan Grounds

  The historically famous "Japan Ground" is the whaling ground extending to the north Pacific where only sperm whales were targeted. The exploration records of the time show that the ground covered the area from 25 degrees N. to 40 degrees N. and 125 degrees E to 150 degrees E. At times, it included the Korean Peninsula and the Sea of Japan. The name of the whaling ground was derived from the fact that "Japan," which had closed its gates to the outer world at that time, was situated to the northwest of this whaling ground.

  The whaling vessels either used the Bonin Islands (now Ogasawara Islands) as a refueling base or sailed directly back to Hawaii after hunting without refueling during the whaling season. The logbooks of whaling vessels then recorded in many cases "off Bonin" (off the Ogasawara Islands) or "on Japan" (in the Japanese whaling ground). Operation of only several vessels were confirmed from 1819 to 1821, but in 1822, more than 20 ships sailed toward the "Japan Ground", then increased to about 100 vessels a year in the peak period of the 1840s.

  The new whaling ground also gave momentum to scientific research in the Pacific. From the 1820s, scientific research vessels not only of the United States but of other countries collected information on the area in the interest of whaling, trade and military activities. The information collected, coupled with that from whaling ships, was analyzed, and the usefulness of this area to the United States and the European countries was "discovered." For example, whaling grounds throughout the world were listed in the whaling charts developed in 1851 by the U.S. Navy enabling identification of the optimum whale species in the optimum area throughout the year as well as the design of whaling cruise routes. In the area around the Japanese Archipelago, on whose coast lines whaling groups engaged in the traditional hunting, many symbols of sperm whales and right whales had been described.

Japan Ground and the Japanese Archipelago

  Charles Wilkes of the U.S. Navy carried out large-scale research activities in the Pacific from 1838 to 1842, and presented voluminous reports in 1845. Regarding the contact with the "native people" in the Pacific, Wilkes recommended, in his reports, to deal with them with justice and sincerity. This would help Americans to avoid "betrayal" of the "native people" and they in turn could benefit from the American civilization. For Wilkes, the "superiority" of the Americans was evident and the native people were understood as those who would receive benefits from Americans.

  Following the discovery of the "Japan Ground," local communities in the Japanese Archipelago, the Korean Peninsula, Aleutian Islands, Kuril Islands, Siberia, Kamtchatska and Alaska began contact with the Americans. It was not a simple experience in which a superior culture destroyed local culture and the region was Americanized. What was actually happening was a complex and diverse conflict between America and local cultures. In recent studies, the image of "passive native people" is being discarded but light has been shed on the fact that the local communities coped with the situation subjectively, using diverse strategies and tactics, and making it an energy to form a new culture. The Japanese Archipelago was one of the "islands" that became involved in this conflict, and the advance of American whaling into the "Japan Ground" prompted the people to join this process.