On The Hunt With The Basque Whalers

Descripción

After the wreck of a Basque galleon-thought to be the San Juan-was discovered off the coast of Canada, National Geographic wrote about its exploration in 1985. Now, we revisit the 16th-century ship's history to illustrate what we've learned about the risks and rewards faced by the Basques in the new lands they called Terranova. Their quarry: baleen whales and the oil from their blubber, worth millions in today’s dollars.

albaola ballena ballenero historia canada marinero pasaia red bay sidra ballenero san juan ternua

Ficha

Autor: FERNANDO G. BAPTISTA, RILEY D. CHAMPINE, EVE CONANT, PATRICIA HEALY, SHIZUKA AOKI, AND ELIJAH LEE
Fuente: National Geographic
Fecha: 2018-08-13
Clasificación: 6.1. Historia
Tipo documento: Revistas
Fondo: Sagardoetxea Fondoa

Código: NA-007924

Texto completo

PORT OF PASAJES, SPAIN
PREPARING FOR THE TRIP
Casks loaded with beans, dried peas, bacon, and ship’s biscuits (flour-and-water crackers) sustained the crew. Hearty meals were washed down with wine and hard cider and supplemented with berries, fish, and whale meat, when available.

STRAIT OF BELLE ISLE, CANADA
HOW THEY HUNTED
Scouts patrolled in small boats called chalupas, signaling to other crews when they spotted whales in the Strait of Belle Isle. Skippers of the chalupas, each typically carrying six oarsmen and a harpooner, directed their crews to row in haste—but stealthily—toward the surfacing or sleeping giants.

RED BAY, CANADA
READY TO RETURN
The Basques were the master whalers of their day, but not all their ships weathered the voyages. Seamen’s court testimony and insurance claims tell of a costly end to the San Juan: driven into the rocks by violent winds before departure in 1565. But the crew survived, many barrels were recovered, and the Basques dominated the hunting grounds of the north into the next century.

OUTFITTING THE SAN JUAN
Canadian researcher Selma Huxley Barkham pored over Basque archives detailing the fate of the ship and how it was provisioned—analysis that helped locate the 1565 wreck.

PACKING THE WHALE OIL
Barrels were interlocked to prevent shifting and maximize space. On a typical return voyage, chalupas may have been left behind and some men given extra wages to winter in Red Bay to allow more room for oil.

MASTER AND COMMANDED
On a typical voyage, the captain handled navigation and ship operations; the master managed shore operations and cargo. A ship of this size usually had a crew made up of 60 to 65 men and boys.

16TH-CENTURY PROFIT SHARING
The ship’s owners, outfitters, and crew each got a third of the cargo. The captain and master negotiated their share with the owners and outfitters, and the crewmembers’ shares varied based on their position.