History of the 19th Century Whaling Industry

History of the 19th Century Whaling Industry The 19th-century whaling industry was one of the most prominent businesses in America. Hundreds of ships setting out from ports, mostly in New England, roamed the globe, bringing back whale oil and other products made from whales. While American ships created a highly organized industry, the hunting of whales had ancient roots. It is believed that men began hunting whales as far back as the Neolithic Period, thousands of years ago. And throughout recorded history, the enormous mammals have been highly prized for the products they can provide. Oil obtained from a whale’s blubber has been used for both lighting and lubricating purposes, and the bones of the whale were used to make a variety of useful products. In the early 19th century, a typical American household might contain several items manufactured from whale products, such as candles or corsets made with whalebone stays. Common items which today might be made of plastic were fashioned of whalebone throughout the 1800s. Origins of Whaling Fleets The Basques, from present-day Spain, were going to sea to hunt and kill whales about a thousand years ago, and that appears to be the beginning of organized whaling. Whaling in the Arctic regions began about 1600 following the discovery of Spitzbergen, an island off the coast of Norway, by the Dutch explorer William Barents. Before long the British and Dutch were dispatching whaling fleets to the frozen waters, at times coming close to violent conflict over which country would control the valuable whaling grounds. The technique used by the British and Dutch fleets was to hunt by having the ships dispatch small boats rowed by teams of men. A harpoon attached to a heavy rope would be thrown into a whale, and when the whale was killed it would be towed to the ship and tied alongside. A grisly process, called cutting in, would then begin. The whale’s skin and blubber would be peeled off in long strips and boiled down to make whale oil. Whaling in America In the 1700s, American colonists began developing their own whale fishery (note: the term â€Å"fishery† was commonly used, though the whale, of course, is a mammal, not a fish). Islanders from Nantucket, who had taken to whaling because their soil was too poor for farming, killed their first sperm whale in 1712. That particular species of whale was highly prized. Not only did it have the blubber and bone found in other whales, but it possessed a unique substance called spermaceti, a waxy oil found in a mysterious organ in the massive head of the sperm whale. It is believed that the organ containing the spermaceti either aids in buoyancy or is somehow related to the acoustic signals whales send and receive. Whatever its purpose to the whale, spermaceti became greatly coveted by man.   By the late 1700s, this unusual oil was being used to make candles which were smokeless and odorless. Spermaceti candles were a vast improvement over the candles in use before that time, and they have been considered the best candles ever made, before or since. Spermaceti, as well as whale oil obtained from rendering the blubber of a whale, was also used to lubricate precision machine parts. In a sense, a 19th-century whaler regarded a whale as a swimming oil well. And the oil from whales, when used to lubricate machinery, made the industrial revolution possible. Rise of an Industry By the early 1800s, whaling ships from New England were setting out on very long voyages to the Pacific Ocean in search of sperm whales. Some of these voyages could last for years. A number of seaports in New England supported the whaling industry, but one town, New Bedford, Massachusetts, became known as the world’s center of whaling. Of the more than 700 whaling ships on the world’s oceans in the 1840s, more than 400 called New Bedford their home port. Wealthy whaling captains built large houses in the best neighborhoods, and New Bedford was known as The City that Lit the World. Life aboard a whaling ship was difficult and dangerous, yet the perilous work inspired thousands of men to leave their homes and risk their lives. Part of the attraction was the call of adventure. But there were also financial rewards. It was typical for a crew of a whaler to split the proceeds, with even the lowliest seaman getting a share of the profits. The world of whaling seemed to possess its own self-contained society, and one feature which is sometimes overlooked is that whaling captains were known to welcome men of diverse races. There were a number of black men who served on whaling ships, and even a black whaling captain, Absalom Boston of Nantucket. Whaling Lives On in Literature The Golden Age of American whaling extended into the 1850s, and what brought its demise was the invention of the oil well. With oil extracted from the ground being refined into kerosene for lamps, the demand for whale oil plummeted. And while whaling continued, as whalebone could still be used for a number of household products, the era of the great whaling ships faded into history. Whaling, with all its hardships and peculiar customs, was immortalized in the pages of Herman Melvilles classic novel Moby Dick. Melville himself had sailed on a whaling ship, the Acushnet, which left New Bedford in January 1841. While at sea Melville would have heard many tales of whaling, including reports of whales that attacked men. He would even have heard famous yarns of a malicious white whale known to cruise the waters of the South Pacific. And an immense amount of whaling knowledge, much of it quite accurate, some of it exaggerated, found its way into the pages of his masterpiece.

Leadership Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 3

Leadership - Essay Example As mentioned above, schools obviously function as an open system, taking input from the environment, putting it through a transformative process and producing the changed product back into the environment. The second major frameworks schools function in is rational. A rational system is a system which attempts to achieve a specific goal with maximum efficiency. Though schools have a wide variety of goals, they are often very specific: they want to educate students to the point that they meet required standards (whether the standards are set by a school board, an accredited body, or the school itself). They seek to give students a balanced life, by providing access to education (in the form of physical education classes) and food along with academic pursuits. So clearly schools meet the first part of the definition of a rational system: they have specific goals. Schools also try to meet these goals in as efficient methods as possible; they employ teachers with enough experience to cov er multiple subject areas (such as physical education and another subject), they try to economize by using textbooks which will not become outdated quickly or can be used for multiple classes. So clearly they meet the second definition of a rational system.

Book Report on Playing the Enemy by John Carlin Essay

Book Report on Playing the Enemy by John Carlin - Essay Example Uniting the blacks and whites in South Africa was considered a lost cause by many people, because the divide did not only center on colour, but culture as well. The whites had a more Western-influenced culture than the blacks who clearly embraced their traditional African roots. This was the challenge that Nelson Mandela, a black South African president faced. But he, being a man who rarely gave up, knew that if there was a God in heaven, then there was hope for unity, no matter how tall the obstacle is. With this, he took upon himself to find a way to unite the two camps of humanity that shared the same land. For he too believed that, as long as we both live in the same land, â€Å"your freedom and mine cannot be separated† (Carlin, 2008, 23). The book reveals that Nelson Mandela decided to make his move in a rugby game because rugby was one of the favourite recreational sports for the white South Africans. It was a sport the blacks did not take much part in, for they deemed it a white-man’s game. But despite this, there is some influence that sports can exert to people. It has the ability to make friends out of enemies, because it helps them come together to cheer for a common interest. Carlin (2008, Page 163) showed belief in the power of sport when he mentioned Mandela’s statement, â€Å"let us use sport for the purpose of nation-building and promoting all the ideas which we think will lead to peace and stability in our country†. The team in focus were the Springboks, the then national rugby team of South Africa. A significant number of people can be found who believe that, that team was one of the best rugby teams the nation ever had. But though it represented the nation, it was entirely composed of white men, and as expected, the audience was mostly whites. Strangely, Mandela saw this as a ripe field to promote his agenda. But this was no walk in the park for the great man. He would have to gather all the charm and charisma he had amassed during his 50 years of activism, and his strategy demanded a cause all South Africans could support. His strategy was pure genius. He agreed to host the 1995 rugby world cup games in South Africa. In addition to this he endeavoured to inspire the black South Africans to develop an interest for the sport. Although not fully successful in this endeavour, he managed to get enough blacks onto his bandwagon to ensure that his plan would work out smoothly. For the Springboks, they were facing one of the giants of the sport, the gargantuan New Zealand All Blacks, a team whose unparalleled success and discipline spoke for itself. This was no easy game for the Springboks and they knew it very well. Their chances of winning were small, but greater still, their chances of winning the hearts of their black countrymen were much smaller. Carlin specified some prominent men that contributed in making that day eventful. The first individual is Francois Pienaar the six foot Captain of th e Springboks. The other one is, Linga Moonsamy, Mandela’s top bodyguard on that day. Other prominent figures are, Niel Barnard, who was once the head of the intelligence services during the apartheid-era, and Justice Bekebeke a man that had spent a significant amount of time under death sentence for committing murder, and Desmond Tutu who is revealed

How does Learning and Employee Development Contribute to Research Paper - 2

How does Learning and Employee Development Contribute to Organisational Success and Performance Within Social Care Services - Research Paper Example The most essential component of a learning and development plan as per the respondents’ view are the skills and second most essential learning component required to enhance service delivery quality according to the respondents is that of knowledge. These findings are very positive and reflect a developmental, growth-oriented attitude. Trained staff is more competent and can perform better than untrained staff. To attain training there must be motivation among the members and they must be interested in learning and developing in order to benefit from the training programs offered to them. The research study has revealed that all the respondents realize the importance of learning and development training programs and are willing to learn and grow for the betterment of their selves and organization in turn. Garavanfurther suggested that a strategically integrated model of Human Resource Development would ensure that the concepts of training, development, education, and learning and backed up and embedded in strategic plans, operational plans, policies, and work practice. The findings reveal that the respondents are well informed about the importance of all these components of training and therefore it can be safely said that such a plan as suggested by Garavan can be very feasible for an organization like Loretto Care where chances of its acceptance at the managerial level appear to be quite high.

Abortion Issue Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Abortion Issue - Essay Example Regarding the abortion dilemma, here we should adhere to the point that killing a person is a bad action, probably the worst thing to do, according to Kantian Deontology. If a fetus is a person, killing it through abortion beyond dispute is an immoral action, because it has intrinsically immoral roots. Moreover, taking into consideration the fact that a fetus is a person that can’t protect itself and completely depends on another human being, abortion appears to be an extremely atrocious kind of murder. According to Kant, such act as murder shouldn’t be committed under any circumstances ever, because it violates any rules of morality and doing it is unfair towards another person; especially if this person is a weaker vessel which a fetus is. Mill’s position on the matter of abortion is less strict and flexible than the Kantian one. Mill’s Utilitarian doctrine is based on the Greatest Happiness Principle, which claims that people should correlate their acti ons and decisions with their own utility; they should also don’t make any harm to other people, trying to reduce the overall quantity of unhappiness in the world. The fact that a fetus is a person and has a right to live seems to make the resolution of the abortion issue similar to the Kantian one because killing a person can’t bring much happiness to normal people. If to pay closer attention to different circumstances that make women bent on abortion, it turns out that in some cases abortion can be a moral resolution of a case.

Timber Certification in the Building Industry Dissertation

Timber Certification in the Building Industry - Dissertation Example tion gathered through interviews with forestry officials on the timber certification methods and their company history respectful of the sustainable forest management process. These interviews will focus on timber companies who have and have not received timber certification and the impact both have their business relationships with manufacturers and consumers. Primary/Secondary Sources The primary sources are very much dedicated to one of only a few certification groups, TRADA, and the main players. The main players in timber certification include the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), WWF 1995plus, PEFC, and, UKWAS as these groups are all related to the manufacturing side of the forestry industry. There are mainly two forms of primary sources to be used: journals, internet and company interviews in an effort to not only relay what, if any, timber certification has on both the forestry industry as well as on consumer impact. It will be important through interviews to obtain whether certification is fully understood or whether consumer's and merchant's tend to take heed of what certification means to them and the forestry industry in general; or, if there is a lack of understanding by both parties of what certification means. Through using questionnaires and interviews with these two parties will provide empirical data to be used in analysing whether timber certification is fully understood by the general public and if this information is being provided adequately by forestry industry officials. Secondary sources are entirely related to building and trade merchants and how timber certification can affect their business relationships with the manufacturing sector. This also includes the processes that have been put forward in developing forest management standards... The primary sources are very much dedicated to one of only a few certification groups, TRADA, and the main players. The main players in timber certification include the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), WWF 1995plus, PEFC, and, UKWAS as these groups are all related to the manufacturing side of the forestry industry. There are mainly two forms of primary sources to be used: journals, internet and company interviews in an effort to not only relay what, if any, timber certification has on both the forestry industry as well as on consumer impact. It will be important through interviews to obtain whether certification is fully understood or whether consumer’s and merchant’s tend to take heed of what certification means to them and the forestry industry in general; or, if there is a lack of understanding by both parties of what certification means. Through using questionnaires and interviews with these two parties will provide empirical data to be used in analysing whether timber certification is fully understood by the general public and if this information is being provided adequately by forestry industry officials. Secondary sources are entirely related to building and trade merchants and how timber certification can affect their business relationships with the manufacturing sector. This also includes the processes that have been put forward in developing forest management standards in order to look toward further sustainable forest management. Tertiary empirical data can be gathered in an effort to recognise.

Abortion Issue Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Abortion Issue - Essay Example Regarding the abortion dilemma, here we should adhere to the point that killing a person is a bad action, probably the worst thing to do, according to Kantian Deontology. If a fetus is a person, killing it through abortion beyond dispute is an immoral action, because it has intrinsically immoral roots. Moreover, taking into consideration the fact that a fetus is a person that can’t protect itself and completely depends on another human being, abortion appears to be an extremely atrocious kind of murder. According to Kant, such act as murder shouldn’t be committed under any circumstances ever, because it violates any rules of morality and doing it is unfair towards another person; especially if this person is a weaker vessel which a fetus is. Mill’s position on the matter of abortion is less strict and flexible than the Kantian one. Mill’s Utilitarian doctrine is based on the Greatest Happiness Principle, which claims that people should correlate their acti ons and decisions with their own utility; they should also don’t make any harm to other people, trying to reduce the overall quantity of unhappiness in the world. The fact that a fetus is a person and has a right to live seems to make the resolution of the abortion issue similar to the Kantian one because killing a person can’t bring much happiness to normal people. If to pay closer attention to different circumstances that make women bent on abortion, it turns out that in some cases abortion can be a moral resolution of a case.