Presents the story of the Austrian child-bride who, in the "safety" of a royal marriage, was swept up in the political furies of her time and paid with her life for the luxurious excesses associated with her court.

The modern whaling industry dates from 1881. That year factory ships began working with purpose-built whale catchers equipped with modern harpoon guns. This revolution, together with the increasing demand for whale products, created a boom in whaling. By 1914 there were more than 35 whale factory ships working world-wide. This new book chronicles in depth the development of factory ship whaling, and provides full technical and career details and where possible illustrations of every factory ship to have operated anywhere in the world. The first section tells the story of how factory ship whaling becoming a major global industry. Thanks to technical innovations and entrepreneurship, with a willingness to pursue whales in even the most inhospitable regions, the industry made fortunes for some. However, the late twentieth century saw the demise of the industry, following a catastrophic decline in whale populations due to over-fishing, which had seen a total of three million whales taken. Today there is but one working factory ship, working under the guise of research in the North Pacific. A second section provides full histories of 184 factory ships which are known to have worked in the trade, including both conversions and purpose-built vessels. Appendices also cover supply ships and whale catchers.Flags and funnels in full colour on end papers.

Over 200 vintage engravings, drawings, and photographs of barks, brigs, cutters, and other vessels. Also harpoons, lances, whaling guns, many other artifacts. Comprehensive text by foremost authority. 207 black-and-white illustrations.

In the pages that follow, the story of commercial whaling in the western Arctic is told by a scholar intimately acquainted with the terrain--not only as it can be found in the historical records or at archaeological sites, but from lone experience on the shores and waters where the great adventure was played out. His book is written with such mastery and vigor that we confidently greet it as the finest history yet written on any aspect of American whaling.

This book reveals the political machinations and manipulations at the highest levels to reinstate whaling, particularly in Japan, and traces the history of modern commercial whaling, the industry's determination to ignore reasonable checks and balances, and the effectiveness of the International Whaling Commission.

A Los Angeles Times Best Non-Fiction Book of 2007 A Boston Globe Best Non-Fiction Book of 2007 Amazon.com Editors pick as one of the 10 best history books of 2007 Winner of the 2007 John Lyman Award for U. S. Maritime History, given by the North American Society for Oceanic History "The best history of American whaling to come along in a generation." —Nathaniel Philbrick The epic history of the "iron men in wooden boats" who built an industrial empire through the pursuit of whales. "To produce a mighty book, you must choose a mighty theme," Herman Melville proclaimed, and this absorbing history demonstrates that few things can capture the sheer danger and desperation of men on the deep sea as dramatically as whaling. Eric Jay Dolin begins his vivid narrative with Captain John Smith's botched whaling expedition to the New World in 1614. He then chronicles the rise of a burgeoning industry—from its brutal struggles during the Revolutionary period to its golden age in the mid-1800s when a fleet of more than 700 ships hunted the seas and American whale oil lit the world, to its decline as the twentieth century dawned. This sweeping social and economic history provides rich and often fantastic accounts of the men themselves, who mutinied, murdered, rioted, deserted, drank, scrimshawed, and recorded their experiences in journals and memoirs. Containing a wealth of naturalistic detail on whales, Leviathan is the most original and stirring history of American whaling in many decades.

"Marine scientist Michael J. Moore says we are all whalers, but we don't have to be. Eating fish leads to North Atlantic right whales' entanglement and death. Buying goods made around the world requires global shipping routes, which do not accurately consider right whale breeding and feeding sites, leading to collision. To explain this, Moore conveys to readers scenes from over thirty years' worth of fieldwork, performing whale necropsies for animals stranded on beaches, working as an independent researcher alongside whalers using explosive harpoons, and tracking injured pregnant whales to deliver antibiotics. Despite these sometimes disturbing experiences, Moore has written a hopeful book. He uses these stories to show we can change and to tell us how; the technology for rope-less fishing and tracking whale migrations already exist to protect both right whales and the people who depend on shipping and fishing for their livelihoods"--

Describes the inglorious life of a boy from Nantucket who in 1819 joins the crew of a whaling ship, including freezing trips to the Arctic, carving scrimshaw, boiling whales for oil, and sinking ships.

First US Edition -- The first comprehensive book on whaling wives at sea written for a general audience.

In Herman Melville's classic tale of revenge, Ishmael tells his story of becoming a whaler on the Pequod. When Ishmael and his unexpected friend Queequeg join Captain Ahab's hunt for Moby Dick, the voyage of a lifetime turns into tragedy. The adventures of sailing the seas on the hunt for the great white whale is retold in the Calico Illustrated Classics adaptation of Melville's Moby Dick. Calico Chapter Books is an imprint of Magic Wagon, a division of ABDO Group. Grades 3-8.