in the early 18th century Basque fisherman were harvesting whales in Newfoundland, they had a tryworks ashore; whales were harpooned and a drouge attached to a buoy and, when they tired, they were killed and towed to shore to be flensed and rendered to whale oil. in the early 18th century europe a 55 gallon "barricca" of oil was worth around €12,000 in todays' money, a galleon from spain might go out for 9 months to a year, depending on the seasons and their luck and return with 50,000 gallons of whale oil, a cargo worth the equivalent of around €630,000,000 today. the captain of the vessel might receive 30 barrels, or nearly €2 mil, and an able seaman could get a share of 5 barrels worth over €60k, twice that of a carpenter or other tradesman. no wonder there were plenty willing to risk their lives hunting leviathan, obviously.
in the early 18th century Basque fisherman were harvesting whales in Newfoundland, they had a tryworks ashore; whales were harpooned and a drouge attached to a buoy and, when they tired, they were killed and towed to shore to be flensed and rendered to whale oil. in the early 18th century europe a 55 gallon "barricca" of oil was worth around €12,000 in todays' money, a galleon from spain might go out for 9 months to a year, depending on the seasons and their luck and return with 50,000 gallons of whale oil, a cargo worth the equivalent of around €630,000,000 today. the captain of the vessel might receive 30 barrels, or nearly €2 mil, and an able seaman could get a share of 5 barrels worth over €60k, twice that of a carpenter or other tradesman. no wonder there were plenty willing to risk their lives hunting leviathan, obviously.
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