The Basques of modern day Iberia and France were among the first people to catch whales commercially rather than purely for subsistence, starting perhaps as early as the 600s and with more certainty by about 1000. They dominated the European whale trade for five centuries, spreading to the far corners of the North Atlantic and even reaching the South Atlantic. The French explorer Samuel de Champlain, when writing about Basque whaling in Terranova (i.e. Newfoundland), described them as "the cleverest men at this fishing".Martijn, C.J., S. Barkham, and M.M. Barkham. 2003. Basques? Beothuk? Innu? Inuit? or St. Lawrence Iroquoians? The Whalers on the 1546 Desceliers Map, Seen Through the Eyes of Different Beholders. Newfoundland and Labrador Studies, Vol. 19, No. 1: The New Early Modern Newfoundland: Part 2. By the early 17th century, other nations entered the trade in earnest, seeking the Basques as tutors, "for [they] were then the only people who understand whaling", lamented the English explorer Jonas Poole.
Having learned the trade themselves, other nations adopted Basque techniques and soon dominated the burgeoning industry – often to the exclusion of their former instructors. Basque whaling peaked in the late 16th and early 17th centuries, but was in decline by the late 17th and early 18th centuries. By the 19th century, it was moribund as the right whale was nearly extinct and the bowhead whale was decimated.
Bay of Biscay
Beginnings There is a document, a bill, which states in the year 670 a delivery of 40 "moyos" (casks of 250 liters) of "aceite de ballena" (whale oil) or "grasa de ballena" (whale blubber) was made from Bayonne to the abbey of Jumièges, between Le Havre and Rouen, for its use in illumination. The authors that assessed this document suggest for such a request to be made by such a distant monastery that Basque whaling must have been well known – although the oil or blubber easily could have come from a stranded whale whose products were usurped by the church.Urzainqui, T. and J. M. de Olaizola (1998). La Navarra Maritima. Pamiela.
Establishment and expansion
Another author contends that the first mention of the use of whales by the Basques came in 1059, in which year a measure was passed to concentrate whale meat in the market of Bayonne.Aguilar, A. 1986. A Review of Old Basque Whaling and its Effect on the Right Whales (Eubalaena glacialis) of the North Atlantic. Reports of the International Whaling Commission (special issue) 10: 191-199. By the year 1150 whaling had spread to the Basque provinces in what is now Spain. In this year King Sancho the Wise of Navarre (r. 1150–94) granted San Sebastián certain privileges. The grant lists various goods that must be paid duties for warehousing, and among this list "boquinas-barbas de ballenas" or plates of whalebone (baleen) held a prominent place. By 1190, whaling had spread to Santander. In 1203, Alfonso VIII of Castile gave Hondarribia the same privileges that had been given to San Sebastian. In 1204, these privileges were extended to Mutriku and Getaria. Similar privileges were given to Zarautz by Ferdinand III of Castile in a royal order dated at Burgos 28 September 1237. This document also states that "in accordance with custom, the King should have a slice of each whale, along the backbone, from the head to the tail". Whaling also spread to Asturias (1232) and finally to Galicia (1371).
Up to 49 ports had whaling establishments along the coast from the French Basque country to Cape Finisterre. The principal target of the trade was what the French Basques called "sarde". It was later called the Biscayan right whale (Balaena biscayensis), and is now known as the North Atlantic right whale (Eubalaena glacialis). It was caught during its migration from the months of October–November to February–March, with peak catching probably occurring in January. They may have also hunted the gray whale (Eschrichtius robustus), which existed in the North Atlantic until at least the early 18th century. Bryant suggests that if gray whales inhabited coastal waters like they do today in the North Pacific they would have been likely targets for Basque whalers, perhaps even more so than the North Atlantic right whale – although most contemporary illustrations and skeletal remains from catches were of the latter species. They may have also caught the occasional sperm whale (Physeter macrocephalus), as remains of this species were found in the old buildings used to try out the blubber into oil.
Hunting methods The whales were spotted by full-time lookouts from stone watchtowers (known as vigías) situated on headlands or high up on mountains overlooking the harbor, which limited the hunting area to several miles around the port. The remains of these vigías reportedly exist on Talaya mendi ("Look-out mountain") above Zarautz and on Whale Hill in Ulia, San Sebastian, while the point on which the vigía in Biarritz was once situated is now the site of a lighthouse, the Pointe Saint-Martin Light (est. 1834).Jenkins, J. T. 1921. A History of the Whale Fisheries. Reissued 1971, Kennikat Press.Jones, R. 2007. The Lighthouse Encyclopedia: The Definitive Reference. Globe Pequot Pr.
When the spout of a whale was sighted, the watchman alerted the men by burning some straw, beating a drum, ringing a bell or waving a flag. Once alerted, men launched small rowing boats from the beach, or, if the shoreline was steep, the boats were held by a capstan and launched by releasing the rope attached to the boats. The whale was struck with a two-flued harpoon (as shown in the seal of Hondarribia, dated 1297), lanced, and killed. A larger boat manned by ten men towed the carcass ashore, waiting for high tide to beach the whale, where it was flensed. The blubber was then brought to a boiling house where it was rendered into oil.Francis, D. 1990. A History of World Whaling. Viking.
Tithes and taxes According to the Laws of Oléron, the whalemen of Biarritz, Saint-Jean-de-Luz, and the rest of the French Basque country were exempt from taxation, although they voluntarily gave the whales' tongues to the church as a gift. It wasn't until the kings of England, acting as the Dukes of Guyenne, that taxes began to be levied upon them. In 1197, the future King John of England (r. 1199–1216)Saul, N. 1997. The Oxford Illustrated History of Medieval England. Oxford University Press. gave Vital de Biole and his heirs and successors the right to levy a tax of 50 angevin livres on the first two whales taken annually at Biarritz, in exchange for the rent of the fishery at Guernsey. In 1257, William Lavielle gave the bishop and chapter of Bayonne a tithe of the whales caught by the men of the same port. This was paid until 1498. In 1261, an act of the Abbey of Honce announced, as a continuation of the tradition of giving the tongue as a gift to the church, a tithe was to be paid on the whales landed at Bayonne. Under a 1324 edict known as De Praerogativa Regis (The Royal Prerogative), King Edward II (r. 1307–27) collected a duty on the whales found in English waters, which included the French Basque coast.Ellis, R. 1991. Men & Whales. Alfred A. Knopf. His successor, King Edward III (r. 1327–77), continued this tradition by collecting a £6 tax for each whale taken and landed at Biarritz. In 1338, this was relinquished to Peter de Puyanne, admiral of the English fleet stationed at Bayonne.Scoresby, W. 1820. An Account of the Arctic Regions with a History and a Description of the Northern Whale-Fishery. Edinburgh.
In Lekeitio, the first document to mention the use of whales in its archives, dated 11 September 1381, states that the whalebone procured in that port would be divided into three parts, with "two for repairing the boat-harbour, and the third for the fabric of the church." A document of 1608 repeats this order. A similar order, dated 20 November 1474, said that half the value of each whale caught from Getaria should be given towards the repair of the church and boat-harbor. It was also custom in Getaria to give the first whale of the season to the King, half of which he returned. San Sebastián, in continuing an ancient custom, gave the whalebone to the Cofradia (brotherhood) of San Pedro.
Cultural significance The trade had reached such importance in the Basque provinces during this time that several towns and villages depicted whales or whaling scenes on their seals and coat-of-arms. This practice included Bermeo (dated 1351), Castro Urdiales (currently outside the Basque region), Hondarribia (1297), Getaria, Lekeitio, Mutriku (1507, 1562), and Ondarroa in Spain; and Biarritz, Guéthary, and Hendaye in France. Whaling was important enough that laws were passed in 1521 and 1530, barring foreign (re. French) whalers from operating off the Spanish coast, while in 1619 and 1649, foreign whale products could not be sold in Spanish markets.
Peak and decline The industry in the French Basque region never reached the importance it did in the Spanish provinces. Few towns participated and only a small number of whales were probably taken. From the number of extant documents and written references Aguilar (1986) surmised that French Basque whaling peaked in the second half of the 13th century, and subsequently declined. Although whaling as a commercial activity had ended by 1567, some right whales were taken as late as 1688.Reeves, R.R., T.D. Smith and E.A. Josephson. 2007. Near-Annihilation of a Species: Right Whaling in the North Atlantic. pp. 39–74. In S. D. Kraus and R. Rolland. The Urban Whale: North Atlantic Right Whales at the Crossroads. Harvard University Press. For the Spanish Basque region (Biscay and Gipuzkoa) the peak was reached in the second half of the 16th century, but as early as the end of the same century it was in decline. Subsequently, an increase in whaling activity appears to have occurred in Cantabria, Asturias, and Galicia in the first half of the 17th century. Here the Basques hired seasonal "land factories" (whaling stations), particularly in Galicia – the Galicians themselves were never whalers but only built these installations so they could rent them out on an annual basis to the Basques. The peak was short-lived. By the second half of the 17th century whaling in these areas was in general decline. The War of the Spanish Succession (1701–14) sounded the death knell for whaling in the Bay of Biscay, with the trade ceasing altogether in Cantabria (1720), Asturias (1722), and Galicia (1720). It only continued in the Spanish Basque region, where it barely survived.
Catch The total number of right whales taken by the Basques in the Bay of Biscay is unknown, as serial catch statistics weren't compiled until the 16th century. Incomplete catch statistics for Lekeitio from 1517 to 1562 show a total catch of 68 whales, an average of one-and-a-half a year. The most were caught in 1536 and 1538, when six were taken in each year. In 1543, whalemen from Lekeitio injured a whale, but it was captured by the men of Mutriku, resulting in the whale being divided between the two towns. The same year a mother-calf pair were caught. On 24 February 1546, a whale was reportedly killed in front of St. Nicholas Island. In 1611, two small whales were killed by the men of Lekeitio and Ondarroa, which resulted in a lawsuit. Similar records exist for Zarautz and Getaria. Fifty-five whales were caught from Zarautz between 1637 and 1801, and eighteen from Getaria between 1699 and 1789.