Character Development:
English Renaissance Whalers
(Primary reference "Follow the Whale", Ivan T. Sanderson. Pub. 1956 Little, Brown & Co.)
As a Seadog, it's generally expected for you to represent a sailor of some nature for your character. While knowing the history of what your particular choice of 'job' consists of is not required (or honestly, even noticed by customers), having a knowledge of the history of your chosen 'profession' can provide great source material for customer, guild and other interaction as well as providing a wonderful way to bore the living hell out of your friends. With this in mind, below is a sketchy capsule history of Renaissance period whaling (1550-1625) with a bias for the English Fleet...
The Renaissance is in full bloom in Europe. Money pours into the economy from previously unknown (and almost unimagined) sources. Mighty fleets of the most advanced ships make best use of design technology great leaps ahead of what their fathers and grandfathers knew... On the high seas, whalemen - some of the first to be commercial (rather than subsistence) whalemen - sail the ocean, hunting for Right Whale, porpoise, and others. The recent invention from Portugal, the 'try-works', enabled vessels to take tremendous voyages, only returning when fully laden with oil rather than a hold full of rotting blubber.
Where is England in all of this? Well... err... it's like this, you see... ummm... My, lovely weather, isn't it?
Historically, England during the Renaissance was probably one of the only seagoing nations without a presence of any measurable size out whaling. There were many reasons for this - England didn't have much of a fleet to begin with, troubles at home, a 'charter company' that was not acquainted with the measures needed to create England's whaling industry... the list is lengthy. The last point about the Charter Company (Similar to the East India company and other British exporting companies of later years) is probably the main factor. In 1555, the Muscovy Company (Muscovy being what would later become known as Russia) was formed under the unwieldy title "Merchants Adventures of England for the Discovery of Lands, Territories, Isles, Dominions, and Seigniories, unknown and not before that Late Adventure or Enterprise by sea or navigation commonly frequented" (Sheesh). While acknowledging the tremendous profitability of whaling, the Company apparently concentrated primarily on exploration rather than whaling, a trend that was to continue for the Muscovy Company's existence. This is not to say that they failed to realize profits - the Company funded several expeditions, including Frobisher's voyage to the Hudson Bay.
It was not until 1576 before the Crown granted a twenty year monopoly on English whaling to the company, now operating under the much shorter title "Fellowship of English Merchants for the Discovery of New Trades". Now, during this 21 years, there was a small scale trade going on in whaling. But, it was nearly unsupported by the government. As noted in 'Follow the Whale', even after the government took notice in whaling:
"the British were up to their old tricks, first claiming everything and giving their ships' captains grandiose letters of patent and monopoly but with no arms to back them up, so that they could not enforce their claims and often lost their cargoes or even their ships. Then, they would send out a fleet of heavily armed ships and engage in wholesale privateering, only to lapse once again the next year and let unarmed fishermen brave the elements and the wrath of all the combined foreign fleets"
As such, whaling for an English sailor was a chancy proposition, at best. As it stood, even with the patent monopoly granted, the first recorded English ship to make a trip to the Newfoundland Banks on a whaling expedition was the 'Grace' in 1594, at only 35 tons with a crew of 12. It's worth noting that this expedition met with limited success - their total haul was some baleen (known as 'whalebone', as used in fashion and industry) salvaged from wrecked Basque whaling ships. In 1604, another ship was sent (name not listed), but only collected walrus oil. It wasn't until 1610 that a recorded expedition (of a grand two ships, both undersized) was dispatched, and their captains nearly bankrupted the company by failing to 'try' their whale blubber at sea (as the rest of the whaling fleets did, and still do), and instead hauled back the blubber, well rotted by landfall. It wasn't 'till 1612 that a truly profitable voyage occurred. Then, four larger ships (along with a Dutch and Spanish vessel) finally turned a profit, taking seventeen whales and allowing the long suffering Muscovy Company to pay a 90% dividend on the voyage.
From this point through 1625, the Muscovy Company showed definite mixed success, as well as a steady decline. Finally, in 1625, with profits at a new low and the Dutch convoying their whalers with fully armed men-of-war, the Muscovy Company ceased whaling operations, and sea operations in general - though the company apparently retained its charter into the 20th century. From 1625 on, out of an approximate fleet of over 1400, only 18 vessels remained listed as 'whaling vessels'. While listed as whalers, though, they were documented as part time privateers as well.
As a Seadog, it's still entirely reasonable to be able to claim to be a whaler. However, to be 'history appropriate', the above must be taken into consideration. While your character may be a "whaler", as an English sailor chances are that you would not have been out on an actual whaling 'expedition', unless you were sailing on a ship of another nationality.
Another point to remember is that if you're going to portray a whaleman, it's a nice idea to know some of the lingo. I'm currently creating a list of commonly used terminology - but until then, you can really create more credibility in interactions if you know what sounding is, who and what the flenser is, and other basics of the industry.
Research. It's all about the research.
