Forty Dundee whalers lie beneath the Arctic whaling grounds, crushed by ice. Imprisoned ships offered a terrible ordeal and a watery grave. Crews were driven to the limits of human endurance because whaling was as profitable as it was dangerous. Whale blubber and bone anticipated the oil and plastics industries of later times.
The first Dundee whaler sailed in 1753, and the city grew to dominate the trade. This book provides the first comprehensive study of Britain's foremost whaling port, charting its humble beginnings, its exhilarating heyday and eventual decline as whales were hunted nearly to extinction.
Dundee's remarkable contribution to the golden age of polar exploration is also revealed: how men like Scott, Shackleton and Amundsen chose Dundee whaling ships and crews for their adventures in the highest latitudes. Dundee's captains steered from the known into the unknown, expanding knowledge as they went. The Dundee Whalers recaptures the adventure, danger and romance that made Dundee the pre-eminent Arctic whaling town of its time.
