The film Whaling in Hudson? What?!, which premiered on Thursday at the opening reception for the exhibition Hudson: A History of Whaling & Maritime Commerce, can now be viewed on YouTube. To watch it, click here.
Why do people act as if whaling was a cool or quaint industry? It was both brutal and disgusting. Accounts from the time talk about how when the remains of whales were brought to Hudson for rendering into oil, the whole area stunk, from shore to shore.
It also (per the detailed narrative of R. Mary Wend in a 1960s master's thesis, which can be found in the Hudson library) was a very unreliable economic engine. Hudson went through multiple boom-and-bust cycles during the whaling era, until it finally collapsed for good.
This isn't a subject for which Hudson should be nostalgic.
Why do people act as if whaling was a cool or quaint industry? It was both brutal and disgusting. Accounts from the time talk about how when the remains of whales were brought to Hudson for rendering into oil, the whole area stunk, from shore to shore.
ReplyDeleteIt also (per the detailed narrative of R. Mary Wend in a 1960s master's thesis, which can be found in the Hudson library) was a very unreliable economic engine. Hudson went through multiple boom-and-bust cycles during the whaling era, until it finally collapsed for good.
This isn't a subject for which Hudson should be nostalgic.