The first whaling industry

The result of these voyages is that the Basques were the first Europeans to develop a regular whaling industry, mainly because nature brought the Basque whales Eubalaena Glaciales for an annual visit to this land. These enormous slow moving mammals swam every autumn from Arctic waters to the south, and were often seen off the coasts of the Bay of Bizkaia.

Due to this annual migration, the Basque fishermen improved their hunting techniques… harpooning the whales from squiffs prepared for this seasonal event in each small port of Lapurdi, Gipuzkoa and Bizkaia.

Slowly, the Basque fishermen understood it was worth mailing with large vessels towards Asturias and Galicia, where the winter whaling season was more profitable. Apart from their whaling techniques, we have to add their skill in organising and stocking up for long distance fishing trips, thus after the discovery of Ternua (Terranova), the Basque merchant seamen had no difficult in efficiently preparing for the risky business of trans-Atlantic fishing.