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During whale hunts, this carved whale box stored harpoon blades like the three shown beside it.
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Inupiat Harpoon Box

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Close-up of a 17th century painting shows how whales were brought ashore for processing and their blubber rendered into marketable oil.
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Basque Whalers

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In the 19th century, many women wore tight corsets that were stiffened with stays made from baleen.
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Whale Products in Fashion

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North Atlantic right whales were long hunted for their baleen—the fringed plates hanging in their mouths that they use to strain the seawater for food. Baleen was used in a number of consumer products, such as corsets.
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Whale Baleen from a Dead Whale

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Yankee Whalers: An 1856 Currier & Ives print shows whalers harpooning a right whale.
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The “Right” Whale to Hunt

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Whalers harpoon a right whale
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Harpooning Whales

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a seven inch fragment of an Inuit soapstone pot recovered at Hare Harbor in Quebec, Canada
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Inuit Soapstone Pot

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A researcher holds a maritime archaic point made of ramah chert that was found at Hare Harbor in Quebec, Canada in 2011
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Ancient Maritime Archaic Indian Point

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This illustration shows whalers of the early 1800s with their highly profitable catch.
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Whalers in the early 1800s

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