For over five centuries whales have been under attack by professional hunters, and long before that by the aboriginal peoples of many lands. The reason whales have withstood this hunting pressure better than land animals is due to the fact that their ocean habitat has not been invaded by man for agriculture, and in the days of sailing ships and hand harpooning, the whale was a formidable prey, far more so than in our present day of motorization and automation. The tremendous area of their habitat made it difficult and time consuming for man to find them, and his ignorance of their migration routes and the oceanographic features which cause whales to disperse and congregate gave the whales some protection. Technological advances, powerful harpoon guns and totally mechanized factory ships in the whaling industry have swung the advantage to man, and whales are now in peril of extinction as is the whaling industry itself. _Whalers as Explorers_ History tends to stress the great explorers who discovered new worlds and the larger islands of the Pacific. However, ships cannot with full safety, ply the seven seas until every island and shoal has been found and charted, and ships cannot safely venture near any shore until the adjoining waters have been systematically charted. The principal discoverers of these danger spots have been the whalers who patiently combed so much of the oceans in their search for whales. Every island has on it the calling cards of Whalers who put ashore for water, food, fuel, or just to stretch their legs and to satisfy their curiosity. This isn’t to say that they had the time to make hydrographic surveys, but at least their log books defined the areas where surveys would eventually have to be made. Whalers lived adventure, and danger was their common lot. It is not surprising that much of this adventure would find its way into the hearts of men through yarns and tales such as _Moby Dick_. _Prehistoric Whaling_ Whaling was practiced long before historic times. The coastal Eskimos of the arctic Americas and of Greenland and Spitzenberg practiced whaling. Whales were approached in skin-covered boats and even from the edge of ice floes. These peoples are differentiated ethnically on the basis of the variations in their whaling techniques, in their whaling gear and in their religious preparations for whaling. It took great courage to whale in such frigid waters where an overturning meant death. It is not surprising that these peoples looked to supernatural deities who required a very complex ritual to insure a safe and successful hunt.