Ahab's Trade: The Saga of South Sea Whaling

Australian maritime historian Mawer argues that though the whalers sailed on ships bearing American, British, French, Australian, and New Zealand flags, they were in fact citizens of a separate, closed, and isolated world quite unlike that even of other seamen. He traces the rise and fall of the trade, which in two centuries decimated the spermaceti whale but also charted much of the South Pacific. Captain Ahab's obsession with the white whale is a minor eccentricity, he says, compared to some of the real stories. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)