Whaling for War

Abstract

From 1914 onwards, whale oil was a key strategic material for the conduct of the Great War. It was used as rifle oil, as a fuel for trench stoves, to protect against trench foot, and above all for the production of the vast quantities of the glycerol, or glycerine, needed for the manufacture of explosives. Even though sugar fermentation and a variety of animal and vegetable oils and fats were exploited for the manufacture of glycerine during the war, whale oil was the prime source for the production of nitroglycerine explosives. According to one source, the total world catch from just before the war until the end of the war totalled almost 80,000 whales. This chapter provides a short history of whaling, before focussing on the many uses of whale oil and the level of demand that was subsequently created by the war.