Made for the home market, this Castle Films production depicts the dangerous job of whale hunting. The footage shown dates to the late 1950s / early 1960’s and the film was released in 1961. It follows a band of whale hunters described as South Africans, Norweigians and Scotsmen, as they go through the process of searching for and harpooning whales in the South Atlantic. It opens with the information that whale hunting has been conducted since antiquity (:22) though modern whaling had been improved through scientific methods (:31). The crew are seen aboard a 500-ton catcher ship during a seventh month long hunting voyage in the south Atlantic waters (:36). The crew heads for whale feeding grounds (:46) while preparing hunting equipment. One man is seen loading seven bags of TNT into grenades that slip onto the harpoon nose (:50) which will be triggered inside of the whale (:59). The Captain of the ship was also generally the harpooner and he prepares the harpoon gun (1:10). A half-pound of gun powder is loaded into each of the shells that will fire the harpoon gun (1:15). The barbs are lashed down until the harpoon is fired and once inside the whale it will fan out killing the mammal quickly (1:37). The crew was about 100 miles from the African Cape of Good Hope (1:55) and here they begin to cross into the whaling area. Men of the crew spy through binoculars to catch the distinctive release from a whale’s blow hole (2:06) and one is spotted at (2:18). The helmsman maneuvers the ship in order to position the Captain for a shot (2:30). The first firing is ineffective (3:03) though they are quick to reload the harpoon gun (3:13). This time it is hit (3:43) and the 60-ton whale is drug in (3:57). While it is lashed along side of the ship, air and steam are pumped into the carcass (4:03) and an identifying flag is set out (4:16). The crew radio’s their position to a vessel which will tow the whale to a shore-based factory for processing (4:19). The whale hunters leave the bloated whale behind and continue to search for others (4:31). Dolphins splash in and out of the waters near the whaling vessel as they had little fear of the men and often followed them along their route (4:49). While in rough waters as men cling to the railings, another whale is spotted and hit (5:18). However, the whale is still able to carry on taking out line with the harpoon attached to him as it was a faulty hit (5:38). In only a minute, the 70-ton whale pulls out about 2,000 feet of line (6:02). This tug of war battle between hunters and whale could last for a few hours or days (6:19). As this whale is drug in closer (7:07) a second harpoon is fired which is successful (7:07). The first harpoon had only hit the whale’s dorsal fin (7:20). This one is also floated and flagged (7:42). Even with advancements in technology whaling was still conducted to retrieve oils only found in whales, for whale steaks which are considered a delicacy in many locations around the world (7:54), and for Ambergris; a perfume (8:01). The film concludes just after a shot of seven floating whale carcasses (8:02).

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This film is part of the Periscope Film LLC archive, one of the largest historic military, transportation, and aviation stock footage collections in the USA. Entirely film backed, this material is available for licensing in 24p HD, 2k and 4k. For more information visit http://www.PeriscopeFilm.com