Whale songs are part of Martha’s Vineyard Live Music Playlist!
If you look out on the Edgartown harbor today, you will see sailboats and other leisure craft lolling in the blue-green water. But in centuries past, this scene was very different and likely much less picturesque: scruffy men carrying harpoons boarded the vessels that would scour the sea in search of whales.
Whaling is an important part of Martha’s Vineyard’s maritime traditions and sea-faring adventures. And even though in today’s environmentally conscious times the idea of whale hunting is unthinkable, in those long-ago days it was considered to be an economic necessity. The oil derived from these aquatic mammals was not only widely used in the manufacture of every-day products like soap, textiles, candles, and paints, but it also lubricated the machines during the Industrial Revolution.
