Shore Whaling along California’s Central Coast
Author(s): Richard Fitzgerald; Denise Jaffke
Year: 2020
Summary
This is a paper/report submission presented at the 2020 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology.
In 2019, archaeologists from California State Parks and University of California, Berkeley conducted fieldwork to document the submerged and terrestrial archaeological remains of the shore whaling industry and other maritime related industries along the San Mateo/Santa Cruz coast during the mid- to late- 19th century. The discovery of gold in California in 1848 came at a time when sperm whaling in the Pacific Ocean was in decline. As a result, ship captains turned their attention toward procuring humpback and gray whales that migrated along the California coast with Portuguese immigrants playing a prominent role in the history of shore whaling in California. This paper will review the rise and decline of the industry, previous work, and results of the survey.
Cite this Record
Shore Whaling along California’s Central Coast. Richard Fitzgerald, Denise Jaffke. 2020 ( tDAR id: 457174)
This Resource is Part of the Following Collections
Keywords
General
Maritime
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Portuguese
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Whaling
Geographic Keywords
United States of America
Temporal Keywords
1850-1900
Spatial Coverage
min long: -129.199; min lat: 24.495 ; max long: -66.973; max lat: 49.359 ;
Individual & Institutional Roles
Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology
Record Identifiers
PaperId(s): 951