But times were changing: Whale populations in the North Atlantic had declined, forcing whaling ships to head to more distant waters, first plundering the rich pickings off the South American coast ...

In 1876, the New Bedford whaling ship Catalpa sailed to western Australia and took part in the rescue of six Irish prisoners.

The remains of the only known whaling ship to sink in the Gulf of Mexico shine a light on the industry’s history of employing nonwhite crewmembers who could have been enslaved or imprisoned had they ...