REAL Whaling, in Moby Dick (1956)

[SilverMoonMushroom]

wow that was intence

[BodyArtist75]

Yep! That's how people lived then... They didn't know any better and I don't blaim them. It was a way of life back then... Don't really know why the treehugger retards don't get that.

[alderneyfred]

Re a request about details of the movie; the ship was the Ryelands; previously re-fitted as the Hispaniola for Treasure Island, ended up as a static display at Morecambe, burnt out in 1970 or so. The Charles W. Morgan was not used in this film. Most filming was in the Irish Sea, sailing out of Yourghal, County Cork. Apart from studio tank work, model and live, some of the last action sequences were shot in the Canaries - much warmer ! Try Googling G. Peck, Pequod, and Moby Dick for more info

[alderneyfred]

Some mixed comments down below;

You can't give 19thc characters 21stc ethics; at the time the work was well-paid, but hazardous; a good voyage for a skilled man could be highly profitable, in an era when life was short. Also there was an understanding that the earth's resources were given by God to Man, to be used for his benefit; a whale provided essential oils,for lighting, and lubrication, whalebone from baleenic whales was a prized pre-plastic material, etc.

[elainebmack]

@alderneyfred Good persective you've given here. I understand how easy it can be to apply today's ethics to yesterday. Perhaps too easy.

[superpurdywaffle]

Sooo they killed him?

[bhenzz]

this film is ahead of its time.

[alexp9999]

@BURYmeINyourBACKYARD i wish i could write to the makers of this film: Dear Movie Guys, could you have sprayed any more whale blood around the screen? this wasn't sufficiently emotionally scarring as a child. also, i loved the soundtrack playing during the whale killing scene--guys drowning and floundering in the sea amidst wreckage, a 200 billion ton whale spraying blood everywhere ala "Friday the 13th", and sweet, cheerful seafaring music in the background. good one >.>

[alexp9999]

geez., i don't think that Ahab guy supports "Save the Whales"! o.0

where are the guys from Whale Wars when you need em xD

[helstontvx]

thank fuck they stopped before they killed the entire global whale population

[yugandali]

oh, hey, it's you! Hultonclint, hello! I was looking for Lloyd's singing in Moby Dick. Thanks for posting this.

Yeah, I was wondering what Paddy Doyle was doing in there.

[Jefgg]

Who's Moby Dick's father?

Poppa Boner.

[aashley9099]

thanks for putting this up! im reading moby dick right now and i didnt fully understand the whaling scenes but now this explains it :)

[hultonclint]

@aashley9099 Great! There are a few other whaling scenes I put up from Moby Dick, if you search around. Also, there is some authentic whaling scenes in this video I made:

/watch?v=yVP8z1XDeNY

[bikebogotadotcom]

I am reading Moby Dick too, i wanted to watch the hunting! Thanks

[hultonclint]

@BURYmeINyourBACKYARD Yes. Not the actors, but Portuguese whalemen (who were whaling at that time anyway) were filmed killing some whales. Those scenes were spliced in, along with some fake (model) whale scenes.

If you want to see some more whaling on film, check out my video for "Reuben Ranzo":

/watch?v=yVP8z1XDeNY

[ernstbecker1]

@hultonclint A few of the scenes as per Gregory Peck were amde in the North Sea. The big rubber White Whale was hard to control in rough seas.

[alexp9999]

@ernstbecker1 strange but true fact, this whale and Bruce from "Jaws" are good friends...even after all these years, they still get together once in awhile to discuss the good old days before CGI, when movies had some actual quality to them. rubbery....breaky....quality..­.. =/

[jrwel14]

Actually, the whalers weren't big on useing shanties.

[hultonclint]

@jrwel14 There is lots of evidence of whaling ship crews using shanties. They even used a short drag or sing-out to extract the teeth of a whale. They even introduced shanties to the natives of Pacific islands. However, there is probably some imagined stuff being done in the *film* here, and there is no evidence that these particular shanties were used for these tasks.

[teilhaus]

Days of adventure.

[Dinoman217]

I think that Moby Dick was based off Mocha Dick, the white sperm whale of the Mocha islands of Chile! It was very aggressive, and like Moby Dick, it too was albino!

[hultonclint]

@Dinoman217 Yes, so they say. But I don't think it was quite "albino" -- just had a whitish patch on it head or something.

[Dinoman217]

@hultonclint Oh It was polar bear white all over! Type "white sperm whale" then go to google videos to find it!

[hultonclint]

@bilgerat313 I think you may be thinking about the film, "Down to the Sea in Ships," an earlier, silent film which used the Morgan. I have some clips from that here:

/watch?v=yVP8z1XDeNY

I don't think she was used in Moby-Dick though (but I could be wrong).

[2012harrypotterfan]

i think its sad and ignorant to kill those helpless whales fucking retards

[compactdisk2]

@2012harrypotterfan That's pretty easy to say living in the 21st century. I think it's sad and ignorant when people who have no knowledge of, or real interest in life in different eras make overarching generalizations about the morality of the people at that time. Yes, whaling is a cruel practice, but life was very different 150 years ago. People were doing what they could to survive, and much less was understood about the intelligence of whales.

[Dinoman217]

@2012harrypotterfan I strongly agree with you on that! However, their size made them dangerous to hunt back in the days, for it's been said that they were known to ram ships and send them to their shadow grave!

[LittleFunnyPerson]

boring. :/

[edwardianeccentric]

Does anyone know what Ship portrayed the Pequod in this film and whether it is still extant? Thanks!

[richardyingren]

I'm from Whitby and Whitby was famous for its whaling.

[hultonclint]

Nice! I think that was an even earlier era of whaling, especially -- the Greenland whaling for rights, versus this later, Pacific whaling for sperms.

[brewchugger]

i THOUGHT it looked pretty authentic (like i've ever been whaling)...this is really bad ass...imagine doing what those guys did...

[AltamontKiller]

lol wheres popeye

[gogole888]

i not say this for the comment post in this vid but please do not compare this wis the actual japanes hunt this is history actualy is a massacre !

[bikefixer]

Some of the whale shots here are tank miniatures, most notably at 2:23 and 2:32.

[helmuthoorn]

Remember the stories my grandfather told me about his father, who sailed to the Arctic Sea in the summer season on a Dutch whaler to do excactly the same thing as portrayed in this clip.They hunted walrusses too.

Special type of ship, the so called ''Walviskotter''. Two masted gaffel skooner, with rear mast far behind on the poop deck, to allow space for longboats, hoists and cooking pots; approx. 700-1000 tns..

Only 5 or 6 of this type were build between 1870-1910.

[hultonclint]

Great story, thanks for sharing that. In my next upload I will post more photos of "the last wooden whaling ship," the Charles W. Morgan. Stay tuned for pictures of that :)

[sillyg900]

It was from whaling that oil was obtained to fuel and lubercate machinery until ground oil was discovered.. several countries today still use the whale as a source of food,

[4freespeech]

Sperm whale oil was used in the first

automatic transmissions because of

its superior quality over crude oil.

[Dinoman217]

@4freespeech But whaling ended around the 1980's!

[TheBudman770]

...not to mention that you get to do it all over again after three days of shore leave and the money you save up immediately goes to to your wife who manages to pay off all the debts she's probably got by now. My god...they really were screwed over, weren't they? Anyway, my point is, I condone 19th century whaling. Eh, once they started to use a gun with a gigantic harpoon, it just got stupid. No longer were there any brave harpooners risking their lives for pittances.

[Mandolinpossum]

I agree with you entirely. In the early years they actually row near the thrashing fluke of the beast and hack away it's tendons to stop it from escaping. That took some guts. Exploding and poison harpoons, shoulder guns, and all that jazz ruined whaling. It was a necessary commodity back then, and I believe the so called "evils" employed to acquire it were equally necessary, and the men earned those kills. It was through courage and the strength of their backs, not some fancy gun and a winch.

[TheBudman770]

Ignoring the fact that it's killing and it's involving a 20 ton swimming cow, in all honesty I think whaling in the 19th century was somewhat romanticized. Here me out before you boo me: You're a dirt poor commoner who's looking for money. You sign your entire life away to sail on a large wooden vessel for six months in order to kill the largest mammal in the world with a stick for money that's probably less than minimum wage today, and everyone in town waves goodbye as you leave...

[ARepublicanVictory]

@TheBudman770 You would have done the same. Do not cry like some liberal loser about whaling when that was a way of life in many towns and cities along America's East and West coastlines. People like you make me sick.

[hultonclint]

@ARepublicanVictory Hey, tone it down a bit :) In fairness, I think you've mis-read his/her very dry humor/irony. No crying that I can see...

Now, there are some *other* commenters here that your reply might be more appropriate to!

[ARepublicanVictory]

@hultonclint The tone is justified. I read Moby Dick. I understand the whaling community. I hate ignorant people like that person who talks trash.

[HerrKryo]

@TheBudman770 damn hippies

[5275275275275]

that song!!! " Hill and gully rider " by Edric Connor is "amazing!!! but!!! can't find it anywere!!! but hear in this movie!!! one of the best ever!!! my favortie!!! been watching sents!! 1962!!!

[hultonclint]

Hi. If you'd like to hear another version of "Hill and Gully Rider," watch the video "Haul 'er Away (Sally Rackett)" that this is a video response to. There is a very brief clip of it at the beginning, and info in the comments about where to get the recording

[bikefixer]

Awesome is right. I now think the problem with the last battle with Moby Dick is we see TOO much of the white whale. The shot of the mysterious Moby breaching in the night is such an effective

shot that he's slightly diminished in the final scene. Of course, I've come to this opinion after seeing the film about a zillion times.

[bikefixer]

Actually, shots at 2:27 and 2:31 are tank miniature shots (not sure why). In his biography, "Huston, We Have A Problem, cameraman Oswald Morris goes into some detail about shooting the whaling scenes in MOBY DICK.

[hultonclint]

Yeah, that's what I meant about mixing in shots, tho I wasnt explicit in the description (I assumed people can tell themsleves). The "fake" whales/boats are not as obvious in this clip. The shots in the film of Moby Dick, however "fake" looking by some people's standards, are still awesome in my opinion. Thanks for the book reference; it would be interesting to read about sometime. Great, great film.

[dapoetmaster]

That's called a 'Nantucket Sleigh Ride'.

[FilmJunky42]

wow they love that shot of the whale breaching!

[MDthornton83]

I saw this film just a short time ago on the encore channel. And I have to say, this sure is one hell of a film. Of course I must say that those guys made one big mistake messing with the whale. They totally got owned!

[hultonclint]

It's a great adaptation of the book. I even liked the "fake" whale they used to represent Moby Dick-- awesome special effects for that time that looked better than today's computer animation.

[MDthornton83]

There was a book? Interesting. I didn't know about that until you told me.

[murphycline]

Yes, and the book was based on the Essex. Except the book leaves off at the point where the boat sinks, what happened after is much more interesting and horrific. Starvation and cannibalism...

[MDthornton83]

Wow.