Origin of the Odor Stigma
Origin of the Odor Stigma** The narrator traces this odious stigma to the first arrival of Greenland whaling ships in London more than two centuries ago. Those whalemen did not—and still do not—try out their oil at sea as Southern ships always have. Instead, they cut fresh blubber into small bits, thrust it through bung holes of large casks, and carry it home unprocessed. The short Arctic season and sudden violent storms preclude other methods. Upon breaking into the hold and unloading one of these “whale cemeteries” in the Greenland dock, a savor emerges similar to excavating an old city graveyard for a Lying-in Hospital’s foundations.
Schmerenburgh Explained
Schmerenburgh Explained** The unfair charge against whalers may also derive from the former Dutch village on Greenland’s coast called Schmerenburgh or Smeerenberg, documented by the learned Fogo Von Slack in his great work on Smells. The name itself reveals the settlement’s purpose—“smeer” meaning fat and “berg” meaning to put up—founded specifically to allow the Dutch whale fleet’s blubber to be tried out on-site rather than transported to Holland. This collection of furnaces, fat-kettles, and oil sheds, when operating at full capacity, certainly produced no pleasant savor.
South Sea Whaling Practices
South Sea Whaling Practices** This context stands in stark contrast to South Sea Sperm Whalers. During a four-year voyage, such a vessel might spend only fifty days boiling out oil after completely filling its hold with oil. Properly casked, the oil is nearly scentless. The narrator emphasizes that living or dead, if decently treated, whales as a species are by no means creatures of ill odor. Whalemen cannot be identified by smell any more than people of the Middle Ages could detect a Jew by the nose.
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