That's it.

In reading the book I am struck by the wanton destruction caused by these whale men. Of course it is wrong to apply our standards to their way of life but it is difficult not to. The book describes the whaling process and provisioning the ship. It is a bloody, smelly, horrid, destructive process as they rape the world in the name of profit and gain.

There are passages where the whalers realize the whales are becoming scarce but don't seem to connect that scarcity with their activities. they just acknowledge that they have to find another area where they can find and kill whales. They study the habits and habitat of the whales but only to learn where to find and kill them.

It is chilling to realize this is the same attitude that has driven business people down through the ages to our present time. Things haven't changed except that now there are people who push them to clean up their practices and become more conscious of what they are doing.