Introduction
Step into the streets of eighteenth- and nineteenth-century London, and you would have found yourself at the centre of a global trade in one of the most curious—and influential—materials of the age: whale baleen. Often misleadingly called whalebone, baleen shaped British fashion, industry and technology for centuries, touching almost every aspect of daily life.
London and the Whaling Trade
London’s association with whaling began in earnest in the early seventeenth century. The Muscovy Company, established in 1555, was among the first to send ships from the Thames to Arctic waters. By the end of the century, Greenland Dock in Rotherhithe—opened in 1699—had become the chief hub for returning whaling vessels. Ships unloaded barrels of oil and prized strips of baleen, which were quickly distributed to workshops and warehouses across the capital.
At its peak, the trade made London one of the busiest whaling centres in Europe, employing thousands in shipbuilding, processing, and manufacture. The material unloaded along the Thames would go on to define the look and feel of Georgian and Victorian Britain.
Baleen’s Many Uses
Baleen is a keratinous material—strong, lightweight and flexible—perfect for adaptation to human needs. London’s workshops transformed it into countless objects:
- Fashion: Corset makers in Covent Garden and the City relied on baleen for stays. Its combination of rigidity and flexibility allowed tailors to create garments that shaped the fashionable narrow waist. For nearly two centuries, no high-society wardrobe in Britain was without clothing reinforced by this material.
- Everyday items: Umbrellas, parasols, carriage springs and fishing rods incorporated baleen. A Londoner’s umbrella by the door, or the elegant rigs passing along the Strand, often owed their durability to the great whales of distant seas.
- Craft and ornament: Sailors and artisans carved baleen into decorative objects, scrimshaw, and household trinkets. Such pieces, many produced in dockside communities, survive in museum collections as reminders of a once-thriving craft.
Economic and Social Impact
The trade in baleen supported a wide web of workers. Processing blubber and baleen along the Thames was a familiar, if pungent, reality. Shops in Cheapside, and later Covent Garden, became centres for baleen cutters and dressmakers, transforming the raw strips into components for clothing and accessories.
The industry also fed into wider networks: chandlers, coopers, shipbuilders and merchants all found profit in whaling. The prosperity of London’s maritime economy was inextricably tied to the arrival of whale products at its docks.
Decline and Legacy
By the mid-nineteenth century, technological innovation brought change. Steel stays replaced baleen in corsetry, while plastics gradually overtook its many industrial uses. London’s last whaling voyage set out in 1859, marking the end of an era.
Yet the legacy remains. Occasionally, the remains of whales still surface along the Thames foreshore, silent reminders of a time when these creatures were integral to the capital’s prosperity and style. In museums and archives, London preserves not only the products of baleen but also the stories of the people who traded, worked and lived by it.
From the glitter of London’s drawing rooms to the ingenuity of its street trades, baleen—harvested from the great whales—played a vital role in shaping the city. It is a history of global reach, industrial adaptation and social transformation, woven into the fabric of London life.
Listen to Episode 138: Dockside Gold: How Whales Transformed London on the London History Podcast to discover more about this fascinating chapter in the capital’s past.
References:
Re-examining Britain’s role in whaling
Shoemaker, Nancy. “Oil, Spermaceti, Ambergris, and Teeth: Products of the Nineteenth-Century Pacific Sperm-Whaling Industry.” RCC Perspectives, no. 5, 2019, pp. 17–22. JSTOR, https://www.jstor.org/stable/26850617. Accessed 28 Aug. 2025.
James Colnett, A Voyage to the South Atlantic and Round Cape Horn into the Pacific Ocean, for the Purpose of Extending the Spermaceti Whale Fisheries, and Other Objects of Commerce (London: W. Bennett, 1798), 80–81.
Hacquebord, L. (2001). Three Centuries of Whaling and Walrus Hunting in Svalbard and its Impact on the Arctic Ecosystem. Environment and History, 7(2), 169–185.
