Fuel Ghoul

Mashable Names Doggy Datez A Top Ten Dog App

Mashable's top ten list of must-have mobile apps for dog owners includes Doggy Datez! 

Web saavy researchers at Mashable have scoured through the app store and polled their Twitter friends to create a list of the most indispensible mobile apps for dog owners.  And it's no surprise their Top Ten Must-Have Apps for Dogs Owners article includes a familiar program put on the market by Transparent Inc app development company in Toronto. Here's a quick description of each one:

1. Tagg – is a GPS attachment for your dog's real collar that tracks your dog's activity and sends you a message if it goes beyond the boundaries you’ve set. This could be real handy for someone in the country with a lot of wide open area or even someone in the city with an easy to jump backyard fence.

2. Doggy Datez - A mobile social dog app for dog owners with the main idea being that you can "mark your territory", and see who else visits your neighbourhood. This is very handy for getting social with other dog owners so you can walk and talk and coordinate your adventures. With Doggy Datez you can search for users by gender, age, dog gender, dog age and/or dog breed, play and compete to make it to our TopDogs list, share your content, and much more! You never had this much fun walking your dog!

3. iCam - Lets you see what your dog is up to in real-time. But it iCam watches more than your dogs as Terry White reports, "Anytime you start talking about sending live video and there is a server involved the issue of privacy comes up. Where exactly is that video feed going besides your iPhone. According to the iCam website this is peer-to-peer technology and no information is being sent back to them."

4. Petoxins - This app from the ASPCA has a comprehensive list of plants poisonous to your dog.

5. Pet First Aid - Detailed videos and illustrations for specialized health treatment if animals including propers restraints, proper muzzling techniques, dog CPR, effective bandaging techniques and more.This is probably the most geniunely useful app that could indeed speed healing and prevent further injury esp psycological maladies suffered during periods of convalesence

6. MapMyDogWalk - This simple little app lets users log their walks, track their calories and map out their favorite routes using GPS.

7. Pet Phone - Lets users track items like vet appointments, medications, allergies, nutrient feed and preferences of dogs

8. Pet Minder Pro - Helps users keep track of their dog's needs and activities so there's no danger of neglect. The software doesnt soon forget when owner last gave dog its food, medicine or exercise including 'play dates'.

9. Petside Dog Breeds - Helps users differentiate between various common dog breeds and gives basic information about each breed of dog. This is good for know-it-alls and people who need an introduction trivia text to be an ice breaker or a memory maker.

10. Weather Puppy - The app diplays over one hundred different pictures of dogs depending on the time and weather, and you can even add a picture of your own dog. Dog lovers, this app needs to be explored!

Which ones do you have?

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Top Five Most Creative Neighbourhoods in Toronto

Toronto's Top Five Most Creative Neighbourhoods by Robert Campbell

Have you ever wondered where Toronto's most creative neighbourhoods are? And why they are located where they are?

Introducing the Martin Prosperity Institute

The Martin Prosperity Institute at the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management is the world’s leading think-tank on the role of sub-national factors-location, place and city regions—in global economic prosperity. The group just hosted a fantastic conference on Feb 11th Experience the Creative Economy which brought urbanists and future city planners form all over the world to absorb notions of the ‘creative economy’ in a small and focused setting. Of particular focus is the study of innovation ecosystems that produce creative breakthroughs. One motif at this year's conference was the idea of stimulating the occurrence of artist communities in the buffer zones of municipal land designations and the New Potential of High Flux Areas where commercial meets residential planning attracted lots of attention.

Everyone is obsessed with the question of how to instigate a high tech commercial area? Such new age businesses are highly coveted for having zero emissions, and relatively green workplaces that can exist beside and even raise existing real estate values. The challenge is to create places wherein a creative economy attracts artists who exist to perpetuate other creative industries. The art of making artists’ habitats is to have rich and poor art practitioners working side by side; in a perfect world, professional advertising agency executives and TV company executives sponsor the more financially challenged artists that also exist and contribute to the creative economy of the neighbourhood.

What is a creative economy?

In its broadest definition, the creative economy is the business around creative industries and thus refers to a wide range of economic activities that are “concerned with the generation or exploitation of knowledge and information" John Howkins is one of the world’s foremost researchers on creativity and Chairman of the John Howkins Research Centre. In his 2002 book the Creative Economy, he lists the various creative industries as advertising, architecture, fine art, crafts, design, fashion, film, music, performing arts, publishing, R&D, software, toys and games, TV and radio, and video games. Some scholars consider that education is also a creative industry, including public schools and private tutoring services.

Liberty Village at King and Dufferin St

Some of Toronto's leading creative thinkers and companies in the high tech, arts, design, entertainment and media businesses are located in Liberty Village. Companies here range in size from large corporations to sole proprietorships. Creativity is abundant and visible in community projects everywhere you look. A variety of artists comprising a wide spectrum of Canada’s creative economy can be found in Liberty Village including digital artists, fashion designers, and home furnishing designers, media composers and directors, and advertising industries of all descriptions, and print shops big and small. There is definitely a synergy here and it can be felt in the common areas of the monstrous Mowat bldg and the courtyard at 53 Fraser and in the coffee shops and cafes that are thriving on most of the area’s street corners.

The Distillery District

The Distillery Historic District is a perfect case study in how to grow a ‘creative economy’ in Toronto. Major props to Artscape and other programs that let artists acquire space and audiences based on the merits of their work and not the money in their pocket. This neighborhood success always attracts the secondary art practitioners like video game developers, advertising agencies, and television production companies. The Distillery District is a National Historic Site, and has been designated for protection under the Ontario Heritage Act since 1976. A content marketing organization, Jib Strategic advertising agency is profiled in a recent article about the merits of Situating A Creative Agency in an Artist Community. The Distillery District is an excellent example of successful brown field regeneration. The restoration copmpanies used state of the techniques and materials to redevelop the underutilized industrial land. During the regeneration, old buildings were refitted with whatever they needed to be more viable to the new landlord's needs. For example, the original Tank House buildings were saved, and were transformed into the Yonge Center of Performing Arts, while the Boiler House became a steak restaurant.

King West Corridor

In recent years there has been a proliferation of chic restaurants, clubs and galleries that have really called attention to the maturation of King St culture. Sophisticated dance clubs such as Cobra, Brant House, Susur, Senses Bar and Restaurant, Thuet Cuisine, Lux, Old Yorke Pub and Grill, the Navarro Gallery have come to this part of Toronto because its got jazz. er. Well its got something cool, and that is what the artists found here in the 1970s and what started in the seedy shops closest to the smelly meat abattoir on Niagara st. Now the section of King St Between Spadina and University has achieved penultimate heights and hosts the Toronto International Film Festival; residents reap as their reward everything satisfying that stems from randomly sighting Hollywood movie stars on the sidewalk. King Street W also has other notable cultural attractions such as the Rogers Centre, Roy Thomson Hall and Canada's Walk of Fame which runs along King Street from John St to Simcoe St and is a tribute to Canadians who have gained fame in the fields of music, literature, journalism, dance, sports, acting, entertainment and broadcasting.

John Street north of Queen, The Grange

John Street is a pretty hip thoroughfare from start to finish, but north of Queen St the pavement narrows to two lanes and pedestrians rule the quad. There's a couple of ultra hip cosmetics stores here and lots of ad agencies - four of them by my count but maybe more. The northernmost section of the street is lined with old bldgs dating from middle of the 20th century. 147 John St has a bicycle co-op run sales and service shop on the ground floor of what was once an umbrella factory. John St reaches its northern terminus at Grange Park, which gives its name to the Grange Park neighbourhood. A path through the park follows the Axis of John Street, leading to The Grange, an historic manor. The manor is now attached to the Art Gallery of Ontario and OCAD University is also adjacent to the park.

The Rising Leslieville Art Scene

Leslieville once sheltered factory workers, back when there were still factories in Toronto, and the departure of both the factories and their workers has greatly changed the area. The reduction in air pollution and fumes have made it much more appealing to members of the middle and creative class. Leslieville is a neighbourhood which gentrified rapidly between 2000 and 2010 when it was commonly referred to as an up-and-coming neighbourhood, with new restaurants, shops and cafés catering to its new populace popping up. Despite the average house costing well over half a million dollars, the area still has a largely working-class sensibility. In some of the former industrial areas large film studios have opened, including Cinevillage and Showline Studios. Just to the south, in the Port Lands area, the massive new Pinewood Toronto Studios have been built and will ensure that Toronto stays relevant as a center for film and television production in North America.Could Downsview Airforce Base be next? There has been lots of speculation over the years that public or private investment might turn the CFB Downsview air force base into the biggest independent art and artists' commune in Canada, and in consequence the entire area north of the Allen expressway terminus might suddenly be transformed into the nation's largest cultural enclave. The already is already a popular destination for movie shoots and outdoor rock concerts. Its close to York University and the empty aircraft hangers and administration buildings here could someday be used to help give expression to the arts production and Canada's most talented young artists.

Jib advertising agency in #DistilleryDistrict in Toronto specializes in branding and website development, and content marketing using original images and text. This is a historic photo showing industrial alcohol production during Prohibition Era 1930s in Canada.

Alfredo Malanca Details Plan Nord in the Province of Quebec

Unveiled in May 2011, Québec premier Jean Charest called Plan Nord “the project of a generation”, and its no secret that he fixed his hopes of re election to its success. Plan Nord is the centerpiece of Charest's political legacy, such as it is, now that he has been defeated at the polls, in no small measure by thousands of university students protesting tuition hikes.

The 'Northern Plan' is a twenty five year, $88 billion dollar scheme for developing the economic and social future of a region rich in natural resources.

Northern Quebec comprises the 72% of the province which lies north of the 49th parallel. It’s home to 120,000 people, including 33,000 indigenous people living within four Aboriginal nations. Mining, energy production, and logging are the three main industries which the government is seeking to develop in Northern Quebec.

Alfredo Malanca describes Plan Nord as a forward looking stimulus to foster over C$80 billion in energy, mining, and forestry investments and create or consolidate 20,000 jobs a year, for twenty five years. 

According to Malanca, when it was first announced, Plan Nord received the full support of the mining industry, the Crees and Inuit representatives were also onboard, but Innus and most environmentalists were not thrilled to see the plans or any development of the 'natural resources extraction sector' in the part of Quebec north of the 49th parallel.

Plan Nord is, more than anything else, a giant appeal for corporate investment. It has been on the drawing board since the previous Quebec election. There are no guarantees that it will work.

Other highlights of the project include,
•    3,500 megawatts of renewable energy: 3,000MW of hydroelectricity, 300MW of wind power; 200MW from underwater generators.
•    11 new mining projects and more than $8.24 billion in private mining investment.
•    The network of protected areas will be completed by 2015 to encompass 12 percent of the territory that the Plan Nord covers. New provincial parks will be constructed.
•    Hydro-Québec will also contribute $10 million a year to fund social projects.
•    Facilitate the development of agricultural production, processing and distribution of food in order to offer local supplies. Develop a diversified, much sought-after bio-food industry (blueberries, cloudberries, northern marine species, etc.)
•    Build 840 new housing units will be built in Nunavik, including 300 public housing units, and renovate 482 by 2014.
•    Develop access and transportation and communications infrastructure.

INVESTING
The provincial government has been using a few different mechanisms to encourage international companies to invest in Quebec. They have charged Investissement Québec to promote Plan Nord in its foreign investment prospecting activities in the US, China and Japan and Europe.

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Finding a Dentist on the Web is at the Heart of Local Search

The race to make a better mousetrap has nothing on the quest to make a better local search engine. Find me a dentist is an article by Rob Campbell that appears on Dr. Natalie Archer's Family Dental Care website and explores the notion that the quest to find a local dentist is a 'bleeding edge' in the technology necessary to fashion an effective local search service.

Facebook and Google+ and other social networking websites are changing the landscape and now enjoying a growing percentage of the local search market as people trust their friends. The sites have gotten really good at polling friends too and letting influencers convince followers to give their professionals a first try.

The fastest growing dental location services are building their own databases by scraping information from some unusual sources. The benchmark is Google, which has set the bar quite high in terms of delivering useful information for local search queries.

Local search directories like Yelp, Gigpark, and Localfaves.com also index dentists with reasonably good results. Yelp is particularly good because it lets members rate the services and more real people use Yelp than SEO practitioners useGoogle plus.

The five dentist discovery services outlined in this article use different data acquisition schemes to give users accurate local choices.  Each of the web services mentioned here has to believe, deep down in their databases, that they can provide better search results than Google for users seeking local dentists.

YourOralHealth.ca is the consumer facing portal maintained by the Ontario Dental Association and filled with information to help folks keep their teeth healthy. The writers here have composed interesting articles on nutrition, cosmetic dentistry, fluoride and water fluoridation, and even how to choose the right toothbrush. The website's first order of business, the first button in the navigation menu is Find a Dentist; the service is set up to help users find local practitioners using the ODA's comprehensive database of Ontario dentists.

Smile Canada pledges to serve up better results than Google by offering users a more customizable experience so they can best use the tool to find the perfect dental practitioner who most perfectly meets their needs. Their site is particularly geared to provide users with an in-depth understanding of many different treatments and procedures that are available in Canada.  They have a separate section dedicated to kids’ dentistry where kids can play games and learn healthy dental habits.

Dentistfind.com is a website that puts the local search right map up front is makes it impossible for the user to ignore - its made for mobile phones. Users are encouraged to drag that little pink man around the map and watch all of the nearby dentists appear.  The blue pins that pop up correspond to the business card blurbs that appear in the left hand sidebar; each info card details a nearby dentist.

Dental Referral is free. There’s no charge, no obligation and no hassles associated with finding a dentist through this user generated media service.  Dental Referral is all about collecting and dispensing personal references and as such it has set out to be the number one trusted online directory specifically for consumers to find dentists in their area. The website boasts that they provide more information than simply giving the name and phone number of a local dentist.”  By accessing the online database users will receive comprehensive background information on registered dentists including years in practice, education, their current licenses, and whatever specialties they practice at their dental offices.

The original article on Dr. Archer's website also outline the part that Canpages is playing and how they have differentiated themselves to try and bring some exclusivity to the local search services.  The problem is that Google is just so good and for the most part, so far, hasn't dropped a stitch.

Red Bull Crashed Ice Makes Alien Winter Environment in Niagara Falls

Imagine if the world's largest waterfalls (by volume) was to suddenly freeze over and you could skate down it? The three different Niagara Falls (Horseshoe Falls, American Falls and Bridal Veil Falls) are renowned both for their beauty and as a valuable source of hydroelectric power. Managing the balance between recreational, commercial, and industrial use of the waterfalls has been a challenge since the late 18th century. The town is are going to need all of their hydro come December 1st to keep a 500m long stretch of ice frozen solid for sixty or so players to race down to a finish line... and a world championship. 

Red Bull Crashed Ice, otherwise known as Ice Cross Downhill is where you skate downhill and in an urban environment. Not only has Red Bull sponsored the event, but they helped create it and raise it up to enjoy popularlity it has today. The sport which is one part hockey, the other snowboard cross has four racers dressed in protective pads racing down a long track on skates!

Hockey players love this sport and there is a good discussions about Crashed Ice on Highschool hockey forum and Crashed Ice in Niagara Falls is discussed on NHL hockey forum because they have nothing else to rant about except the strike. Majiuana smokers like watching the event too and this thread about Crashed Ice in Niagara Falls on Grass City Forums is remarkably busy.

The biggest cost for such an event is the construction of the course itself, but in a way it is a chance for those hockey players who had their hockey dreams unfulfilled to use their skills for something totally unique. Read more about Crashed Ice on this Niagara Falls blog.

One of the most intense contact sports in the world, crashed ice is where hockey skate clad athletes race down an ice track with twists, turns and obstacles, battling eachother to see who can reach the finish line first - Niagara Falls blog

Red Bull has created its own sport! In a recent article in the NY Times wrote about Red Bull’s Headlong Frozen Dash Is a Crash Course in Marketing, and Rick Dudley, president and chief executive of Octagon Sports Marketing is quoted as saying, “I’m not aware of another brand that has created its own sport... Red Bull has taken it a step further. They are taking it to the next evolution by taking over ownership.” This year the tour kicks off in Niagara Falls just about a quarter mile from the actual waterfalls. The competitors standing at the START LINE will have the very best view, and I'm sure it will add to their emotional charge ... Some might wonder if its their last view? The icy course on the south side of Clifton Hill is approximately 500 meters long as it winds its way along Majestic Blvd. The photo below is from 2008 when fans had unprecedented access to the competitors - they could literally reach out and touch players as they sped past. That level of access is rare in professional sports, and perhaps a bit too extreme... This is a free event! On Saturday December 1st 2012 there will be over 80,000 people in attendance. Will you be one of them?

Umer Farooq, Super Magnet is Pure Gold for Green Energy

You have to respect the hard working people in Pakistan for constantly surprising the world with ingenious new inventions. They are particularly strong in electrical engineering.  One inventor Umer Farooq, the author of ‘Limitlessness’, now claims to have invented a super efficient permanent magnet which, if scientifically explored could tranform electrical engineering and seriously boost the green energy revolution. Indeed it would help all mankind the world over by lowering energy consumption in almost all new electrical motors. 

Umer Farooq is no dummy. He received a B.E in Electrical Engineering from University of Engineering and Technology Lahore, Pakistan in 2004, the M.Sc degree from Université de Nice Sophia Antipolis, France in 2007. He completed his PhD from System on Chip (SoC) department of Laboratoire d'Informatique de Paris6 (LIP6), Université Pierre et Marie Curie (UPMC), Paris France in july 2011. During his PhD, he worked on the exploration and optimization of application specific heterogeneous tree-based FPGA Architectures.

Mr Farooq is now gaining world attention with his claims... but are they true? Has he indeed come up with a breakthrough in the form of a highly efficient new magnet?  One that is designed especially for electric motors? And one which Farooq claims, can do a lot of work with a much lower consumption of energy because of a new type of magnetic interaction?

A new type of magnetic interaction?

According to Farooq, modern electric motors use about ten horsepower worth of electric energy for yield a mechanical output of about nine horsepower worth of work, while electric motors built with his new super efficient permanent magnet will need only five horsepower input of electricity, while the mechanical output of this motors will remain nine horsepower. This is a bold claim in our energy based economy - this could really help Pakistan and the entire world.

Dr. Muhammad Kamran has also handled responsibility evaluating Laboratories in other universities. He is supervising 4 PhD students working on advanced compression techniques and interharmonics evaluation. He says the magnet shows a lot of promise in early testing but more experimentation is required to prove the merets of this magnetic innovation.

Dr. Muhammad Kamran joined University of Engineering and Technology, Lahore in February 1994 as Lecturer. After getting PhD in July 2007 from Beijing Institute of Technology, Beijing, China, he is appointed as Professor and Chairman of Electrical Engineering Department, UET, Lahore, KSK Campus. Dr. Kamran taught course at undergraduate and graduate levels of the curriculum in Electrical Power and Computer Engineering.

ORIGINAL VIDEO SHOWS IT WORKING

Talking about the newly developed magnet, Farooq said that the breakthrough uses super efficient magnetic interaction. ‘It provides far more repulsion force than ordinary permanent magnet,’ he observed. ‘In totality, that is why it provides more than 100 per cent additional mechanical output force than that of the electromagnet,’ he added.

Super magnets are used in engines and many other devices. All applications where permanent magnet motors are used would be affected by this invention, including elevators, electrical scooters, air crafts, hobby crafts, textiles, CNC machines, industrial power tools, printers, etc.

Vancouver Gold Buyer uses super strong magnet to assay gold jewelry

Gold buyers use magnets to determine the quality of the metal being offered for purchase. Magnets are part of the advanced assaying process detailed. Vancouver gold buyer with super strong magnet writes on his website, ...the first thing we do is sort out items that are clearly not gold or silver. To do this we use a super strong Earth Magnet. This is not a refrigerator magnet, but an incredibly powerful permanent magnet made from alloys of rare earth elements. The reason we use this is because gold and silver are not magnetic. This helps us quickly sort out some imposters...

 

Bill Watson Remote Controlled Helicopter Cameraman

The Fuel Ghoul has a friend named Bill Watson who goes by the nickname ve3bnw, and who runs RC Perspective, a remote controlled helicopter camera / aerial video company in the Hamilton / Niagara region of Ontario.

Bill will take pictures (or videos) of your house or business from the air, and he offers clients a fresh 'remote controlled' aeriel perspective on their property.

Recently Bill Watson drove out to Whitby Ontario and did some work for a solar power company specializing in the Ontario MicroFit program, putting solar panels on environmentally friendly peoples' homes. The property seen below was recently featured in a local green investing TV show. Bill's footage to be used behind a voice track of Calum Ross Toronto mortgage broker detailing exactly how participating in the Ontario MicroFit program and adding solar panels to your investment property can improve resale prices. Homeowners should be aware, this is something they can do to dramatically heighten the value and interest of property buyers without a lot of time and money and mess and inconvienence. Modern solar panels are lightweight and durable and you can add them the roofs of new and old houses - consider this another option in your list of possible ideas for value added improvements. They look great too, and even better when photographed from above!

The house looks spectacular as solar panels are very in suburbia now.

Bill's helicopter is also electric. This sophisticated camera platform is possible today because of the battery powered motor capable of producing 2 HP , flight time of 6 mins. and capable of lifting gross weight of 14 lbs.  Bill works the remote controls of the helicopter, while his wife Debbie operates the pan and tilt and zoom and focus on the remote controlled camera mounted on the underside of the vehicle. It also has a video down link so the pair can see exactly what the camera sees.

And the video is majestic - this is how you show a potential investor what he's getting when he buys into the program. Yes there's a certain amount of prestige that comes with being the greenest house on the block, and this video captures that magnificence as it soars over solar install.

Untitled from Willyflyboy on Vimeo.

Its good to back here on Fuel Ghoul. Please comment of you remember my blog from three years ago and are surprised or delighted to see me back here writing content again.

Back on Fuel Ghoul, Three Years Later

Roberrific the 'drunkenmoose' in the Fuel Ghoul url is back on Typepad.com

I think. I just got a new c r e d i t c a r d and planked it down here.

This post is a drunken Christmas Eve test to see if everything is tickety-boo here...

It work s it works

Well now I m going to have a great time in 2012 telling you all the things I've been doing and thinking and saying and writing on the subject of alternative fuels. A lot has changed since I was writing here last in 2007. It was torture watching the site stats drop and the SPAM accrue...  But now I'm back.

The Fuel Ghoul is back in the house again in 2012.

 

History of the American Whale Oil Industry

Humans have been hunting whales for thousands of years. Archaeological evidence from Ulsan in South Korea suggests that drogues, harpoons and lines attached to boats and flotsam, were being used to kill small whales as early as 6000BC. Petroglyphs and carved rocks unearthed by researchers at the Museum of Kyungpook National University show Sperm Whales, Humpback Whales and North Pacific Right Whales surrounded by small boats filled with courageous people. Similarly-aged cetacean bones were also found in the area, reflecting the importance of whale meat in the diet of their coastal peoples.

 
Also called train oil, the words ‘whale oil’ have come to mean any oil derived from any species of whale, including sperm oil from sperm whales, train oil from baleen whales, and melon oil from small toothed whales. The Americans have hunted whales for over three hundred years – some of today’s largest and most successful energy firms trafficked in whale oil in the late 1800’s. Research Paragon Oil.

 
The towns of Long Island are believed to have been the first to establish a whale fishery along the shores of New England sometime around 1650. Nantucket joined the trade in 1690 when they welcomed Ichabod Padduck from England to instruct colonists in the methods of whaling. The south side of the island had wooden towers erected from which men could stand and survey the ocean – they would use lenses to look for the spouts of right whales. When they spotted such spouts they would sound a signal and small wooden boats filled with eager sailors would row against the surf toward powerful prey. If the whale was successfully harpooned and lanced to death, it was towed ashore, flensed (the blubber is removed), and the oily flesh boiled in cauldrons known as "trypots." Even when Nantucket sent out vessels to fish for whales offshore, they would still come to the shore to boil the blubber – American whalers did this well into the 18th century.

 
In 1715, Nantucket had six sloops engaged in the whale fishery, and by 1730 it had twenty-five vessels of 38 to 50 tons employed in the trade. Each vessel employed twelve to thirteen men, half of them being Native Americans. At times the whole crew, with the exception of the captain, could be natives. Most Captains operated two whaleboats, one often held in reserve should the other be damaged by an angry whale.

 
The Revolutionary War brought the Yankee whale oil industry to a complete standstill in 1778, and it wasn’t until after the War of 1812 that the industry regained its former importance and New England registers listed more than two hundred vessels.

In 1820, the American whaler Maro, with Captain Joseph Allen in command fished off of the coast of Japan and enjoyed much success. The previous year the first Yankee whale ships had visited the Sandwich (Hawaiian) Islands, and subsequently these island's ports were used as places to obtained fresh fruits, vegetables, and men. Dry docks built here were used to repair damages sustained to whaling ships and the success of Hawaii today was founded in the whale oil industry yesterday.

There are records from Sydney Australia harbor master that give the size and description of various whaling ships from 1834. That was the year that the indigenous people of New Zealand raided the 'Whaling Stations' build on a nearby islands. Here in Sydney is an American vessel from New Bedford named the Juno and her 'hold full to capacity with nearly 1000 barrels of oil procured from her whale hunt along the New Zealand coast'.

In 1846, the total American whale oil industry numbered seven hundred and thirty five ships and 70,000 people. By the 1840's, the whale oil refining or flensing was done right inside the ships, which became more industrialized. Bright honey yellow to brown oil was rendered from the mammals’ fatty tissue on the upper-most deck of the boat and barreled below. This precious commodity would be stored in wooden casks until the cargo hold was full, at which point the whaler would turn around and head for home. Some voyages lasted over three years.

 
From 1820 to 1855 this combustible animal oil product was bottled and sold at a good profit in Boston and New York markets; demand increased as the world’s whale population was steadily reduced. Thomas Welcome Roys, in the Sag Harbor bark Superior, sailed through the Bering Strait in late July 1848 and discovered an abundance of "new fangled monsters," which were later to be known as bowheads. Bowheads are large, blue-black whales.  They form white blotches on the lower jaw as they get older.  Males can measure up to 20 m in length and weigh up to 70 tonnes. Their name comes from their upper jaw, which is curved upward like a bow. Whalers called bowheads “right” whales because they were slow and they floated when killed, making them the “right” whales to hunt. 

 

Bowhead whales were prized catches because they yielded a large amount of blubber, sometimes more than 35 tonnes, and large baleen plates, which could measure up to 4m.  In the 19th century, baleen was much sought after because it had many of the same uses that plastic does today. In 1849, the following season, fifty whalers (forty-six Yankee, two German, and two French vessels) sailed to the Bering Strait region on the word of Thomas Roy and the obvious success of his single ship.

The peak period, in terms of number of vessels and whales killed, was reached in 1852, when 220 ships killed 2,682 bowheads. Catches declined, and the fleet shifted to the Sea of

Okhotsk for the 1855-57 seasons, and once that area began to decline, they returned to the Bering Strait region.

During the winter, some of these same vessels would make their way to the lagoons of Baja California. The peak began in 1855, commencing the period of lagoon whaling known as the "bonanza period," when whaleboats were crisscrossing through the lagoons, being pulled by engaged whales, passing by calves that had lost their mothers and other ship's crews hunting whales. Less than twenty years later, in 1874, the lagoon fishery was abandoned entirely, due to several years of poor catches.

Several American ships were lost during the 1860s and 1870s. During the Civil War (1861-1865) Confederate raiders such as the Shenandoah, Alabama, and Florida captured or burned forty-six ships, while the United States purchased forty of the fleet's oldest hulls. known as the Stone Fleet, to sink in Charleston and Savannah harbors in a failed attempt to blockade those ports. In 1871, thirty-two of the forty whalers comprising the Arctic fleet were lost near Point Belcher and Wainwright Inlet, while another twelve ships were damaged.

Stop commercial whaling because Fuel Ghoul loves whales.

If you love whales and want to stop commercial whaling, visit the Care2 site and sign this petition.