Object Number: 2012.7
Until the end of the 19th Century the most common uses for whale oil were lamp oil and machine lubricant. However, in the final decades of the 1800s production of whale oil slumped. In the northern hemisphere, whales had been overexploited and lamp oil was beginning to be made from cheaper petroleum derivatives such as kerocene.
As a result of this over exploitation in the north, whaling expanded into the southern hemisphere with the pioneering whaling station at Grytviken, founded in 1904 by Carl Anton Larsen. Whale oil had remained in use as lubrication so there was still a demand for the product. It was essential for ‘batching’ jute fibres, a treatment which allowed jute to be woven mechanically. Jute was a long, natural fibre, second to cotton and had many uses in the 19th century. The move to southern waters coincided with the development of the hydrogenation process. This process could turn liquid whale oil into a solid fat, as well as eliminating its fishy odour. With this development whale oil became a more versatile raw material and therefore more valuable.
A worldwide shortage of vegetable oils in the early 1900s, made worse by the First World War, meant whale oil was widely adopted to produce soap and margarine. The South Georgia Museum has a number of soaps that were produced using whale oil as a main ingredient.
This is an example of a domestic soap made using whale oil. Guerlain produced sapoceti soap in 1828 and was marketed as a rich soap. Made using whale blubber it was said to cleanse the body but also to whiten the skin. Guerlain registered this as a trademark in 1926 and again in 1967. The trademark finally expired in 1987 and this product is no longer produced.
Soap has been produced for many centuries and over that long period of time the method of production changed very little.
Industrially scale manufactured soaps became more available as advertising campaigns in Europe and America promoted popular awareness of the relationship between cleanliness and health. Sunlight soap was a huge influence and considered to be one of the first internationally successful advertising campaigns. An example of a cleaning product being produced as a consumer commodity. Sunlight soap, produced by Unilever, was also made with whale oil.