Depiction of a whale fishery attacking a sperm whale . and vapor pressure to be easily stored and then burn cleanly and brightly in the lamps .
The kerosene-from-crude-oil process was wasteful ; only a fraction of the crude was extracted and used . It was pumped from these shallow wells at little cost , however . Compared to whaling it was much lower in cost : no long sailing voyages requiring years of provisions . In fact , it was almost immediately cost competitive with camphene .
Kerosene was destined to prevail , but subsequent events have clouded the vision of the theorists and led them astray .
Whale populations may have been somewhat dented by the brisk trade in whale oils during the first half of the 19th century , but the data on this point is cloudy at best . What is clear is that the pursuit of whales went from expensive in the 1850s to pointless by the mid-1860s , when the whalers and their financial backers were confronted by this new highquality , low-cost competitor .
Melville ’ s intrepid whalers were doomed . Even had the Pequod survived its encounter with the great white whale Moby Dick , Captain Ahab , first mate Starbuck , harpooners Queequeg , Daggoo , Fedallah and Tashtego — those conquerors of the oceans and subjugators of the world ’ s largest creatures — would have been impotent against the commercial power of “ black gold .”
Camphene was cost-competitive with kerosene until the Civil War . The Union ’ s need for money to finance the war led the federal government to pass the Revenue Act of 1862 , which placed a tax on liquor
34 FINANCIAL HISTORY | Winter 2021 | www . MoAF . org