Twelfth-century Basque fishermen hunted northern right whales in the Bay of Biscay. The whales swam close enough to shore as they migrated every year for the fishermen to row out to them. This timid, slow swimming whale was easy for the Basques to hunt with spears from small boats. Northern rights float when dead and so could be towed into the shore without much difficulty. They earned their name of 'right whales' from whalers simply because they were the easiest and therefore the 'right' whales to hunt.
