The introduction of steam engines increased the speed and manoeuvrability of whaling vessels. The engines were fuelled with coal. This painting by Charles Raleigh shows the Mary and Helen. the first of the American steam whalers, built in Maine in 1879 at a cost of $65,000, including outfitting. Raleigh (1831-1925), an English-born painter, settled in the New England port of New Bedford and specialized in ships and maritime subjects. On its first whaling voyage to the Arctic the Mary and Helen returned home with a cargo worth $100,000. The ship was destroyed by fire just two years after it was built. The British had already introduced steam power to their whaling fleet during the 1860s.
Courtesy: The Whaling Museum, New Bedford, Massachusetts
