The construction of motor whale catcher vessels was consolidated between 1870 and 1914, a period called "first globalization" and/or "second industrial revolution", in Norwegian (exclusive suppliers until 1907) and the British (since 1910) shipyards. Chile is no stranger to the capitalist expansion associated with the hunting and processing of whales. In 1903, the first whaling experiments were developed in the far south of Chile, which led to the formation in 1905 of the first whaling society, the construction of the first modern land whaling station and the arrival of the first motorized whaler, built expressly for the Chilean company. It is the Almirante Montt, artefact-icon, "a wonderful machine", along with other whale catchers, will make the Sociedad Ballenera de Magallanes an economically relevant company in the global capitalist system. The Magellan whaling activities, product of the collaboration between the Chilean capital and the Norwegian technical knowledge, will extend for a decade, ending in 1914 with the advent of the First World War.
Quiroz, D. (2018). A wonderful machine. Capitalism, materialities and the whaling in the far south of Chile. Revista Chilena De Antropología, (37), 143–163. Retrieved from https://revistadeantropologia.uchile.cl/index.php/RCA/article/view/49488
