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Pratt Peterson, Whale Harpoon Gunner

Pratt Peterson is shown here getting ready the harpoon that he fired to hunt whales for the Del Monte Fishing Co. at Point San Pablo in Richmond, California. Pratt worked as a harpoon gunner for 10 years. He found out about the moratorium to end whaling in 1971 when a crew from CBS Evening News with Walter Cronkite showed up and asked him and his coworkers what they were going to do now that the U.S. had declared a moratorium on whaling. Pratt quit the whaling business shortly after that but remained in Richmond where he worked at a chemical plant.

Image Source: Pratt Peterson

 

FYI- This photo is part of the America's Last Whaling Station - KQED QUEST Flickr Set.

Listen to the companion KQED-FM Radio piece on KQED QUEST and discuss it in the QUEST Science Blog.

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Uploaded on March 1, 2007
Taken on February 8, 2007