This picture was taken at New Bedford, Massachusetts in 1880, towards the end of the whaling era. Oil was rendered from whale blubber and had been used for lamp oil and light lubrication for centuries. Petroleum had been discovered in the 1850s and was being refined into various products including lamp oil, making the obviously risky and labour-intensive whale oil industry obsolete.
Here we see barrels of whale oil on the dock awaiting pickup, with the whaling ship drying its sails in the background.
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