Facing Changes, Changing Targets: Sperm-Whale Hunting in Late Eighteenth-Century Brazil

On 22 September 1773, the Leviathan, a whaling vessel from Newport, Rhode Island, entered the port of Rio de Janeiro in Brazil. The Leviathan was captained by Thomas Lothrop and had been chasing sperm whales (Physeter macrocephalus) in the Atlantic since January that year. By September the ship had lost one of its whaling boats and was short on provisions, so was forced to land in Rio to resupply. This accidental landing would give rise to a whole new whaling industry in Brazil.