The North Atlantic right whale (Eubalaena glacialis) is also called the "Biscay whale" or "Basque whale", due to the Basque fishermen who in the 15th century, in the Bay of Biscay, systematically attacked it when it was approaching the coast to breed. In Biarritz, Bidart, Guéthary or Saint-Jean-de-Luz, this whaling is developing, as it is beneficial for everyone. To catch cetaceans, scouts patrolled aboard a small boat called a txalupa (Basque boat). The owners of the txalupas, each of which generally carried six oarsmen and a harpooner, ordered their crew to row quickly, but discreetly, towards the cetaceans which were coming to the surface or which had fallen asleep.
The Basques chased it from the coast further and further out to sea because of its richness in oil and its long baleen. Thus treated, the slow right whale had almost entirely disappeared a century later, and paradoxically it only owed its survival to its rarity.

Acrylic paint and Posca on varnished teak wood