4 ms·
The article's price of £10/bbl for whale oil in 1730 would be £2,165 or $2,952 today. WTI crude (rock oil) was trading at $53/bbl today. 40-50 bbl could be
by opwieurposiu 6y ago
The article's price of £10/bbl for whale oil in 1730 would be £2,165 or $2,952 today. WTI crude (rock oil) was trading at $53/bbl today. 40-50 bbl could be squeezed out of a good sized whale, making them worth $118k+ each.
Some more concrete numbers are here, not quite as profitable by the 1830s. Multiply by 29 for inflation.
https://research.mysticseaport.org/info/ib69-3/ https://research.mysticseaport.org/info/ib69-3/
- neaden 6y agoI would note that trying to do inflation across these time period is tricky. An agricultural worker in England at this time would have made only about 18 pounds per year.