The Bones of Basque Whalers

Canadian archaeologists have found the skeletons of more than 100 European men buried in Labrador's Red Bay in the decades around AD 1600. They say the bones are the remains of Basque whalers, who came to Labrador hunting right and bowhead whales.

Whaling was a dangerous business. At this one whaling station, more than 100 men were buried who never made it back home. Surely that is more than one a year for the duration of this whale fishery, and even more must have been lost at sea.