click to enlarge
The introduction of the harpoon gun launched whaling into the 20th century and gave rise to a variety of technologies that were revised or invented with the sole purpose of destroying whales. Early in the 1900's, the Netherlands sent out the first factory ship in the world. Designed to handle the entire business of the whaling industry from sea, the factory whaler launched in 1903. The following year, Norway, who had dominated much of the whaling industry in previous centuries, brought their art of killing to the Antarctic Ocean, setting up a whaling station on South Georgia Island. A year later a factory whaler would follow.
The early part of the 20th century also saw a modernization in the whaling industry of Japan as they made a full scale switch over to the methods of modern whaling, setting up a whaling station in Ayukawa in 1906. By this time they were also employing the whaling techniques introduced by Norway utilizing the harpoon gun. Many whalers were also using the more destructive counterpart, the exploding harpoon, which utilizes that standard idea of a gun launched harpoon; however, the harpoon is loaded with deadly explosives that target whales.
In 1925 the introduction of the slipway streamlined the process of killing whales and increased the destructive capacity of whaling fleets. 
click to enlarge
Not only were the whalers becoming more destructive with the introduction of modern whaling, but after centuries of turning the seas red with the blood of whales, many species were so depleted that hunters were now focusing on nearly every whale in the ocean including blue whales, minke whales, and fin whales. With modern whaling in full swing across most of the world, it would seem that whaling fleets around the world would not be content until they had brought whales to the brink of extinction.
