On the Northwest is the first complete history of commercial whaling in the Pacific Northwest from its shadowy origins in the late 1700s to its demise in western Canada in 1967. Whaling in the eastern North Pacific represented a century and a half of exploration and exploitation which involved the entrepreneurs, merchants, politicians, and seamen of a dozen nations.

The results of the whaling effort mirrored the outcome of whaling throughout the world. By exploiting the large whales without considering their finite numbers or reproductive capacity, the industry drove its prey to commercial extinction.

It was the seamen themselves, however, who gave substance to the business of whaling. On the Northwest focuses on the working lives of these men: the shellbacks 'before the mast,' the colourful harpoon gunners who chased the whales from spray-soaked gun platforms, and shore-station workers who preserved the international flavour of the Pacific Northwest whaling industry until its demise only two decades ago.