Whalers also reduced the blubber from the whale to make oil. It was not just from the head. The old whaling ships of sail had a "works" on deck with fire and kettle to melt the blubber which was barreled. The whalers would often be gone for years before returning to home ports. After the Atlantic was almost picked clean, ships sailed around the tip of South America into the Pacific where whales were plentiful. During whaling lulls, the whalers would create scrimshaw from the teeth of sperm whales. Here's a typical tooth scrimmed for a wife or family member as a gift. As the old whalers would say: "Greasy luck!"
