For those who faced the vast oceans — the Indian, Atlantic and Pacific Oceans — there was the opportunity to hunt whales. Whales not merely provided food and oil, but also provided ambergris, a much-sought perfume as well as whale baleen. The most famous of whalers were the Japanese as well as the Basques who lived in northern Spain. Basque fishing and navigation savvy soon led them to blaze new trails westwards with the discovery of the New World.