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“Preternaturally hardened whale dung” is not the first image that comes to mind when we think of perfume, otherwise a symbol of glamour and allure. But the key ingredient that makes the sophisticated scent linger on the skin is precisely this bizarre digestive by-product—ambergris. Despite being one of the world’s most expensive substances (its value is nearly that of gold and has at times in history been triple it), ambergris is also one of the world’s least known. But with this unusual and highly alluring book, Christopher Kemp promises to change that by uncovering the unique history of ambergris.
A rare secretion produced only by sperm whales, which have a fondness for squid but an inability to digest their beaks, ambergris is expelled at sea and floats on ocean currents for years, slowly transforming, before it sometimes washes ashore looking like a nondescript waxy pebble. It can appear almost anywhere but is found so rarely, it might as well appear nowhere. Kemp’s journey begins with an encounter on a New Zealand beach with a giant lump of faux ambergris—determined after much excitement to nothing more exotic than lard—that inspires a comprehensive quest to seek out ambergris and its story. He takes us from the wild, rocky New Zealand coastline to Stewart Island, a remote, windswept island in the southern seas, to Boston and Cape Cod, and back again. Along the way, he tracks down the secretive collectors and traders who populate the clandestine modern-day ambergris trade.
Floating Gold is an entertaining and lively history that covers not only these precious gray lumps and those who covet them, but presents a highly informative account of the natural history of whales, squid, ocean ecology, and even a history of the perfume industry. Kemp’s obsessive curiosity is infectious, and eager readers will feel as though they have stumbled upon a precious bounty of this intriguing substance.
— Richard Ellis
“Christopher Kemp’s delightful pursuit of all things ambergris has resulted in a wonderful and engagingly personal book on one of the world’s most mysterious and alluring substances. Floating Gold is a fascinating tale of obsession, the limits of science, avarice, suspicion, secrecy, and the desire to create the perfect perfume. It’s a pleasure to read.”
“Occupying a near-mythical niche somewhere between truffles and unicorn’s horn, ambergris is one of the rarest, most valuable substances in nature. It is also one of the most poorly understood—until now. With Floating Gold, Kemp has assembled the first comprehensive picture of a unique substance—an essence, really—that has inspired obsession and jealous secrecy for centuries and that, to this day, remains as precious as gold. With humor, insight, and the dogged determination of a Victorian scientist, Kemp takes us around the world and into the arcane and obsessive demimonde of ambergris seekers, traders, and high-end parfumiers. In so doing, he illuminates a world previously known to only a handful of people.”
“Ambergris! Perhaps nature’s strangest and rarest gift—one could walk the shores for a lifetime and come up empty-handed. Christopher Kemp’s lovely quest tale put me in mind of an afternoon, several years ago, when I opened a dusty letter in the archive of an old whale scientist: suddenly the room burst with the smell of violets, musk, and fresh-hewn wood. To the sheet was taped a little dab of greasy gum, with a note reading, ‘Could this be it?’ Indeed it was! Would that a little piece of the magic could be tipped inside every copy of Floating Gold. Read it, for it’s as close as one can get without the stuff itself.”
"In this entertaining natural history, molecular biologist and columnist Christopher Kemp recounts two years of obsessively combing beaches and visiting tight-lipped experts to discover the secrets of the international ambergris trade."
Prologue: Wellington, 2008 xi
Introduction: Marginalia 1
1 On Long Beach 5
2 There Is a Piece at Rome as Big as a Man's Head 19
3 The Beach Mafia 33
4 It Looked like Roquefort and It Smelled like Limburger 50
5 A Molecule Here and a Molecule There 67
6 Close Encounters of the Ambergris Kind 87
7 The Hopefuls 107
8 On the Road 131
9 Gone A-Whaling 147
10 A Meeting 171
Epilogue 185
Overview
“Preternaturally hardened whale dung” is not the first image that comes to mind when we think of perfume, otherwise a symbol of glamour and allure. But the key ingredient that makes the sophisticated scent linger on the skin is precisely this bizarre digestive by-product—ambergris. Despite being one of the world’s most expensive substances (its value is nearly that of gold and has at times in history been triple it), ambergris is also one of the world’s least known. But with this unusual and highly alluring book, Christopher Kemp promises to