Old Weather Forum

Welcome to the list of whaler journeys.
Blue lettering indicates a link to another section of OWW or an whaling information external site.

NBWM: New Bedford Whaling Museum - a fascinating site with a rich collection. You can take an e-trip around the museum

• Logbooks and journals
• History of whaling

PPL: The Providence Public Library, Nicholson Whaling Collection (an outstanding collection of 750 manuscript logbooks describing 1,000 whaling voyages, as well as several thousand printed books on whaling)

Each ship has three streams, A, B, and C for the three sets of transcriptions required for each logbook.
The 'available?' column shows if a ship has sections awaiting transcription 'Yes', or has been fully completed in all three streams 'No'.
To find more details of the log, and its availability, please go to the relevant Shipyard. We will concentrate on the logs, and especially the sections of logs, involving waters in the North Pacific to Arctic oceans in the first instance.

Shipyard Link	Start date	End date	Available?
Alaska	1890, Apr. 12th	1891, Dec. 6th	Finished
Alexander	1899, Mar. 3rd	1899, Nov. 11th	Finished
Atlantic	1880, Nov. 2nd*	1881, Oct. 31st	Finished
Beluga	1895, July 7th	1895, Dec. 31st	Assigned
Beluga	1897, March 30th	1899, Oct. 4th	Finished
Belvedere 222	1897, March 9th	1898, Nov. 5th	Finished
Belvedere 545	1897, March 9th	1898, Sept. 21st	Finished
Belvedere 1884-5	To come
California KWM 1894-5	1894, Dec. 6th	1895, Nov. 7th	Finished ice
California PPL 1894-5	1894, Dec. 4th	1895, Nov. 7th	Assigned
Cape Horn Pigeon 1891-1892	1894, Dec. 4th	1892, Nov. 5th	Assigned
Coral 1886-1888	1894, Nov. 6th	1888, Oct. 25th	Yes
Emma Herriman	1890, Dec. 4th	1891, Oct. 24th	Assigned
Fleetwing	1891, April 16th	1891, Nov. 5th	Finished
Grampus	1891, April 14th	1891, May 23rd	Finished
Hunter 1882	1882, Dec. 26th	1883, Nov. 10th	Finished ice
Hunter 1893	1893, Feb. 15th	1893, Nov. 7th	Yes
James Arnold 1892-1894	1892, January 21st	1894, October 6th	Assigned
John Carver 1894-1895	1884, May 6th	1885, Nov. 11th	Finished ice
Lucretia 1882-1883	1882, Dec. 15th	1883, Nov. 15th	Finished
Lucretia 1883-1884	1883, Dec. 11th	1884, Nov. 4th	Finished Ice
Lucretia 1884-1885	1884, Nov. 29th	1885, Nov. 5th	Finished Ice
Mary and Helen	1879, Sept. 9th	1880, Oct. 12th	Finished Ice
Mary and Susan	1887, April 21st	1887, Nov. 3rd	Assigned
Mermaid	1896, March 17th	1896, Nov. 9th	Yes
Narwhal 1892-1893	1892, March 12th	1893, Dec. 31st	Assigned
Narwhal 1894	1894, January 1st	1894, Oct. 29th	Assigned
Navarch 1892-1893	1892, July 6th	1893, Nov. 24th	Finished ice
Navarch 1893-1896	1893, Dec. 20th	1896, Nov. 1st	Finished ice
Navarch 1897	1897, Mar. 2nd	1897, Oct. 14th	Assigned
North Star	1881, Aug 2nd	1882, July 16th	Finished
Orca 1897	1897, March 30th	1897, Sept. 18th	Finished ice
Stamboul 1892	1892, March 15th	1892, Oct. 23rd	Yes
Thomas Pope	1884, June 2nd	1884, Aug 30th	Finished
Thrasher 1894-1895	1894, March 8th	1895, Aug 21st	Yes
Wm Baylies 1892-1893	1892, Dec. 15th	1893, Nov. 10th	Yes
Wm Baylies 1894-1895 ODHS225	1894, March 31st	1895, Nov. 9th	Finished
Wm Baylies 1894-1895 PPL674	1894, Oct. 26th	1895, June 21st	Yes
Young Phoenix 1885	To come

'Finished Ice' means that all of the log book sections covering sea ice have been completed. Other sections, probably in the South Pacific, have yet to be completed because these are our lowest priority.
'Assigned' means that the sections are allotted to transcribers but not yet completed. Please ask AvastMH for more information about these.

Here is the full list of logbooks that we are currently working upon:

Institution	Ship Name	Start Date	End Date	Catalog Entry
NBWM	John and Winthrop	1912	1912	Logbook of the John and Winthrop (Bark) of San Francisco, mastered by William F. Joseph, on voyage 21 Mar. 1912-24 Oct. (hardly legible, ed.)
NBWM	Belvedere	1907	1907	Belvedere (Steam bark), of San Francisco, Calif., mastered by S.F. Cottle, kept by William F. Joseph, on voyage from 1907 Mar. 2-Oct. 8.
PPL	Karluk	1906	1906	See microfilm slug
NBWM	William Baylies	1906	1906	Logbook of the William Baylies (Steam Bark) out of San Francisco, California, Mastered by Hartson H. Bodfish, Kept by kept by William F. Joseph, On voyage from March 10, 1906 ? November 7, 1906 to the North Pacific Ocean
NHA	Bowhead	1905	1906	Logbook of the Bowhead (Steam Bark), mastered by John Atkins Cook and James A. Tilton, kept by R.B. Spencer, Engineer. 17 August 1905 to 12 November 1906. Note: Engineer's Log.
NBWM	California	1905	1905	Logbook of the California (Bark), of San Francisco, Calif., mastered by William F. Joseph, kept by William F. Joseph, on voyage from 1905 Feb. 16-1905 Nov. 3.
PPL	Karluk	1904	1906	See microfilm slug
NBWM	Alexander	1899	1899	Alexander (Steam bark) of San Francisco, mastered by B.T. Tilton, on voyage from 16 Mar.-11 Nov. 1899.
NBWM	Beluga	1897	1899	Logbook of the Beluga (Steam bark) of San Francisco, mastered by Hartson H. Bodfish, on voyage 30 Mar. 1897-4 Oct. 1899.
NBWM	Belvedere 222	1897	1898	Logbook ('Log 222 handwriting 1') of the Belvedere (Steam bark) of San Francisco, mastered by M.V.B. Millard, on voyage from 9 Mar. 1897-5 Nov. 1898.
NBWM	Belvedere 545	1897	1898	Logbook ('Log 545, handwriting 2') of the Belvedere (Steam bark) of San Francisco, mastered by M.V.B. Millard, on voyage from 9 Mar. 1897-5 Nov. 1898.
NBWM	Navarch	1897	1897	Logbook of the Navarch (Steam bark) out of San Francisco, Calif., mastered by Joseph Whiteside, kept by Thomas Birnbaum on voyage 2 Mar. 1897-14 Oct. 1897.
NBWM	Orca	1897	1897	Logbook of the Orca (Steam bark), of San Francisco, Calif., mastered by Albert C. Sherman, kept by Albert C. Sherman, on voyage from 30 Mar. 1897-18 Sept. 1897.
NBWM	Mermaid	1896	1896	Logbook of the Mermaid (Bark) of San Francisco, Calif., mastered by David F. Devoll, on voyage from 17 Mar. 1896-9 Nov. 1896.
NBWM	Beluga	1895	1896	Logbook of the Beluga (Steam bark), out of San Francisco, Calif., mastered by Albert C. Sherman, kept by Albert C. Sherman, on voyage from 7 Jul. 1895-16 Nov. 1896.
NBWM	California	1894	1895	Logbook of the California (Bark), of San Francisco, Calif., mastered by Ellsworth Luce West, kept by first mate William F. Joseph, on voyage from 1894 Dec. 4-1895 Nov. 7.
PPL	California	1894	1895	See microfilm slug (investigate duplicate to NBWM copy)
NBWM	Narwhal	1894	1894	Logbook of the Narwhal (Steam bark) of San Francisco, mastered by H.P. Smith, on voyage from 1 Jan. 1894-19 Oct. 1894.
NBWM	Thrasher	1894	1895	Logbook of the Thrasher (Steam bark) of San Francisco, mastered by Charles E. Weeks on voyage from Mar. 1894-Aug. 1895.
NBWM	William Baylies	1894	1895	William Baylies (Steam bark) of San Francisco, mastered by John MacInnis, on voyage from 31 Mar. 1894-9 Nov. 1895.
PPL	William Baylies	1894	1895	See microfilm slug
NBWM	Hunter	1893	1893	Logbook of the Hunter (Bark) of San Francisco, mastered by A. Huntley, on voyage from 15 Feb. 1893-8 Nov..
NBWM	Navarch	1893	1896	Navarch (Steam bark) of San Francisco, mastered by John A. Cook, on voyage from 20 Dec. 1893 to 1 Nov. 1896.
NBWM	James Arnold	1892	1894	Logbook of the James Arnold (Ship) of New Bedford, mastered by John S. Reynolds, on voyage from 21 Jan. 1892-6 Oct. 1894.
NBWM	Narwhal	1892	1893	Narwhal (Steam bark), of San Francisco, Calif., mastered by Horace P. Smith, on voyage from 12 Mar. 1892-31 Dec. 1893.
NBWM	Navarch	1892	1893	Logbook of the Navarch (Steam bark) of New Bedford, mastered by William B. Ellis and Jas.A. Whiteside, on voyage from 6 July 1892-27 Nov. 1893.
NBWM	Stamboul	1892	1892	Logbook of the Stamboul (Bark) out of San Francisco, California. Mastered by S.C. Waldron. Kept by Benjamin F. Sparks. On voyage from March 15, 1892 ? October 23, 1892 to the North Pacific Ocean.
NBWM	William Baylies	1892	1893	Logbook of the William Baylies (Steam bark) of San Francisco, mastered by George W. Porter, on voyage from 15 Dec. 1892-10 Nov. 1893.
NBWM	Cape Horn Pigeon	1891	1892	Logboook of the Cape Horn Pigeon (Bark) of San Francisco, mastered by Thomas Scullan, on voyage from 7 Dec. 1891-5 Nov. 1892.
NBWM	Grampus	1891	1891	Grampus (Steam barkentine), of San Francisco, Calif., mastered by H.H. Norwood, on voyage from 16 Apr. 1891-23 May. 1891.
NBWM	Alaska	1890	1891	Logboook of the Alaska (Bark) of San Francisco, mastered by Charles W. Fisher, W.T. Macomber, B.B. Worth, and George W. Porter, on voyage from 4 Dec. 1890-8 Nov. 1891.
NBWM	Emma F. Herriman	1890	1891	Logbook of the Emma F. Herriman (Bark) of San Francisco, mastered by E.T. Fish on voyage from 4 Dec. 1890-24 Oct. 1891.
NBWM	Coral	1886	1888	Logbook of the Coral (Bark) of San Francisco, mastered by Rodolphus Delano Wicks, on voyage from Nov. 1886-Oct. 1888.
PPL	Mary and Susan	1886	1887	See microfilm slugs (possibly three versions)
NBWM	William Baylies	1886	1887	William Baylies (Steam bark) out of New Bedford, Mass., mastered by Horace B. Montross, kept by James Holley Bartletton voyage from 20 Sept. 1886-22 Nov 1887.
NBWM	Lucretia	1885	1886	Lucretia (Steam bark), of San Francisco, Calif., mastered by Albert C. Sherman, kept by Francis Perry Rose, on voyage from 1 Dec. 1885-14 Nov. 1886.
NBWM	Young Phoenix	1885	1885	Logbook of the Young Phoenix (Bark), of San Francisco, Calif., mastered by J.H. Holmes, on whaling voyage from 21 Feb. 1885-10 Nov. 1885.
NBWM	Belvedere	1884	1885	Logbook of the Belvedere (Steam bark) of San Francisco, mastered by George F. Smith, on voyage from 2 Dec. 1884-7 Nov. 1885.
NBWM	John Carver	1884	1885	John Carver (Bark), of New Bedford, Mass., mastered by Albert C. Sherman, kept by Albert C. Sherman, on voyage 6 May 1884-11 Nov. 1885.
NBWM	Thomas Pope	1884	1884	Logbook of the Thomas Pope (Bark); on voyage from 2 June-30 Aug. 1884.
NBWM	Fleetwing	1882	1882	Logbook of the Fleetwing (Bark), of San Francisco, Calif., mastered by John Heppingstone, kept by the daughter of Capt. John Heppingstone, on voyage from14 Apr. 1882-5 Nov. 1882.
NBWM	Fleetwing	1882	1883	Logbook of the Fleetwing (Bark) out of San Francisco, California. Mastered by Hiram Nye. Kept by William J. Shockley. On voyage December 5, 1882 ? November 4, 1883 to the North Pacific and Bering Sea whaling grounds.
NBWM	Hunter	1882	1883	Hunter (Bark) of San Francisco, Calif., mastered by Albert C. Sherman, kept by Albert C. Sherman on voyage from 26 Dec. 1882-18 Nov. 1883.
NBWM	Bounding Billow	1881	1882	Logbook of the Bounding Billow (Bark), whaling vessel, out of Edgartown, Mass., mastered by Jared Jernegan, kept by William J. Shockley, on voyage 16 Aug. 1881-15 Nov. 1882.
PPL	Jacob A. Howland	1881	1884	See microfilm slug
NBWM	Lucretia	1881	1882	Lucretia (Steam bark) of New Bedford, mastered by Thomas Mellen, on voyage from 1 Oct. 1881-24 Nov. 1882.
NBWM	North Star	1881	1882	North Star (Steam bark) of New Bedford, mastered by James S. Carter and L.C. Owen, on voyage from 2 May. 1881- 30 July. 1882.
NBWM	Atlantic	1880	1881	Atlantic (Bark) of New Bedford, Mass., mastered by West Mitchell (replaced by Benjamin Franklin Wing, at Honolulu, 18 Apr. 1881), on voyage from 2 Nov. 1880-31 Oct. 1881.
PPL	Mary and Susan	1880	1881	See microfilm slug
NBWM	Mary and Helen	1879	1880	Mary and Helen (Steam bark) of New Bedford, mastered by M. Millard and Leander C. Owen, on voyage 9 Sept. 1879-11 Oct. 1880.
NBWM	Hunter	1878	1879	Logbook of the Hunter (Bark) of San Francisco, mastered by Benjamin Franklin Homan on voyage Dec 1878-Nov 1879.
NBWM	Syren	1878	1878	Logbook of the Syren (Ship) of San Francisco, mastered by Cyrus Manter, on voyage 1878.
NBWM	Hunter	1877	1878	Logbook of the Hunter (Bark) of New Bedford, mastered by Benjamin Franklin Homan on voyage Dec. 1877-Dec. 1878.
PPL	Mary and Susan	1877	1880	See microfilm slug
NBWM	Lucretia	1882	1883
NBWM	Lucretia	1883	1884