Here you will find an example transcription of details
This is also a place to ask questions and request help with oddities in the log
You can bring the ship to life by sharing interesting finds from the log pages and other information about the ship
General help with marking and transcribing whaling logs
Weather and ice records from the whaling ships of the USA which contains the following 'must read' topics...
- START HERE. General outline, the project and how to help
- Transcribing: capturing the log details, and information resources
- Transcribing: managing your recording workbook
Treasure trove of information in the Library
Over the years this forum has accumulated a broad spectrum of detailed information which is kept in the Library
Please do take time to visit the Library because it will afford you a great deal of help. However, do feel welcome to ask questions at any time.
Help with images
- If you want to query some text please supply the page reference (the reference changes as you view the middle of a page), and an image of the text if you wish. Help for manipulating/posting images can be found in Posting Links and Images (A Guide). If you have any problems with imaging this is the board to post that question.
- Accessing pale images. The example page used below, opened through the 'Irfan' program, 'color correction' and adjust the brightness, saturation, and gamma correction. You may have your own program for adjusting brightness and contrast. Here are the before and after images using Irfan. Click to see them at full size.
To find the shipyard pages for other whalers
Link: Find your ship, & the full list of ships logbooks for OWW
Select 'view single page':
When the log book image opens you will see two pages. It is easier to read the details accessing one page at a time. Use the icons at the bottom of the screen:
You can walk through James Arnold's log pages in chronological order. All you have to do is increment the number at the end of the link: page/96/mode/1up, page/97/mode/1up, page/98/mode/1up etc.
The following example page covers 7th September 1893 to and including 9th September 1893
Right click the image and select 'open in new tab' to be able to enlarge the image.
Here is a transcription of the above log page.
| Simple transcription | Phrases of text bracketed |
|---|---|
| Thursday Sept 7 This day comes in with a good breeze and snow squalls from the NNE stearing off to the Srd and Wrd towards Herald Island saw the Alaska with her Boats down about 4 PM spoke the Bark Hunter midle part laying aback. latter part strong breeze made some sail and steared off towards Herald Island in company with several other ships Lat 71.29 Long 173.50 |
Thursday Sept 7 [This day comes in] [with a good breeze and [snow squalls] from the NNE] [stearing off to the Srd and Wrd towards Herald Island saw the Alaska with her Boats down about 4 PM spoke the Bark Hunter] [midle part] [laying aback.] [latter part] [strong breeze] [made some sail and steared off towards Herald Island in company with several other ships] [Lat 71.29 Long 173.50] |
| Friday Sept 8 This comes in with a strong breeze and squally from the Erd. Ship laying aback gaming the Bark Calafornia. At 5 PM stoped gaming and wore ship heading in towards the Ice Herald Island and plenty of Ice and ships in sight midle part the same. latter part still a strong breeze furled the Foresail and main sail and upper fore Top sail and sut the fore and main staysail saw the Bark Triton with her Boats down Lat 71.37 Long 172.56 |
Friday Sept 8 [This comes in] [with a strong breeze and squally from the Erd.] [Ship laying aback] [gaming the Bark Calafornia.] [At 5 PM] [stoped gaming] and [wore ship heading in towards the Ice] [Herald Island] and [ plenty of Ice] and ships in sight] [midle part] [the same.] [latter part] [still a strong breeze] [furled the Foresail and main sail and upper fore Top sail and sut the fore and main staysail] [saw the Bark Triton with her Boats down] [Lat 71.37 Long 172.56] |
| Saturday Sept 9 This day comes in with a strong breeze and snow squalls from the NE. ship laying aback up to the Ice quite a number of ships in sight. midle part the same. latter part still strong breeze and ruged working to windered under short sail About 5 PM gamed the Bark William Baylies Lat 71.40 Long 173.15 |
Saturday Sept 9 [This day comes in] [with a strong breeze and snow squalls from the NE.] [ship laying aback] [up to the Ice] [quite a number of ships in sight.] [midle part] [the same.] [latter part] [still strong breeze and ruged] [working to windered under short sail] [About 5 PM] [gamed the Bark William Baylies] [Lat 71.40 Long 173.1] |
NOTES: This logbook contains lots of marginalia (notes written in the borders of the pages). Please include these notes at the bottom of an entry unless they have a time of day included, in which case insert them chronologically into the entry.
There are some errors in the dates noted in the log books. If you find these, please note them on the Start worksheet. You may also wish to enter a 'Transcriber's note' in the Remarks worksheet.
This ship works on Nautical time. Page 1 notes 'Nautical time'
And this continues throughout the log, for example:
August 24th 1893
About 4 PM we anchored [...] come on board about 5 PM [...] Latter part called all hands at daylight
Start worksheet (top section)
If you discover any metadata in the logbook please enter it on this page. Metadata means 'data about data', barometer readings or temperature readings. See under 'Weather' at rows 32 and 33. For example, if you see that the temperature is in Celsius or Centigrade, that fact should be transcribed as metadata.
Click on the worksheet images below to see them at full size.
Start worksheet
Primary worksheet
Weather worksheet
Remarks worksheet
Here's a link back to the list of James Arnold logbook sections for transcribing Log Pages for Transcribing - apply here!
Warning: AUTOFILL function between worksheets.
Do not drag and drop the date or time on any of the worksheets because you may disrupt the autofill function.
If you are unsure that the autofill is in proper order you can check by pressing two keys on your keyboard.
You are certainly welcome to ask for help with this action.
The remainder of this topic is for you. Ask questions and share interesting discoveries with us to make these logs live.
