Welcome on board the Orca on voyage from the 30th March 1897 to 18th September 1897, mastered by Albert C. Sherman.
The transcription of this logbook is complete. Thank you transcription crew! 
There are plenty of other logbooks to work on. Check the Shipyards or request help from moderator AvastMH. Thank you
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...
Tip: use ctrl+Pgup or ctrl+PgDn to quickly swap between the different worksheets as you move through start, primary, weather, and remarks worksheets to record your findings
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 Guide to posting links and images. 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.
Names of the crew
Names of the crew and notes of other ships mentioned or visited can also be recorded.
Crews and Ships Met.
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 Orca's log pages in chronological order. All you have to do is increment the number at the end of the link: page/
2/mode/1up, page/
3/mode/1up, page/
4/mode/1up etc.
Here is a log page that has been transcribed to help you to be familiar with the writing. Right click and select 'Open image in new tab' to see it in full.
4th & 5th of June 1897
Here is a transcription of the above log page.
| Simple transcription | Phrases of text bracketed |
Fri June 4th
Fresh breeze from the S.E.
Ship tied up to the ice on
Diomedes Much ice passing
A.M. Capt Cogan and Mr Lopp
of Cape Prince of Wales came on
board P.M. saw the Alexander
take a whale - we saw two
in the ice but did n't lower
for them as no chance to get
to them. At 11 PM - let go from
the ice and steamed around
to the South of the Island
and anchored in 25 fathoms
of water. | Fri June 4th
[Fresh breeze from the S.E.]
[Ship tied up to the ice] [on
Diomedes] [Much ice passing]
[A.M. Capt Cogan and Mr Lopp
of Cape Prince of Wales came on
board] [P.M. saw the Alexander
take a whale] [we saw two
in the ice but did n't lower
for them as no chance to get
to them.] [At 11 PM - let go from
the ice] [and steamed around
to the South of the Island]
[and anchored in 25 fathoms
of water]
|
Sat June 5th
Light S.E. winds ship lying
at anchor off the Diomedes in
a thick fog. At 2 A.M. fog lifted
Took anchor and steared S.E.
At 3 P.M. saw a Bowhead. lowered
for him but did n't see the
whale after lowering - took boats
up and droped the anchor off
Faraway Rock. Weather thick + calm | Sat June 5th
[Light S.E. winds] [ship lying
at anchor] [off the Diomedes] [in
a thick fog.] [At 2 A.M. fog lifted]
[Took anchor] [and steared S.E.]
[At 3 P.M. saw a Bowhead. lowered]
[for him but did n't see the
whale after lowering - took boats
up and] [droped the anchor] [off
Faraway Rock] |
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.
This ship log works in Civil time, see notation on Start page of workbook: August 5th 1897:
https://archive.org/details/logbookofor ... 0/mode/1up
[...]at 10 A.M. steamed around [...] at 10 P.M. then steared [...]
Click on the worksheet images below to see them at full size.
Primary worksheet
Weather worksheet
Remarks worksheet
Notes:
The ship is in/attached to the ice. Despite that they are able to receive visitors from Cape Prince of Wales, and are able to lower to attempt to catch whales. In these circumstances it is correct to make a note of those activities both in the sailing terms column on the primary sheet, and on the Remarks sheet, because they help to show the state of the sea ice. All the clues that you can detect about the ice are valuable.
Here's a link back to the list of Orca 1897 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.
