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The 25th Moby-Dick Marathon
January 8 - 10, 2021
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IT KICKS OFF TONIGHT
“A Wonder, a Grandeur, and a Woe”: Melville and Human Progress
with Steven Olsen-Smith
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Enjoy a lively presentation by Steven Olsen-Smith, current Professor at Boise State University and General Editor of Melville’s Marginalia Online. The talk will look closely at Melville’s body of work to trace his conception of our prospects for edification and advancement. Steven will explore how admirers of Herman Melville might ponder anew Melville’s conception of humanity’s capacity for individual, social, and evolutionary growth.
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General Whaling chat - Gam here
Moderator: arboggs
Re: General Whaling chat - Gam here
I reckon the score on that one is...
Whales 1: Humans 0
Re: General Whaling chat - Gam here
The moment a disaster happens/is avoided...
A funny little comment turned up in the log of the Orca (shipyard here). Many thanks to saletnikk for drawing my attention to this logbook.
The Orca comes to a sticky end on the 18th September 1897 at the start of an overwintering nightmare that lead to the great Overland Expedition. Her propeller pintle is smashed and they give up on her as she's pinched by the ice, splitting the crew between the Belvedere and Jessie Freeman. The Freeman burnt down a couple of days later. So they all hauled onto the Belvedere. Up to a few days before there had been one or two other ships including the Alexander.
There's an interesting comment on Sept 10th 'Alexander insight to the westward'. Then she's not mentioned again. In the run up to that date there's a certain amount of visiting ships.According to the engineer of Alexander it was a lot of visiting and drinking. The Captain of the Alexander, Mr B Tilton, realised that too many card games were taking over from keeping an eye on the ice. Deciding not to overwinter Tilton (there's a lot of Tiltons around) fled south and lived to float another day. A number of damning reports came out in the investigation by the US Navy/Revenue Cutter Service: https://www.candlewick.com/book_files/0 ... .chp.1.pdf this is a brief 13 page report.
The report by The Bear is here - it's a long but fascinating read: https://archive.org/stream/reportofcrui ... 1/mode/1up
Which just goes to show how the tiny comments in these oh so brief log entries can tell such a big story.
A funny little comment turned up in the log of the Orca (shipyard here). Many thanks to saletnikk for drawing my attention to this logbook.
The Orca comes to a sticky end on the 18th September 1897 at the start of an overwintering nightmare that lead to the great Overland Expedition. Her propeller pintle is smashed and they give up on her as she's pinched by the ice, splitting the crew between the Belvedere and Jessie Freeman. The Freeman burnt down a couple of days later. So they all hauled onto the Belvedere. Up to a few days before there had been one or two other ships including the Alexander.
There's an interesting comment on Sept 10th 'Alexander insight to the westward'. Then she's not mentioned again. In the run up to that date there's a certain amount of visiting ships.According to the engineer of Alexander it was a lot of visiting and drinking. The Captain of the Alexander, Mr B Tilton, realised that too many card games were taking over from keeping an eye on the ice. Deciding not to overwinter Tilton (there's a lot of Tiltons around) fled south and lived to float another day. A number of damning reports came out in the investigation by the US Navy/Revenue Cutter Service: https://www.candlewick.com/book_files/0 ... .chp.1.pdf this is a brief 13 page report.
The report by The Bear is here - it's a long but fascinating read: https://archive.org/stream/reportofcrui ... 1/mode/1up
Which just goes to show how the tiny comments in these oh so brief log entries can tell such a big story.
Re: General Whaling chat - Gam here
Long days stuck in fog, trying to catch seals and fish because of the fog and because there seem to be no whales, Mr Joseph, log-keeper of the California has been keeping himself busy with something to keep out the cold...
July 3rd 1895 somewhere possibly in the north of the Bering Sea.
'I bottled some of my rum 30 B - 30 Gal'
Cheers!
July 3rd 1895 somewhere possibly in the north of the Bering Sea.
'I bottled some of my rum 30 B - 30 Gal'
Cheers!
Re: General Whaling chat - Gam here
Gallons of it! Well, he certainly kept busy
Re: General Whaling chat - Gam here
Actually a few days later they hauled into Unalaska where they were boarded by the Local Authorities. They were accused of selling whisky to a group of Inuit and had all their alcohol confiscated. After a hearing there were considerable fines handed out. Mr Joseph doesn't mention what happened to his precious bottles 
Re: General Whaling chat - Gam here
A Base Ball Pitch
Herschel Island (Canadian Yukon coast) 1895. Sport in the Freezer.
Newport, Balaena, Karluk, and Jeanette wintering at Herschel Island, 1895
A wonderful piece of art that relates to an earlier post in this topic. It still astounds me.
And just to prove what a Sport-in-the-freezer it was here's a quick note from Beluga on Oct 31st 1897 during the Base Ball season of 1897 (
)
At a tooth chattering 35 degrees below zero...
Herschel Island (Canadian Yukon coast) 1895. Sport in the Freezer.
Newport, Balaena, Karluk, and Jeanette wintering at Herschel Island, 1895
A wonderful piece of art that relates to an earlier post in this topic. It still astounds me.
And just to prove what a Sport-in-the-freezer it was here's a quick note from Beluga on Oct 31st 1897 during the Base Ball season of 1897 (
)At a tooth chattering 35 degrees below zero...
AvastMH wrote:Thu Oct 24, 2019 12:06 am 'Base Ball on ice'. Here's the Summer of 1895 Herschel Island Base Ball League results from the log of the Newport
https://archive.org/details/logbookofne ... e/page/322
just a sample.... ;D
Gulp
Puns aside, there is a remarkable story about a lobsterman swallowed and then regurgitated by a humpback off Cape Cod. Apparently the whale swam to the surface to spit him out.
With links to other news accounts: https://www.deseret.com/u-s-world/2021/ ... diver-why
And a story with more detail about humpbacks, their anatomy and feeding habits: https://www.livescience.com/fisherman-s ... back.html
For my own part, I'd be curious to know what the whale told his friends afterwards.
With links to other news accounts: https://www.deseret.com/u-s-world/2021/ ... diver-why
And a story with more detail about humpbacks, their anatomy and feeding habits: https://www.livescience.com/fisherman-s ... back.html
For my own part, I'd be curious to know what the whale told his friends afterwards.
Re: General Whaling chat - Gam here
What an amazing story Eric.
Oh my goodness. There you are minding your own business and putting something on the dinner menu when you go on the dinner menu yourself!
It sounds like he was lucky to end up in a humpback with a naturally small gullet. Then again, dissolving a diver and breathing tanks in your gut would probably kill you, so the whale got away with it too.
Memo to self - never swim near bait balls...
Oh my goodness. There you are minding your own business and putting something on the dinner menu when you go on the dinner menu yourself!
It sounds like he was lucky to end up in a humpback with a naturally small gullet. Then again, dissolving a diver and breathing tanks in your gut would probably kill you, so the whale got away with it too.
Memo to self - never swim near bait balls...
Re: General Whaling chat - Gam here
That livescience article was excellent
Re: General Whaling chat - Gam here
Prof Stone visits the Beluga at the Baillie Islands (which sit at the top of Cape Bathurst). 28th March 1899
1 cockmullick sled arrived 8 oclock evening 2 white men arrived with mail from Fort Mcpherson with mail. Gathering specimens + curiositys Proff Stone + Mr Corbezone
Here departs from the Beluga on the 1st April. And comes back on the 14th May 'Mr Stone + Corbetzon arrived'. They left for Herschel Island 2 days later, after supper.
I imagine that a short stay on the Beluga was probably very welcome.
I found a fascinating document "The Andrew J. Stone explorations in arctic and subarctic America" in which his discoveries during his trip are illustrated.
James M. Constable, First Vice-President of the American Museum of Natural History encouraged Mr. Stone to leave Seattle, Washington, early in July, 1897, for Fort Wrangel, Alaska, on an expedition of more than two years' duration, and which was to prove memorable in the annals of Arctic exploration. The amount of hardship and travel involved was exceptional, but the expedition resulted in important contributions to our knowledge of the distribution of the game animals of the high North, and of the geography of the Arctic coast to the eastward of the Mackenzie Delta.
[...]
With information obtained at Herschel Island Mr. Stone was led to believe that the ranges of the Musk-ox could be easily reached by a trip eastward along the Arctic coast, and that the specimens when procured could be shipped by whaling vessels direct from Cape Bathurst to San Francisco.
Here is a map of Stone's journey...
1 cockmullick sled arrived 8 oclock evening 2 white men arrived with mail from Fort Mcpherson with mail. Gathering specimens + curiositys Proff Stone + Mr Corbezone
Here departs from the Beluga on the 1st April. And comes back on the 14th May 'Mr Stone + Corbetzon arrived'. They left for Herschel Island 2 days later, after supper.
I imagine that a short stay on the Beluga was probably very welcome.
I found a fascinating document "The Andrew J. Stone explorations in arctic and subarctic America" in which his discoveries during his trip are illustrated.
James M. Constable, First Vice-President of the American Museum of Natural History encouraged Mr. Stone to leave Seattle, Washington, early in July, 1897, for Fort Wrangel, Alaska, on an expedition of more than two years' duration, and which was to prove memorable in the annals of Arctic exploration. The amount of hardship and travel involved was exceptional, but the expedition resulted in important contributions to our knowledge of the distribution of the game animals of the high North, and of the geography of the Arctic coast to the eastward of the Mackenzie Delta.
[...]
With information obtained at Herschel Island Mr. Stone was led to believe that the ranges of the Musk-ox could be easily reached by a trip eastward along the Arctic coast, and that the specimens when procured could be shipped by whaling vessels direct from Cape Bathurst to San Francisco.
Here is a map of Stone's journey...
Re: General Whaling chat - Gam here
Aha! A David and Goliath run-in between whale and man. Glad that the whale swam to live another day
Having said that, the ship is not very big
Thanks for featuring the whalers
Having said that, the ship is not very big
Thanks for featuring the whalers
Re: General Whaling chat - Gam here
Brilliant find, Randi!
What a wonderful story. Angokwazhuk's injuries were terrible after his hunting accident. His scrimshaw work is exquisite. I'm so glad that he used his carving skills to create such beautiful art when he could no longer hunt. And how lucky for us that he taught the art too.
I wish that I could use his cribbage board...so much fun and so beautifully crafted
(I found Bodfish's logbook for 1892. He was on the Mary D Hume. The log only mentions the Diomedes once on the way home on Sept 6th 1892 and they don't stop over there
)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Just as an aside...Bodfish does make an effort to name the Inuit that he meets and works with. In glancing through the 1890-1892 logbook I noticed Ockpulloc and Thrasher's names, so Bodfish worked with these hunters over some years as part of his over-wintering system (they appear in the 1897-1899 log too).
What a wonderful story. Angokwazhuk's injuries were terrible after his hunting accident. His scrimshaw work is exquisite. I'm so glad that he used his carving skills to create such beautiful art when he could no longer hunt. And how lucky for us that he taught the art too.
I wish that I could use his cribbage board...so much fun and so beautifully crafted
(I found Bodfish's logbook for 1892. He was on the Mary D Hume. The log only mentions the Diomedes once on the way home on Sept 6th 1892 and they don't stop over there
)~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Just as an aside...Bodfish does make an effort to name the Inuit that he meets and works with. In glancing through the 1890-1892 logbook I noticed Ockpulloc and Thrasher's names, so Bodfish worked with these hunters over some years as part of his over-wintering system (they appear in the 1897-1899 log too).
Re: General Whaling chat - Gam here
I thought it would be good to find out a bit more about some of the ships that we record so frequently. Today I've typed 'Narwhal' I don't know how many times. She was working to and fro along the north American coastline during 1898.
I found a potted history of her and her rather sad fate from the San Diego Tribune back in 2009
A ship without a country,
A mast without a sail.
Then someone swiped the galley range,
And that’s the Narwhal’s tale!
'These were the words of San Diego Union reporter Jerry MacMullen in fall 1932 as the storied whaling ship Narwhal was towed to the mud flats off National City and abandoned. In earlier days, the steam-powered vessel had been the prize of the San Francisco whaling fleet as it hunted bowhead whales in the North Pacific and Arctic Ocean.'
A new snippet from her heyday:
https://www.newspapers.com/clip/6841207 ... -from-the/
San Francisco Chronicle
San Francisco, California
10 Nov 1886, Wed • Page 8
I found a potted history of her and her rather sad fate from the San Diego Tribune back in 2009
A ship without a country,
A mast without a sail.
Then someone swiped the galley range,
And that’s the Narwhal’s tale!
'These were the words of San Diego Union reporter Jerry MacMullen in fall 1932 as the storied whaling ship Narwhal was towed to the mud flats off National City and abandoned. In earlier days, the steam-powered vessel had been the prize of the San Francisco whaling fleet as it hunted bowhead whales in the North Pacific and Arctic Ocean.'
A new snippet from her heyday:
https://www.newspapers.com/clip/6841207 ... -from-the/
San Francisco Chronicle
San Francisco, California
10 Nov 1886, Wed • Page 8
Re: General Whaling chat - Gam here
"The Narwhal was retired from whaling in 1908 after the longest and most successful career of any steam whaler."
