Old Weather Forum

Welcome on board the Thrasher, on voyage from the 8th of March 1894 to November 1895

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

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 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 Thrasher's log pages in chronological order. All you have to do is increment the number at the end of the link: page/2, page/3, page/4 etc.

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The following example page covers 11th July 1894 to and including 25th July 1894
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. [/tr]

Simple transcription	Phrases of text bracketed
Wed July 11. Weather rough. Cut still going North. got into heavy Ice. went out and was sick.	Wed July 11. [Weather rough.] [Cut still going North.] [got into heavy Ice.] [went out and was sick.]
Thursday 12. Weather changeable. reach Point Hope 2 P.m the Navarch was then From Ounalaska. Charlie done a little tradeing. Capt Cook and wife come on board later on.	Thursday 12. [Weather changeable.] [reach Point Hope 2 P.m] [ the Navarch was then From Ounalaska. Charlie done a little tradeing. Capt Cook and wife come on board later on.]
Friday 13. Weather cold but Charlie and I otta May all went on shore went along side of the Navarch for Capt Cook and wife to go but she was a little afraid	Friday 13. [Weather cold] [but Charlie and I otta May all went on shore went along side of the Navarch for Capt Cook and wife to go but she was a little afraid]
Sat 14. Weather changeble. left P. Hope strong breeze from the N. and I am sea sick.	Sat 14. [Weather changeble.] [left P. Hope] [strong breeze from the N.] [and I am sea sick.]
Sunday 15. Weather fogy tyed up to the Ice the most of the time	Sunday 15. [Weather fogy] [tyed up to the Ice] the [most of the time]
Monday 16 Weather clear. reached Point Belchur. met the Jeannie and she brings _ _ and a man by the name of Brown.	Monday 16 [Weather clear.] [reached Point Belchur.] [met the Jeannie and she brings _ _ and a man by the name of Brown.]
Tuesday 17 Weather changeable and strong Breeze and I sea sick.	Tuesday 17 [Weather changeable and strong Breeze] [and I sea sick.]
Wed 18. Weather clear and calm. Still sick Mrs Cook come on board from here she went on the Beluga	Wed 18. [Weather clear and calm.] [Still sick Mrs Cook come on board from here she went on the Beluga]
Thursday 19. Weather changeable. arrived at Point Barrow A.M.	Thursday 19. [Weather changeable.] [arrived at Point Barrow][ A.M.]
Friday 20. Weather clear. Still a Point Barrow.	Friday 20. [Weather clear.] [Still a Point Barrow.]
Sat 21. Weather fogy A.m. left Point Barrow.	Sat 21. [Weather fogy] [A.m.] [left Point Barrow.]
Sunday 22. Weather clear Ice heavy we tyed to the Ice.	Sunday 22. [Weather clear] [Ice heavy] [we tyed to the Ice.]
Monday 23. Weather changeable. Saw two ships in distress and after supper we steamed to the wanderer and towed her in where we were. the Freeman helped John + Winthrope.	Monday 23. [Weather changeable.] [Saw two ships in distress] [and after supper we steamed to the wanderer and towed her in where we were. the Freeman helped John + Winthrope.]
Tuesday 24. Weather fogy. Steamed a little while then tyed to the Ice.	Tuesday 24. [Weather fogy.] [Steamed a little while] [then tyed to the Ice.]

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There is a fault in the day/date when the log keeper omits the 31st August 1894. At least two of the workbooks have the following information on the Start Sheet.

Log book day and date	Calendar day and date
Thursday 30th August	Thursday 30th August
Friday 1st September	Friday 31st August
Saturday 2nd September	Saturday 1st September
Sunday 3rd September	Sunday 2nd September
4th September	Monday 3rd September
5th September	Tuesday 4th September
Thursday 6th September	Wednesday 5th September
	Thursday 6th September

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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): Thursday March 8th 1894:
[...]Started to steam at 8.20 AM steamed all day [...] at 5.30 PM so ends the day

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 Thrasher logbook sections for transcribing Log Pages for Transcribing - apply here!

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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.

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The remainder of this topic is for you. Ask questions and share interesting discoveries with us to make these logs live.

They reach Herschel Island on August 21st 1894

Although they do not specify the types, 70 different types of flowers on Herschel Island it is a significant count. It's a lovely interlude. On the 22nd August 1894 they go onshore to pick flowers having readied a box to send them to San Francisco.

I so wish that we could see that box of flowers I will also post this in a 'Natural Phenomena' topic.



Belatedly I have re-discovered the pressed poppies in the Thrasher's log (Archive page n106):

And thanks again to Randi for this snippet of information and picture of Thrasher back in 1885, the peak of the whaling trade. It is from the University of Alaska, Fairbanks (Digital Archive). I spotted what looks like two folk up in the crow's nest with a good view, and well above the stick down below during the boiling process.

The information listing is here: https://vilda.alaska.edu/digital/collec ... 1/id/2062/

And here's the picture:

Linguists delight! At the back of the logbook Mrs Weeks has jotted a two page list of Natives words from the Herschel Island area.

One that caught my eye was this one: 'Indian In-nu-ett'