Welcome on board the Beluga on voyage from the 30th March 1897 to 4th October 1899.
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 sheets 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.
Names of the crew
Names of the crew and notes of other ships mentioned or visited can also be recorded.
Crew 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 Beluga'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.
Here is a log page that has been transcribed to help you to be familiar with the writing. Click to view logbook.
July 3rd to July 9th 1898
Stmr Beluga Capt Bodfish Yr 1898
Sun July 3rd
Weather fine All hands busy
takeing boats on board coiling
down lines makeing line boxes
putting provision on the beach
for the natives & other general work
Afternoon celebrating 4 July 3 PM
Bealeana went out
after supper moved of shore aenchored.
July 4th
Fresh breeze NW cloudy & cool
Bealeana came back at
4 AM morning thick fog &
plenty of ice. General work about ship.
began standing sea watches.
July 5th
Strong breeze NW cloudy & cool
ship lying at anchor in the bay
crew standing watch. Employed in
general work. coiled down 8 coils
towline in cask ready for whaling.
July 6th
Wind NW. All night thick snow
storm too day clear & fine at
anchor in Langdon bay cat get
out for ice all hands employed in
general work about ship put
head board up on Mr Flanders grave
July 7th
winds all around the compas clear
& fine at anchor still employed in
general work about ship.
July 8th
In harbor. employed in general
work broke out water & other work
Sat July 9th
first part light breeze S last part
strong breeze W. 6 natives boats
left for the West. Crew employed
in general work.
Start worksheet (top section)
If you discover any metadata in the logbook please enter it on this page. Metadata means 'data about data'. 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 ships log works in Naval, or Sea, Time and that has been added as a note to the transcription sheets for Beluga.
Click on the worksheet images below to see them at full size.
Primary worksheet
Weather worksheet
Remarks worksheet
Notes
- Langdon bay is noted in the Geographical Help Board, Canadian Place Names -- Reference. Correctly it is Langton Bay. Always Type What You See in the log book, do not attempt to correct the logbook. If you wish to you may add a transcriber's note in the following format (using square brackets) [Transcriber's note: Langdon bay might be Langton Bay] in the Remarks worksheet.
- 'The crew standing watches' is an unusual comment and may relate to the ice, it is therefore recorded in the 'Three Sailing Terms' column on the Primary worksheet. If in doubt include a comment rather than leaving it out of the transcription, and do check it by querying it in the Shipyard page. Example transcription, general questions and answers.
Link back to
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.
