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Ship Herald Stonington
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Held at: University of Delaware Library Special Collections [Contact Us]181 South College Avenue, Newark, DE 19717-5267
This is a finding aid. It is a description of archival material held at the University of Delaware Library Special Collections. Unless otherwise noted, the materials described below are physically available in their reading room, and not digitally available through the web.
Overview and metadata sections
The ship Herald was a whaling vessel based in Stonington, Connecticut. The first voyage under Captain Charles O. Brewster lasted from September 12, 1841, through May 4, 1843. The ship traveled to the whaling grounds and ports of the Indian Ocean. Captain Elijah B. Morgan headed the second voyage around Cape Horn toward Chile from June 24, 1843, through August 10, 1845.
Information derived from the collection.
This volume documents two whaling voyages aboard the ship Herald occurring between September 12, 1841, and August 10, 1845. The authors are unknown but it is likely a crew member wrote the logbook. The log largely contains navigational data, weather reports, and various notes about the health and desertions of the crew.
The logbook is bound in canvas or sailcloth with twine stitching on spine and right side, circa 220 pages, 166 which are filled with ink entries. The account of the second journey begins on p. 92 of the volume. The cover has hand printing in ink that reads "Ship Herald Stonington." Images of whales have been stamped into the log book during the first journey. Such stamps generally indicate that a whale was taken on that day. The stampings are individualized with additional illustrations and many also have a red or orange colored substance spouting out of the blowhole. (The techniques for killing a whale during the nineteenth century involved stabbing the whale until blood spouted out of its blowhole.) Some of the daily notes are in columnar format providing the hour of the day, knots, fathoms, course, wind, and general notes. In the back of the volume, lists of provisions for the journey are recorded.
- Item 0036: Shelved in SPEC MSS 0097 oversize
Purchase, 1956.
Processed and encoded by Norieta Hagerty, February 2007.
People
Organization
Subject
- Logbooks--19th century
- Whaling--New England--History--19th century
- Whaling Ships--History--19th century
Occupation
- Publisher
- University of Delaware Library Special Collections
- Finding Aid Author
- University of Delaware Library, Special Collections
- Finding Aid Date
- 2007 February 27
- Access Restrictions
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The collection is open for research.
- Use Restrictions
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Use of materials from this collection beyond the exceptions provided for in the Fair Use and Educational Use clauses of the U.S. Copyright Law may violate federal law. Permission to publish or reproduce is required from the copyright holder. Please contact Special Collections, University of Delaware Library, http://library.udel.edu/spec/askspec/