Ship's Papers of Hattie E. Smith (Schooner) of Edgartown

File — Box: Multi-collection box

Identifier: 003-02-07

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

This collection consists of scant documentation for the Whaling Schooner Hattie E. Smith, a few pieces relating to each noted voyage. Much of this material was found in other whaling boxes, where it apparently had been misfiled with papers for other Osborn vessels.

Dates

1881 - 1893

Creator

Nicholson, Paul C. (Paul Coe), 1888-1956 (Collector, Person)

Conditions Governing Access

Materials are open for research.

Conditions Governing Use

PPL believes this collection is in the public domain. Users of this item are responsible for determining copyright restrictions.

Biographical / Historical

The Schooner Hattie E. Smith made eight whaling voyages from Edgartown between 1881 and 1894 under the ownership of Samuel Osborn Jr. of Edgartown, Massachusetts. Osborn began building a fleet of whaling ships in 1870 and by 1880 was the largest shipping agent of whaling property in the United States.

This collection includes ship’s papers related to six of the whaling voyages made by Hattie E. Smith. They include the voyage of 1881 under Master Benjamin F. Nickerson; voyage of 1883 and voyage of 29 July 1884-3 September 1885 both under Master Edward S. Ripley; voyage of 1885-1887 under Master Frederick Plummer Taber (1849-1887) who was replaced by Master Joseph D. Silva (1822-1901); voyage of 1887-1889 and voyage of 1892-1893 both under Master Zenas E. Bourne (b. 1829).

Extent

.4 Linear Feet (1 manuscript box )

Language of Materials

English

Additional Description

Arrangement

The collection is organized chronologically by voyage.

Custodial History

Acquired as part of the Paul C. Nicholson Whaling Collection in 1956.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Gift of Paul C. Nicholson, 1956.

Related Materials

003-01-02, Nicholson Whaling Collection Logbooks, Providence Public Library. Includes fourteen logbooks and account books for the Hatte E. Smith from 1881-1892.

003-05-02, Nicholson Whaling Collection Artifacts, Providence Public Library.

Hattie E. Smith logbook, 1885-1887, New Bedford Whaling Museum

Hattie E. Smith logbook, 1883, Martha’s Vineyard Museum

Separated Materials

Sea chest for the Hattie E. Smith cataloged separately in the Nicholson Whaling Artifact Collection.

Logbooks and account books of Hattie E. Smith are cataloged separately within the Nicholson Whaling Logbook Collection. These items are digitized and available at https://archive.org/details/providencepublicnicholson

Processing Information

Previously part of general Nicholson Whaling Manuscript Collection, Subgroup 4. Processing by Judith Lund in 2008 with additions made to the finding aid by Janaya Kizzie in 2014. The decision to reprocess the subgroups as individual collections was made by Jordan Goffin in 2018. The collection was reprocessed by Kate Wells in 2019.