Ship's Papers of Mattapoisett (Bark) of Rochester

File — Box: 1

Identifier: 003-02-11

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

This collection consists of records of seven completed whaling voyages of the Mattapoisett from 1841-1888 and one whaling voyage which was planned for 1889 but never undertaken. This collection contains a few miscellaneous papers from the early voyages, mostly odd papers that were found in the corresponding logbooks and journals and in the collection of the papers of Leonard Hammond of Mattapoisett. The bulk of the records are for the last whaling voyage of the vessel from 1886-1888 under Master John S. Reynolds. Materials include shipping papers, correspondence, crew lists, bills and receipts and crew accounts. Also included is a statement of Captain Reynolds as to why he did not go on another voyage of this vessel and Osborn's agreement with him for partial compensation contingent on winning a lawsuit.

Dates

1841-1892

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 Bark Mattapoisett was built in 1836 at Rochester, Massachusetts. The vessel made seven whaling voyages from Mattapoisett between 1836 and 1846, sixteen voyages from Westport between 1847 and 1874, and five voyages from New Bedford between 1874 and 1885 before being purchased by Edgartown whaling agent Samuel Osborn, Jr. in 1886. 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. Mattapoisett made one voyage from Edgartown for Osborn, and then was laid up at the dock where she remained for many years.

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.

Accruals

No accruals are expected.

Related Materials

003-01-02, Nicholson Whaling Collection Logbooks, Providence Public Library. Includes nine logbooks and account books for the Mattapoisett from 1847-1886.

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

Mattapoisett logbooks, 1841-1873, New Bedford Whaling Museum

Separated Materials

Sea chest for the Mattapoisett cataloged separately in the Nicholson Whaling Artifact Collection.

Logbooks and account books of Mattapoisett 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 8. 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.