Ship's Papers of Perry (Bark) of Edgartown

File — Multiple Containers

Identifier: 003-02-13

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

This collection includes the records of the second and third whaling voyages of the Perry including shipping papers, correspondences, protests, bills and receipts, and crew accounts. The bulk of the records reflect the voyage of 1877-1880. Of particular note are details about the death of Master George Nickerson and crew dissatisfaction between his replacement, Master Benjamin F. Nickerson, and the First Mate, Horace Sherman.

Dates

1875-1880

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

Built as a 10-gun brig for the U.S. Navy, Perry was purchased for whaling by New London, Connecticut interests in 1867. The vessel made one whaling voyage from New London from 1867-1870 under Master Stephen Bolles and was sold to Samuel Osborn Jr. at Edgartown, Massachusetts in 1874. 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.

The Perry made its second whaling voyage from 1874-177 under Master George W. Bassett and its final whaling voyage from 1877-1880 under Master George W. Nickerson (d. 1880) who died during the voyage and was replaced by Benjamin F. Nickerson. The vessel was lost off Bermuda during a hurricane on August 30, 1880.

Extent

.4 Linear Feet (1 manuscript box, 1 folder in oversized box)

Language of Materials

English

Additional Description

Arrangement

The collection is organized chronologically by voyage.

Custodial History

Unknown.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Unknown.

Accruals

No accruals are expected.

Related Materials

003-01-02, Nicholson Whaling Collection Logbooks, Providence Public Library. Includes one logbook and seven account books for the Perry from 1867-1880.

Perry logbooks, New Bedford Whaling Museum

Separated Materials

Logbooks and account books of Perry 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 11. 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.