Massachusetts -- Business, industries, and trades -- Whaling

Scope and Contents

The collection includes the records of three whaling voyages of the schooner Aurora including articles of agreement, correspondence, crew lists, bills & receipts and crew accounts. It includes fairly complete documentation of all three voyages including the expenses of the work in Fairhaven prior to the 1886 voyage.

Scope and Contents

This collection consists of records of the construction of the vessel as well as the first three whaling voyages of the Betsey Williams out of Stonington including shipping papers, correspondence, crew lists, bills and receipts and crew accounts.

Scope and Contents

This collection consists of records of four whaling voyages of the Clarice including shipping papers, correspondence, crew lists, bills and receipts and crew accounts.

Scope and Contents This collection consists of the papers of Courser during a whaling voyage from 1865-1869. Included are records related to the crew and financial records. Of particular note in this collection is documentation relating to the crew including arrest and detention, discharge and death. There is also documentation regarding the shipment of kanakas, Pacific Islanders who worked as indentured servants. Additionally, there are papers related to damage to the vessel from a hurricane off Block...

Scope and Contents

The collection includes the records of two whaling voyages of the schooner E. H. Hatfield including articles of agreement, correspondence, crew lists, bills and receipts and crew accounts. The papers were originally found in a sea chest which is now part of the Nicholson Whaling Artifacts Collection.

Scope and Contents

The collection includes records of all five of the voyages of the Emma Jane while Osborn was agent of the ship. These materials include shipping papers, correspondence, crew lists, bills & receipts and crew accounts. In particular, there are bills and receipts related to the condition of the vessel and repairs related to hurricane damage as well as the condemnation and sale after the final voyage.

Scope and Contents

This collection contains a small amount of business correspondence to Leonard Hammond related to various maritime enterprises as well as an insurance form for a sperm oil shipment.

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.

Scope and Contents The collection consists primarily of materials related to the Beetle family of Martha’s Vineyard. The bulk of the correspondence consists of letters from Henry Beetle to his fiancée and later wife, Eliza Eaton Beetle, written while he was onboard ship during several whaling voyages. The letters include details of daily life aboard ship as well as expressions of homesickness and loneliness. Also included are miscellaneous family papers, photographs of Henry Beetle and his wife Eliza Eaton...