RESOURCES
LOG BOOKS
Although the primary target of investigation is the log books of whaling ships, there will be times for cross referencing and following leads which will require manuscripts beyond the log book.
The Newport log may have mentioned “worked the lathe” at the end of many entries, but none ever explained why. It was in the journal of Sophie Porter, a captain's wife who accompanied her husband on this voyage as many wives did, in this case and others, who kept a personal diary of events that happened over the winter of a social nature and not related to any ship business, that we find the captain was making baseball bats to replace the ones that were broken during games played on the ice with one such game being the subject of a painter owned by the New Bedford Whaling Museum, and among the spectators could very well be Scott the Newport steward.
This is the website of the New Bedford Whaling Museum. The museum library documents American and international whaling history, voyages and travels, exploration, natural history, the local history of the Old Dartmouth regions including New Bedford, Fairhaven, Acushnet, Dartmouth and Westport, Massachusetts, and New England regional history.
Included are books, from before the 1500s, rare books and pamphlets, newspapers dating to the late 18th century, art reference, local history reference, government documents, children’s books and special collections in which are housed the log books and personal papers of families and businesses that could be useful
The documentation of the whaling industry is extensive. This site contains searchable information from many sources including logbooks, journals, ship registers, and newspapers.
Entering a ship or persons name in the search engine brings up crew lists, links to logs, a history of the ship etc which supplies needed details and links when following a hunch or a lead.
This is a digital library of Internet sites and other cultural artifacts in digital form that provides free access to researchers, historians, scholars, people with print disabilities, and the general public. The mission is to provide Universal Access to All Knowledge.
On occasion when looking for a logbook on various sites, you will be sent here automatically as well as being able to do your own searches.
Along with these which are more dedicated to our purposes, the United States Library of Congress and local library web sites can lead to the manuscripts, including log books, that might be helpful.