This paper lists accounts of whaling voyages to the Arctic from British ports, dating from the early 17th to early 20th centuries, that are available as logbooks, journals or publications for study in British, Canadian or United States public institutions. Included are all original whaling logbooks and journals located by the authors, mainly but not exclusively from previous listings, plus early publications by whaling masters, mates, surgeons and others in the trade containing details of particular voyages, and later accounts based on edited versions of holograph manuscripts. Records of whaling voyages are of intrinsic historical and sociological value, and many include data on weather and sea ice conditions that are of particular relevance to current studies of climatic variation.
Fearless he stood, when frozen floods surround, And the strong ship in crystal chains was bound:-When hope has dwindled to the smallest speck, And crowding ice has risen to the deck; The ship half cofin 'd in the biting frost, And home and country seem for ever lost; Undaunted PHtPPS survey 'd the frigh@l scene, With heart unconquer'd, and his mind serene, (Winter's Harp of St Hilda)' It is not surprising that the great eighteenth-century voyages of circumnavigation to Terra Australis and the South Seas have overshadowed the expedition of His Majesty's Ships Rucehorse and Carcass to the Arctic in the summer of 1773. The results of the Pacific voyages were of immense importance to geography, science, politics, philosophy and artas recent studies of Cook, Bougainville, and other navigators have shown. The same cannot be said of Phipps's voyage of 1773, since it discovered no new land or people, lasted only for one season, and did not attain the North Pole. It was, nevertheless, of considerable historical and scientific interest and deserves greater recognition than merely being known as the expedition on which young Nelson tried to shoot the polar bear. The voyage has sometimes been called a failure, but when one considers the matter, it was bound to fail. It was not until two centuries later, in our own time, that a ship navigated the ice of the central polar basin to reach the North Pole. The polar route had been advocated as a way towards the riches of the Indies from the days of Robert Thorne, merchant of Bristol in the early sixteenth century and by the Muscovy Company and others in the seventeenth century. Voyages towards the north were made by Dutch and English ships, resulting in the discovery of Spitsbergen and the establishment of a profitable whaling industry by the Dutch, Danes, French, North Germans, and English. The seas north of 80" remained unexplored, although retreating ice occasionally tempted whalers beyond 8 1 O. This unknown area on their globes was seen as something of a reproach to the Age of Enlightenment by a number of the voyagers and savants of the later eighteenth century. Among these was the Pacific explorer Louis-Antoine de Bougainville (1729-18 1 1) in France, not long returned from his round-theworld voyage of 1766-69. Martin-Allanic (1964) in his admiiable study of Bougainville writes that after completing his Voyage autour du monde, Bougainville in 1772 re-read the
JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.
Nares is perhaps best known as the commander of the Challenger expedition from 1872 to 1874, a voyage of exploration which, it has been said, laid the foundations of almost every branch of oceanography as we know it today (British Museum, 1973). He also achieved fame as commander of the British Arctic Expedition of 187576, and as the author of Seamanship, which went through many editions in the second half of the 19th century. He is a fine example of the serving naval officer in the tradition of Parry, Franklin and Ross, one who could combine a naval career with a broad interest in science and the active pursuit of geographical exploration.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
hi@scite.ai
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.