Australian Colonial Whaling Ship Voyages

This Australian Colonial Whaling Ship Voyages database lists the voyages made in the nineteenth century by the whaling vessels that were owned, registered or based in Australian ports. A few British whalers are also included, some due to the fact they were temporarily based in an Australian port and others because they were owned, or part-owned, by Australian residents although registered and based in Britain.

The database was built from six lists compiled by Mark Howard—The voyages; The fleet; The owners; The captains; The crewmen; and Where the Australian whalers went.

Vessels, masters and voyages may be searched in the site search (top of every page or from the Search page) or in the Australian voyages data viewer. Crewmen, Owners and Reports can be searched in the site search.

Cargo abbreviations

Abbreviations used in the Cargo column when displaying Australian voyages.
AbbreviationDefinition
ambambergris
bbarrel
bhbowhead whale oil
blblack oil, usually from the southern right whale
blfblackfish oil
bubundles
ccirca or about
cleanno whale oil or baleen aboard
cncoconut oil
cpcopra
cwthundredweight (50.80 kg)
esoelephant seal oil
ggallon
guguano
hbhumpback whale oil
hmhead matter or spermaceti
lbpound weight (.45 kg)
ooil
ssseal skins
spsperm whale oil
swsandalwood
ttun or ton
tstortoiseshell
wbwhalebone or baleen
@may be more