American Offshore Whaling Voyages database, containing one or more records for each American voyage for which evidence was found—at the least, the name of the vessel and/or master, the port and the approximate date of starting and ending. A basic suite of information is included for most voyages, and usually substantial additional information is included on the ship’s capacity and rig, declared destination, and quantity of whale products returned. Basic biographical information about the master is included where known.
American Offshore Whaling Logbook database, containing records transcribed from whaling log books giving information on the whales seen and captured, and the date and the location of the vessel. These data were extracted from the original whaling logbooks during three separate scientific research projects, one conducted by Lt. Cmdr. Matthew Fontaine Maury in the 1850s, the second conducted by Charles Haskins Townsend in the 1930s, and the third conducted by a team from the Census of Marine Life project (CoML, www.coml.org) between 2000 and 2010. Data from each separate project is also available here.
Crew List database. A consolidated data set that includes the crew lists of whaling voyages from New Bedford, Fall River, and Salem in Massachusetts, and New London in Connecticut, that have been compiled as part of various projects and from various sources over the years.
Sources for American Whaling Voyages. A bibiliography of more than 700 documentary sources for the study of whaling history, gathered during the compilation of the American Offshore Whaling Voyages database.