January 31, 2025January 31, 2025 by dtcaldwell

British Southern whaling database updated, January 2025

The British Southern Whale Fishery voyage and crew datasets have been updated with 900 amended or new whale oil cargo entries. This represents almost one-third of all known British Southern voyages. The updates have been sourced from the ledgers of the London Gauger held at the London Metropolitan Archives. A Working Paper describing the nature of the Gauger’s records and related matters is available (see sidebar). The new data was extracted with the support of the International Whaling Commission (IWC) and will hopefully assist in developing estimates for the historical population of the southern right whale.

Relevance of the Accounts of the London Gauger held at the London Metropolitan Archives (LMA) to the study of the South Seas Whaling Trade out of London

Dale Chatwin © 2025

Introduction

One of the historical rights held by the City of London was the right to raise revenue by the gauging (measuring liquids by volume) of dutiable goods imported into London. The primary cargo types gauged being wines, spirits or oils. In the late 1700s and ﬁrst half of the 1800s this right was exercised by an appointed Deputy of the City, the London Gauger.

One trade that the records of the Gauger document particularly well is the whaling trade, which was in eﬀect a business of not one but two ﬁsheries – one to the north and one to the south of Great Britain. For the purposes of this article the period of interest is 1775 to 1861 – the era of the British Southern Whale Fishery (BSWF). Of particular interest are the Gauger ‘Ledger’ records, covering the period 1784 to 1787; 1802 to 1841; and 1853 to 1858.

The Ledgers are particularly valuable as they summarise, in annual form, the interactions of the Gauger with whale shipowners, merchants and brokers importing whale or seal oil into London from foreign parts.

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