Australian Colonial Whaling : Crew

Australian whaling crewmen, 1805-1895

The crew data contains the names of over 5000 crewmen who served on Australian whalers in the 19th century. They are, perhaps, 8% of the total number who worked on such vessels.

The data is primarily sourced from Sydney Muster Lists to 1825, log books, Hobart Crew Lists, court records, colonial newspapers through TROVE Newspapers online, Sydney and Hobart port records, probate and intestate records and relevant books by maritime, general and family historians. An important source is Mariners and Ships in Australian Waters for Sydney whalers from 1852 to 1899.

Searching for crew members

In the Search box (in the header of every page) one can search for Australian whaling crew members by their names, by vessel names, by words that appear in the notes that are part of some crew entries, or by Whaling Resource Identifier (WRI).

Search crew members →
(You will need to narrow your search to see any results, for instance by name, vessel or year.)