Getting started

 Just search If you're not sure where to begin, use the Search box in the banner at the top of any page. Enter a person's name, a vessel name, or any other words of interest and click the 'magnifying glass' icon. This site Search function knows about all of the databases and all of the web pages on the Whaling History website. It will return any results it finds from each one in a separate tab.
James F. Smith WRI page
 Whaling Resource Identifiers Every entity record in the WhalingHistory.org databases has a unique Whaling Resource Identifier (WRI). Just as libraries assign each book a call number and museums refer to an object in their collection by an accession number, you can cite a whaling master, vessel, voyage, crew list, etc. from WhalingHistory.org by its WRI.
 The Data Viewer Interface When the the main site search is not specific or flexible enough for your needs, use the data viewers. Each database has its own data viewer—a tabular display window to interact with the data—and all of the data viewers share a common set of features.
Crew Lists: Frequently Asked Questions We receive more questions about crew lists than another single topic. Start here to understand where crew lists come from, what information they contain, and much more.
 Learn about Whaling WhalingHistory.org is a repository for data about whaling. For a general overview of whaling and whaling history, here are some resources to start your exploration. Each of them takes a different approach: a narrative, a collection of artifacts and maps, a timeline, a collection of topics, a work of literature.