Whaling Disaster of 1871

The Whaling Disaster of 1871 was an incident off the northern Alaskan coast in which a fleet of 33 American whaling ships were trapped in the Arctic ice in late 1871 and subsequently abandoned. It dealt a serious blow to the American whaling industry, already in decline.

The Whaling Disaster of 1871.

The 1871 whaling season

Abandonment of the Whalers

Ships receiving the Captains, Officers, and Crews of Abandoned Ships

In late June 1871, forty whaleships passed north through Bering Strait, hunting bowhead whales.[1] By August the vessels had passed as far as Point Belcher, near Wainwright, Alaska, before a stationary high, parked over northeast Siberia, reversed the normal wind pattern and pushed the pack ice toward the Alaskan coast. Seven ships were able to escape to the south, but 33 others were trapped. Within two weeks the pack had tightened around the vessels, crushing four ships.[2] The vessels were spread out in a long line, some 60 miles (97 km) south of Point Franklin.[3]

On September 12 the Ships masters met aboard the Champion and agreed that, weather permitting, they would evacuate within the next few days.[4] Each Captain was to return to their ship and prepare whaleboats lightened of gear so that they could be slid across the ice-shelves between the open-water. The ships were strung-out over some 50 miles at this time, in open water in groups of three to five, separated by ice, but within sight of other ships. The signal of abandonment was to strike the American flag. On the morning of September 14 scout boats from the John Wells and Eugenia returned with the news of the rescue ships waiting to the South . After each the ships struck their flag, the 1,219 people aboard the ships evacuated in small whaleboats with a three-month supply of provisions, crossed 70 miles (110 km) of ocean and ice shelves, and were eventually brought to safety by the seven ships which had escaped the ice to the south.[2][5] Amazingly, there were no casualties. It was widely reported and accepted that a single crew member stayed on the Massachusetts through that Winter, but his identify has been lost to history[6]

The seven whalers that escaped took the following number of rescued whale men: the Europa (280), the Arctic (250), the Progress (221), the Lagoda (195), the Daniel Webster (113), the Midas (100), and the Chance(60).[1] They were forced to dump their catch and most of their equipment overboard to make room for passengers on the return trip to Honolulu.[2] The last of the rescue ships, the Chance, arrived on November 22.

The total loss was valued at over $1,600,000 ($34.15 million in today's dollars). Twenty-two of the wrecked vessels were from New Bedford, Massachusetts.[7] In 1872 the bark Minerva was discovered intact and subsequently salvaged,[8] but the rest were crushed in the ice, sank, or were stripped of wood by the local Inupiat.[5] It is reported that the Concordia, George Howland, and the Thomas Dickenson, owned by George (Jr.) and Matthew Howland brothers, were not insured and represented 1/3 of their fleet.[6]

Lost whaling vessels

The lost vessels were as follows:[7][6]

Vessel	Homeport	Captain[6]	Est Vessel value[6]	Notes
Awashonks	New Bedford, MA	Ariel Norton	$58,000	Crushed in the ice on September 8, 1871.[1]
Concordia	New Bedford, MA	Robert Jones	$75,000	Abandoned and lost. Wreck burned by local Inuit.[6][9] This Ship was on its maiden voyage
Contest	New Bedford, MA	Leander C. Owen	$40,000	Abandoned and lost.
Elizabeth Swift	New Bedford, MA	George W. Bliven	$60,000	Abandoned and lost.
Emily Morgan	New Bedford, MA	Benjamin Dexter	$60,000	Abandoned and lost. Wreck later found ashore.[6]
Eugenia	New Bedford, MA	Daniel B. Nye	$56,000	Abandoned and lost.
Fanny	New Bedford, MA	Lewis W. Williams	$58,000	Abandoned and lost.
Gay Head	New Bedford, MA	William H. Kelley	$40,000	Abandoned and lost. Wreck burned by local Inuit.[6][9]
George	New Bedford, MA	Abraham Osborn	$40,000	Abandoned and lost.
George Howland	New Bedford, MA	James H. Knowles	$43,000	Abandoned and lost.
Henry Taber	New Bedford, MA	Timothy C. Packard	$52,000	Abandoned and lost.
John Wells	New Bedford, MA	Aaron Dean	$40,000	Abandoned and lost.
Massachusetts	New Bedford, MA	West Mitchell	$46,000	Abandoned and wrecked. One lone sailor remained with the wreck through the winter.
Minerva	New Bedford, MA	Hezekiah Allen	$50,000	Abandoned. Discovered intact in 1872; manned and taken south.[8]
Navy	New Bedford, MA	George F. Bouldry	$48,000	Abandoned and lost.
Oliver Crocker	New Bedford, MA	James H. Fisher	$48,000	Abandoned and lost.
Reindeer	New Bedford, MA	B. F. Loveland	$40,000	Abandoned and lost. Sunken wreck found in 1872.[9]
Roman	New Bedford, MA	Jared Jernegan	$60,000	Crushed in the ice on September 7, 1871.[1]
Seneca	New Bedford, MA	Edmund Kelley	$70,000	Abandoned and lost. Beached wreck found in 1872.[6][9]
Thomas Dickenson	New Bedford, MA	Valentine Lewis	$50,000	Abandoned and lost. Wreck found in 1872.[6][9]
William Rotch	New Bedford, MA	Cromwell Morslander	$43,000	Abandoned and lost.
Monticello	New London, CT	Thomas W. Williams	$45,000	Abandoned and lost.
J.D. Thompson	New London, CT	Capt. Allen	$45,000	Abandoned and lost.
Carlotta	San Francisco, CA	E. Everett Smith	$52,000	Abandoned and lost.
Florida	San Francisco, CA	D. R. Fraser	$51,000	Abandoned and lost. Wreck burned by local Inuit.[6][9]
Victoria	San Francisco, CA	Capt. Redfield	$30,000	Abandoned and lost.
Comet	Honolulu, HI	"Capt. Sylvia" (possibly Joseph D Silva)	$20,000	Crushed in the ice on September 2, 1871.[1]
Julian	Honolulu, HI	John Heppingstone	$40,000	Abandoned and lost.
Kohola	Honolulu, HI	Alexander Almy	$20,000	Abandoned and lost. Wreck later found ashore.[6]
Paia	Honolulu, HI		$20,000	Abandoned and lost.
Champion	Edgartown, MA	Henry Pease	$40,000	Abandoned and lost. Wreck later found ashore.[6]
Mary	Edgartown, MA	Edward P. Herendeen	$57,000	Abandoned and lost.

See also

• Whale oil
• Overland Relief Expedition

Further reading

Nichols, Peter (2009). Final Voyage: A Story of Arctic Disaster and One Fateful Whaling Season (Oil and Ice: A Story of Arctic Disaster and the Rise and Fall of America's Last Whaling Dynasty ed.). Putnam. ISBN 978-0399156021.

References

1. Alexander Starbuck. "HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN WHALE FISHERY FROM ITS EARLIEST INCEPTION TO THE YEAR 1876".
2. Paul Edward Parker. "Study focuses on end of whaling for city".
3. "The Whaling Disaster of 1871".
4. Allen, Everett S. (1983). Children of the Light. Little Brown & Company. ISBN 0-940160-23-4.
5. Robert McKenna. The Dictionary of Nautical Literacy.
6. Everett S. Allen. Children of the Light. (Parnassus Imprints, 1983.)
7. "Overview of American Whaling: Arctic Whaling". Archived from the original on November 10, 2011.
8. John Randolph Spears (1908). The Story of the New England Whalers. The Macmillan Company. p. 403. Bark Roman.
9. Report of the Commissioner.