An Arctic Whaling Journal of 1791
In 1956 the University Library of Aberdeen acquired a journal written by one George Kerr, surgeon aboard the Aberdeen whaling ship Christian , during a voyage to the whale fisheries in the Greenland Sea, west and north-west of Spitsbergen. The voyage, which was in 1791, took them as far north as lat...
| Published in: | Polar Record |
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| Main Author: | |
| Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Cambridge University Press (CUP)
1959
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0032247400066717 https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0032247400066717 |
| Summary: | In 1956 the University Library of Aberdeen acquired a journal written by one George Kerr, surgeon aboard the Aberdeen whaling ship Christian , during a voyage to the whale fisheries in the Greenland Sea, west and north-west of Spitsbergen. The voyage, which was in 1791, took them as far north as lat. 81° N. The journal is seventy-nine pages long, on quarto-sized paper, and written in brown ink in a good, clear hand. A number of whalers' log books exist, recording winds and tides and noting extraordinary events, there are also published memoirs covering several voyages or giving a picture of whaling in general—like William Scoresby's book which includes an exciting narrative of the voyage of the Esk , under his command, to Spitsbergen waters, and of her preservation under most difficult circumstances. Kerr's journal is a spirited day-to-day account of an eventful though profitless voyage—the ship returning “clean” with no catch. |
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