WHALING LOG. Manuscript ship's log of the ship Granges, headed on each page: "Remarks On Board Ship Granges" or "Remarks Off...[whatever port of coast the Granges had anchored near]," daily entries from 13 October 1835 to 18 May 1839, with a few pen and ink drawings of island profiles, THIRTY-SEVEN PEN AND INK "WHALE STAMPS" recording successful harpoonings, twenty-five pen and ink "tail stamps" recording unsuccessful harpoonings, 150 pages, folio, contemporary half calf and marbled paper boards, binding worn, minor dampstains, spotting on a few pages.

Details

WHALING LOG. Manuscript ship's log of the ship Granges, headed on each page: "Remarks On Board Ship Granges" or "Remarks Off...[whatever port of coast the Granges had anchored near]," daily entries from 13 October 1835 to 18 May 1839, with a few pen and ink drawings of island profiles, THIRTY-SEVEN PEN AND INK "WHALE STAMPS" recording successful harpoonings, twenty-five pen and ink "tail stamps" recording unsuccessful harpoonings, 150 pages, folio, contemporary half calf and marbled paper boards, binding worn, minor dampstains, spotting on a few pages.

Provenance

Perry Winslow (1816-1890), boatsteerer of the Granges -- a descendant.

Lot Essay

A log of a whaling voyage which took the Nantucket whaler Granges to ports in California, Cape St. Lucas and the Galapagos Islands. The daily entries record the ship's longitude and latitude, weather conditions and the type of sails carried by the ship. Whales were sighted, persued, harpooned ("struck") and taken at intervals; the log records the hunt for these mammals graphically, with "Whale Stamps": wood or scrimshaw carved in the shape of a whale which were then inked and pressed to the paper of the log in the appropriate place to record kills on particular days. The stamps used by Captain Folger are all of the same size, approximately 32mm. in length (1 1/4 in.).

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