WHALING LOG. Manuscript ship's log of the ship Christopher Mitchell, headed on each page: "Remarks on board of the Christopher Mitchell" or "Remarks...Bound to the Pacific Ocean...," probably kept in the hand of Perry Winslow (1816-1890), daily entires from 9 December 1848 to 20 October 1852, with FIFTY-TWO PEN AND INK "WHALE STAMPS" recording successful harpoonings, twenty-seven pen and ink "tail stamps" recording unsuccessful harpoonings, 288 1/4 pages, folio, contemporary half calf and marbled paper boards, binding worn, text with scattered dampstains and spotting.

Details

WHALING LOG. Manuscript ship's log of the ship Christopher Mitchell, headed on each page: "Remarks on board of the Christopher Mitchell" or "Remarks...Bound to the Pacific Ocean...," probably kept in the hand of Perry Winslow (1816-1890), daily entires from 9 December 1848 to 20 October 1852, with FIFTY-TWO PEN AND INK "WHALE STAMPS" recording successful harpoonings, twenty-seven pen and ink "tail stamps" recording unsuccessful harpoonings, 288 1/4 pages, folio, contemporary half calf and marbled paper boards, binding worn, text with scattered dampstains and spotting.

Provenance

Perry Winslow (1816-1890), probably an officer of the crew.

Lot Essay

A log of an extremely successful whaling voyage which took the Christopher Mitchell to many different ports, including Japan, "Tealand" and Sidney, Australia. Whales were sighted, persued harpooned ("struck") and taken at intervals; the log records the hunt for these mammals in great detail, 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 on the Christopher Mitchell are all of the same size, approximately 50mm. in length (2 in.).

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