A HISTORICALLY IMPORTANT Whaling Log Book from the ship William Hamilton of New Bedford recording its' Pacific Ocean whaling expedition from 1834 to 1837.

This wonderful and historic log book details the whaling expedition to the Pacific Ocean by one of New Bedford's most famous whale ships the WILLIAM HAMILTON. The cruise lasted over three years from May 28, 1834 to August 23, 1837 under the command of Master William C. Swain. The book itself has recently undergone an expensive and professional conservation with new leather spine and boards. A detailed letter from the conservator will be given to the purchaser along with the original boards and what remains of the original leather spine. The book itself measures 13 1/2" by 8 1/4" and consists of 65 double sided journal pages each with as many as 10 daily entries. Interestingly, the Captain decided to record each of the more than 60 whales captured by hand drawing the whale along side the journal entry. Most captain's used a stamp to record a whale taken. This three year voyage was extremely successful for the ship owners and the crew as the total value of her cargo was over $110,000, a very large sum in those days. The final four pages of the log summarize in schedules the whales taken by each of her three whale boats, the Starboard Boat, the Waist Boat and the Larboard Bow Boat. It provides the date each whale was taken, the boat officer, where the whale was taken and the number of barrells of oil each whale yielded. Further research has turned up a list of the 33 original crew members as they were sworn in by the captain on May 26, 1834, two days before departing from New Bedford. It gives their place of birth, place of residence, citizenship, ages, height, complexion and hair color. Also provided is a photocopy of a portion of the 1848 Russell Panorama of the New Bedford waterfront showing the ship William Hamilton. Last but not least is the fact that this log book is coming on the market for the first time. Up till now it has been owned by the Stanton family, one of New Bedford's leading whaling families and ship owners since the 1820's. It was recently sold at auction by Mary Plowden-Wardlaw, aged 101 1/2 years, the widow of Otis Cook Stanton, direct decendant of the original ship owners. This is an opportunity to own an important piece of New Bedford whaling history!!