October 25, 1880
Dear Uncle, I am on a boat going whaling. The boat is called The America. It is a large wooden ship with white sails. All I see is the ocean, fish, whales, other whaling ships, and the sky. I feel the wind and don’t see land at all. I smell fish, seaweed, and salt. Mother is teaching me how to write cursive. Father is working to find where the whales are. I also like to read books and explore the ship. For fun I sing sea shanties. There are songs that the crew sings while they work. As you know, this is my first time going whaling. I drink water, eat fish, soup, and duff. I miss having fresh vegetables and milk. I saw the crew catch a whale with a harpoon. Then they brought it to the ship to cut it up and make it into oil. Next they put the oil in lamps. Whale oil is also used to make perfume. It was scary to watch them catch the whale. I like being on the boat because you get to see new things. I do not like that I get really cold on the boat. Sometimes I am homesick. I miss my friends and my toys. Love, Emma April 23, 1880
My name is Elizabeth. I am from Plymouth and I am the wife of a whaling captain on the ship named America. This is my second time on a voyage. Today I sewed on the couch. I am sewing a blanket for my daughter who is seven years years old. She likes the colors purple, blue and pink. It looks like a sunset. Goodbye for today. May 18, 1880 I did not sleep last night because there was a storm. I woke up at 5 in the morning. There was a whale sighting. The harpooner jumped in to one of the smaller boats, and so did all the rest of the crew that needed to. I love the water, being on board, and helping the crew, but last night I was not happy. The boat stopped and the men rowed the whole whale back to the ship. They cut it up and downstairs they chopped it up. Next it got boiled in the trypot and became oil. Goodbye for today. June 16, 1880 Today I was a little bit homesick even though I am with my family. We only eat duff, meat, and soup. The crew always has slop for each meal. My family gets to eat the better food. The crew listens well and they do not complain even though the ship smells bad and is noisy. It is also windy and rocky.No one on the ship has scurvy or is sick. Our first stop will be Cape Horn. Goodbye for today. July 19, 1849
Today is my first day at sea on the whale ship called the Dolphin. We sailed from Fall River. My job is a cook and I like adventure. This is my 3rd time on a whale ship. My father is the captain and he suggested I become a whaler. My sister is with us. She mostly makes scrimshaw jewelry. My two brothers are coming along with us. They are crewmen. Usually crewmen aren’t allowed in the back of the ship, yet father lets them. The crew is lucky because they do not have a mean captain. Father is kind to them. I am not homesick, because the ship is our home and Mother is here, too. No crew members are sick with scurvy. I am glad, because father would have to act as the dentist if they had problems with their teeth. As the cook I get items with Vitamin C when the ship makes stops. Our next stop is Cape Verde. I also cook with chicken, eggs, and goat milk. I do not have much free time, because I am busy making the food and stew for the crew. The crew has to eat in the room where their beds are. I make them stew and they call it slop. They carry the big container down their bunks and they dip mugs inside and drink it. Sometimes I am okay with hearing the crew sing. I stay in the stern where my father’s room is when the crew is cutting the whale. I don’t want to be a part of that. Matthew August 12, 1818
Dear Mother and Father, I arrived in America from France safely. I got a job on a whaling ship, named Harpooner. I am one of the blacksmiths, just like the job I had back home. As the blacksmith for the ship, I make the iron hoops for the barrels that hold the boiled blubber, which is oil. Sometimes I need to repair the trypots where they boil the blubber. Today I made a harpoon. A harpoon is the tool that they use to throw at a whale to kill it. I start one piece, then I grab the sharp end of the harpoon and put them together. Then the harpoon is finished. Sometimes it bounces off, and sometimes it can stick inside the whale. I have many friends on board. I have a friend named Jacob. He sleeps on the top bunk. I gave him one of my knives because he needed it to cut the whale blubber. His knife got lost overboard. The first mate is named Jeff; the second mate is Fred. I am friendly with the first mate, which is interesting because Fred and the third mate are mean to me. The captain said we are going to Japan. I am not homesick, I am fine for now. We eat fish, duff and water. I miss Mother’s cooking. No one is sick right now, but four people have died from a giant whale’s tail slapping the smaller whale boat. I stay on the larger ship so I do not worry about getting hurt. Your dearly beloved son, Joe Dear Sarah,
It's me, Minnie. I'm 10 now. We celebrated my birthday on the main deck. The weather was cold but sunny. The chef put a candle in a piece of duff and the crew sang happy birthday. They swung me in the bosun's chair for my birthday. It was very fun to swing back and forth over the water and feel the air on my face. My special friend, Jeremiah made me a scrimshaw necklace with a humpback whale engraved on it. Jeremiah is one of the crew members. He is a strong harpooner, the best one on the boat. We have almost reached Alaska on board our ship, the Amazon. Life on the boat is fun but hard. The weather can be bad and many people get sea sick and are tossed out of their beds at night if the waves are big. The food here is not the best I've ever tasted. We have hard tack and we also have this thing called duff which is a pudding. We have animals on board. We get milk from the goat and eggs from the chickens. We do not have any fruit on the boat and two people have scurvy. It is a sickness you get when you don't have enough Vitamin C. Your gums start bleeding and you get tired. I have learned a lot about whaling and watch the crew kill and process the whales. I‘ve even seen a Nantucket Sleigh ride which is when a harpooner throws a harpoon into a whale. The harpooner holds on to the harpoon rope and and the harpooner and his crew gets pulled along. It’s scary to think everyone in that small boat could die. The processing of the whale, involves a lot of yelling because they’re trying to maneuver men on the ropes and dangerous. People dangle from ropes and there is much blood as they cut the whale into smaller pieces. Sometimes hungry sharks go under the whale and if a sailor falls in he will be eaten by the shark! Then they boil the pieces and but the oil in the barrels. In my spare time, I draw in my journal and listen to the crew sing shanty songs. Sometimes me, Thomas and Jeremiah play hide and seek and climb the rigging together. I like to listen to the birds squawking and chirping and the waves crashing against the boat. I miss London and New Bedford, and especially you, but it’s fun for me to be on this whaling voyage because I am becoming an even braver, and more adventurous person. From, Minnie June 25, 1888
My name is Andrew. I am a cook From Westport. I just cooked some rice and beans for the captain and his wife and his kids. I also cooked for the first mate, the second and the 3rd mate. The mates did not get the salted meat that the captain and his family got. I just cooked up some hard tack for the rest of the crew. They do not like like it, but they have to eat it so they don’t starve. When I am not cooking I'm making scrimshaw for mother and father. I am carving a picture of our ship, the HMS Queen Kitty. The scrimshaw shows our ship out at sea, and the crew rowing their boats back to her with a sperm whale. The tooth I’m carving on came from the same sperm whale in the scrimshaw. When I joined, I didn't want to be a harpooner because I had no experience. Being a cook is better because I am scared to go on a Nantucket sleigh ride! Goodbye. P.S. It's my birthday. June 30, 1888 Dear Diary , Hello it's Andrew again. The HMS Queen Kitty is staying in the Caribbean. I have gone ashore to get tropical fruits. The crew is excited to eat bananas, pineapples, limes, mangos, and plantains. They have been eating hardtack and duff for three months. Some of the crew have scurvy. They have bleeding gums and they are tired. I am hoping that all of these fruits will help them feel better. It was a stormy night last night and I heard the waves crashing against our ship. The crew was rushing through the main hatch to get to the deck. They climbed up the main mast to pull up the sails. There was yelling and shouting, as they tried to keep the boat from capsizing. A huge wave smashed into our boat, and Joe, the blacksmith nearly drowned. It took awhile for me to fall asleep, and I was awake until storm drifted away. Goodbye. PS. Tomorrow we leave for South America. August 25, 1839
My name is Alice. This is my 10th year on the Whaling Ship named Sea Queen. My husband Edwin is the captain. He says the ship is named after me. We have a daughter named Mary and this is her first year on the whaling voyage. She is nine years old. I teach Mary how to write cursive and how to feed our pet bird. I am an animal lover, which I why I have a pet bird on board. I live in a little room near the front of the boat. My husband had the room made for me so I do not get ill from the sea. I'm originally from Martha's Vineyard. I like to have adventures and I am quiet. I came along because I did not want to stay home alone with my parents while Edwin was the captain. I cannot wait to get to Essequibo River in South America to get more water. I am most excited to visit the port of Hawaii. My husband is very nice to the crew. The cooper gives him a hard time. He purposely puts the barrels together in the wrong order, even though they have numbers on them. I cannot believe that the crew would sign up for this job, even with the chance of getting scurvy. The first mate taught me how to make scrimshaw. I didn’t mind that it was dirty and I could get hurt. I am making a necklace and earrings. Some sea shanties I sing are “Blow Ye Winds” and “Leave her Johnny. I hear whales and I am sad that they are being killed, but I understand. That’s all for today, until next time, Alice |
AuthorGroup of 7 writing about things that interest us. Photos taken from Google searches. Archives
April 2019
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