Hello readers! My name is Jessica and I’ve been a volunteer at The Mariners’ Museum Library for just over a year now. I am transcribing a set of logbooks from a 1850s whaling voyage right now, which includes a log from the captain, his wife, and his ten year old daughter. The variety of perspectives [...]

The Library’s inaugural exhibit “Keepers of the Sea: Logbooks from The Mariners’ Museum Library” has opened in our new exhibit area. “Keepers of the Sea” comprises logbooks and artifacts highlighting the library’s vast collection of records from various ships throughout the 18th to 20th centuries.  The exhibit uses the logbooks to narrate experiential aspects of life [...]

One Saturday in March of 1864, a man aboard the whale ship John P. West wrote in his journal, “My Pidgeon layed 4 eggs.”  He also documented the day that his dog fell overboard (Logbook #027).  Nine years earlier Asenath Taber, daughter of a whaler, noted the “beautiful little chicken” her family had on board [...]