Whaling History - New Bedford Whaling Museum

Whaling History

Whaling History

Whaling History.org

Connecting All Things Whaling. This data-driven site will be useful to a wide range of people, from family historians searching for ancestors, to scholars of the whaling industry, to teachers and their students.

Whales and Hunting

Learn which whales were hunted and why; how they captured and processed them; how technology changed the industry.

Yankee Whaling

Learn the early beginnings of North American whaling through to the Great Age of Yankee Whaling. Get a sense of the challenges and changes that spelled the decline of the whaling fleet.

Life Aboard

Learn about the isolated society and daily life aboard a whaleship.  Look at the holidays and festivities at sea and look at family life at sea.

Art and Literature

Learn about scrimshaw, the most well-known whaler’s art. Look at the most famous of all whaling literature, Herman Melville’s Moby-Dick.

Vessels and Terminology

An introduction to the essential tools – the vessels – and terminology used aboard a whaling voyage.

Introduction to Whaling Logbooks and Journals

By Rachel Adler, Intern, New Bedford Whaling Museum - Whaling logbooks and journals give a unique perspective as to what life was like aboard a whaling vessel.