1st Edition

The Arctic Whaling Journals of William Scoresby the Younger / Volume I / The Voyages of 1811, 1812 and 1813

Edited By C. Ian Jackson, William Scoresby Copyright 2004
    304 Pages
    by Routledge

    304 Pages
    by Routledge

    William Scoresby (1789-1857) made his first voyage in the whaler Resolution from Whitby to the Greenland Sea, west of Spitsbergen, in 1800. Three years later he was formally apprenticed to his father and another three years saw him promoted to chief officer. On 5 October 1810, his twenty-first birthday, ’the earliest at which, by reason of age, I could legally hold a command’, his father moved to Greenock and another ship, relinquishing the Resolution to his son. Another ten years would see the publication of what has been described as ’one of the most remarkable books in the English language’, his two-volume An Account of the Arctic Regions, with a History and Description of the Northern Whale-Fishery (1820). Even before he took command of the Resolution, two developments had occurred that, when combined with his seamanship and whaling skill, were to make that book ’the foundation stone of Arctic science’ and cause the journals of his annual voyages to be remarkable accounts in their own right. First, Scoresby had studied, during two brief winters at the University of Edinburgh. Teachers such as John Playfair and Robert Jameson had made him aware of the scientific importance of his arctic experience. Together with Sir Joseph Banks, the president of the Royal Society, they encouraged him to observe, experiment and record, and provided opportunities for his data to be published. Secondly, this encouragement, and the study habits he developed at Edinburgh, led Scoresby to expand the logs of his arctic voyages into lengthy journals that contained scientific records and social and religious comment as well as detailed descriptions of navigation and whaling.

    Illustrations and maps; Preface; Glossary; Introduction: The journals; The Scoresby family; Whitby and the whaling industry in the early 19th century; The Bowhead whale; The whaling process; Whaling in wartime; Father and son: The Scoresbys and their ships 1811-13; 'Open' and 'close' seasons; Scoresby's navigation; Conclusion: the emerging Arctic scientist; The Journals of William Scoresby the Younger: Journal of the 1811 voyage; Journal of the 1812 voyage; Journal of the 1813 voyage; List of works cited; Index.

    Biography

    Ian Jackson took part in the Canadian International Geophysical Year expedition to northern Ellesmere Island in 1957-58 and then taught at the London School of Economics and worked for the Canadian Government in Ottawa. He is a former Executive Director of Sigma Xi in New Haven, Connecticut, and is an Associate Fellow of Timothy Dwight College, Yale University. His publications include 'Letters from the 49th Parallel, 1857-1873' for the Champlain Society (Toronto, 2000).