New Bedford Whaling Museum Compiles 127,000 Man Seafarer’s Database

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The following excerpt is from an article posted in the July 28, 2016 edition of the Boston Herald:

BOSTON — A digital list of the tens of thousands of men who embarked on whaling voyages out of New Bedford, from 10-year-old boys to a 70-year-old sailor who drank himself to death in South Africa, is a valuable resource for anyone researching their family’s seafaring past. Just be warned: You might not like what you find.

One man who found an ancestor’s name in the database went to the ship’s logbook for more information and got quite a shock, said Mark Procknik, the librarian at the New Bedford Whaling Museum, which compiled the list of more than 127,000 men who set sail on whaler ships from 1809 until 1927.

When the ship made a stop at Pitcairn Island in the South Pacific, someone sabotaged the vessel by boring holes in the hull. It turns out the villain was an ancestor.

“They threw him in irons, and when the ship reached Peru, they threw him off,” Procknik said.

Read the full and very interesting article.

Initially, I could not find the list online – but one of my readers did. Thanks, Nancy! See her comment below for links and directions on finding the listing. According to the AP article, the searchable list includes the sailor’s name, age, and job title, as well as his home state or country. Now and then, physical characteristics, including skin and hair color are listed. The database includes men from 33 states, 2 United States territories and over 100 foreign nations!

Thanks to ResearchBuzz for the heads-up.

About Leland Meitzler

Leland K. Meitzler founded Heritage Quest in 1985, and has worked as Managing Editor of both Heritage Quest Magazine and The Genealogical Helper. He currently operates Family Roots Publishing Company (www.FamilyRootsPublishing.com), writes daily at GenealogyBlog.com, writes the weekly Genealogy Newsline, conducts the annual Salt Lake Christmas Tour to the Family History Library, and speaks nationally, having given over 2000 lectures since 1983.

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