Hello everyone - a link to a Paper presenting findings from a now thirty plus year study of log books, journals and other sources documenting traditional British and American sperm whaling in the 1800s to the north of Australia, Indonesia and in New Guinea waters. The dataset comprises 850 British sightings extracted from the logs of 13 British whaling voyages covering the period 1820 to 1850 (collected by the author) and 481 American sightings (1833 to 1873) drawn from 50 logs abstracted in the American Offshore Whaling Logbook database hosted on Whaling History. Sightings include strikes and captures and in the great majority are sightings of more than one sperm whale. The study finds that from 1804, British whaleships utilised the port of Kupang on South-West Timor as a major service port to support extensive sperm whaling activities across Indonesian waters. During the next 50 years at least one in five British whaling voyages (over 300) undertook whaling in the defined area. The study also finds that vessels from the American Whaling Fleet were present but did not practice deployment strategies similar to the British. By documenting ‘where the whalers went and when’ three new whaling grounds in Indonesian waters have been identified. In addition two previously identified whaling grounds are now better defined.
https://www.academia.edu/47529996/British_Sperm_Whaling_Activity_to_the_North_West_of_Australia_and_in_Indonesian_and_New_Guinea_Waters_in_the_1800s_Revised_April_2021 Regards Dale Chatwin Brisbane, Australia
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