Welcome on board the Bark 'Mary and Susan' on voyage from the 29th November 1886 to the 3rd November 1887 from San Francisco. Jared Jernegan, Master. Elnathan B. Fisher and Leander C. Owen, replacement Masters. Whaling ground: North pacific.
The log contains two voyages so do please check in the 'Log Pages for Transcribing - Apply here!' section for the correct pages.
Here you will find an example transcription of details
This is also a place to ask questions and request help with oddities in the log
You can bring the ship to life by sharing interesting finds from the log pages and other information about the ship
General help with marking and transcribing whaling logs
Weather and ice records from the whaling ships of the USA which contains the following
'must read' topics...
Tip: use ctrl+Pgup or ctrl+PgDn to quickly swap between the different worksheets as you move through start, primary, weather, and remarks sheets to record your findings
Treasure trove of information in the Library
Over the years this forum has accumulated a broad spectrum of detailed information which is kept in the
Library
Please do take time to visit the Library because it will afford you a great deal of help. However, do feel welcome to ask questions at any time.
Help with images
- If you want to query some text please supply the page reference (the reference changes as you view the middle of a page), and an image of the text if you wish. Help for manipulating/posting images can be found in Posting Links and Images (A Guide). If you have any problems with imaging this is the board to post that question.
- Accessing pale images. The example page used below, opened through the 'Irfan' program, 'color correction' and adjust the brightness, saturation, and gamma correction. You may have your own program for adjusting brightness and contrast. Here are the before and after images using Irfan Click to see them at full size.
Names of the crew
Names of the crew and notes of other ships mentioned or visited can also be recorded.
For this voyage, a list of Ships Met and the date are very important, so please visit:
Mary and Susan, crew and ships met
To find the shipyard pages for other whalers
Link:
Find your ship, & the full list of ships logbooks for OWW
Moving through the log pages
You can walk through the log pages in chronological order. All you have to do is increment the number at the end of the link:
rj5_nicholson_437r-
0444.html, rj5_nicholson_437r-
0445.html, rj5_nicholson_437r-
0446.html etc.
Providence Public Library (PPL) shows two pages per url reference. Open the image below in a new tab to see it full size. The right hand page has been transcribed to help you to be familiar with the writing.
When viewing the archive image you can increase the size by using 'ctr+', and 'ctrl-' to decrease the image.
Wednesday August 10th 1887 to Saturday August 13th 1887
Here is a transcription of the page on the right of the image of the log pages above.
| Simple transcription | Phrases of text bracketed, ready for columns |
Wednesday Aug 10th
Comences with a strong breeze from ESE Bre laying at Anchor
middle part a fresh breeze from WSW Ice comeing in at 1 PM
took our Anchor and comenced to work to the S between the Ice
and Land ice in 6 fathoms water latter part Wind the
same Bre Anchored in Pearl Bay hands employed in
Boiling and Stowing down so ends |
Wednesday [Aug 10th]
[Comences] with a [strong breeze from ESE] Bre [laying at Anchor]
[middle part] a [fresh breeze from WSW] [Ice comeing in] at [1 PM]
[took our Anchor] and comenced to [work to the S] [between] the [Ice
and Land] [Ice in 6 fathoms water] [latter part] [Wind the
same] Bre [Anchored in] [Pearl Bay] hands employed in
Boiling and Stowing down so ends
|
Thursday 11th
Comences with a strong breeze from WSW Bre laying at Anchor
at 9.30 took our Anchor and worked up winds the Sea Horse Islands
in 3 1/4 Fathoms water and let go middle part Wind more
moderate took our Anchor and worked in to 17 feet
water and let go Ice comeing in latter part a light air
from NW Bre at Anchor hands employed in Boiling
and Stowing down so ends | Thursday [11th]
[Comences] with a [strong breeze from WSW] Bre [laying at Anchor]
[at 9.30] [took our Anchor] and [worked up] winds the [Sea Horse Islands]
in 3 1/4 Fathoms water and [let go] [middle part] [Wind more
moderate] [took our Anchor] and [worked in] [to 17 feet
water] and [let go] [Ice comeing in] [latter part] a [light air
from NW] Bre [at Anchor] hands employed in Boiling
and Stowing down so ends |
Friday 12th
Comences with a light air from WSW Bre laying at Anchor
middle part a Calm latter part fine breeze from NE
Bre heading to the N&W aback at 1.30 took our anchor
and comenced to kedge to the N trough the Ice hands
employed in Stowing down and Boiling so ends |
Friday [12th]
[Comences] with a [light air from WSW] Bre [laying at Anchor]
[middle part] a [Calm] [latter part] a [fine breeze from NE]
Bre [heading to the N&W] aback at [1.30] [took our anchor]
and [comenced to kedge] to the [N trough] the [Ice] hands
employed in Stowing down and Boiling so ends |
Saturday 13th
Comences with a fine breeze from NE Bre laying on different tacks
middle and latter part the same hands employed in
Stowing down and cleaning Ship so ends | Saturday [13th]
[Comences] with a [fine breeze from NE] Bre laying on [different tacks]
[middle] and [latter part] [the same] hands employed in
Stowing down and cleaning Ship so ends |
Notes
- The stubs of removed pages cover some of the letters on the page following. If you cannot see a letter, or are unsure of it, please use a tilde (~) to 'replace' the missing letter(s).
- The ship's log works in Civil time with the day commencing with midnight. Confirmed by log entries on June 20th 1887 'Commences with [...] 2 AM', and for June 22nd 1887 'middle part 12 PM ' . These are entered on each START worksheet.
Here is a transcription of the above log page. Click on the worksheet images below to see them at full size in a new browser tab
Start worksheet
If you discover any metadata in the logbook please enter it on this page. Metadata means 'data about data'. See under 'Weather' in the Instructions rows. For example, if you see that the temperature is in Celsius or Centigrade, that fact should be transcribed as metadata.
Click on the worksheet images below to see them at full size in a new browser tab.
Start worksheet
Primary worksheet
Weather worksheet
Remarks worksheet
Notes
Warning: AUTOFILL function between worksheets.
Do not drag and drop the date or time on any of the worksheets because you may disrupt the autofill function.
If you are unsure that the autofill is in proper order you can check by pressing two keys on your keyboard.
You are certainly welcome to ask for help with this action.
The remainder of this topic is for you. Ask questions and share interesting discoveries with us to make these logs live. 
