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Peterhead
Timeline 1788-1893
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A
time line of Peterhead Arctic whaling
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1788
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March
10. Peterhead's first whaler, the 169 ton, 2 masted Robert,
sailed north to the Greenland Sea under Captain Harrison, an
Englishman. Her 4 whale boats killed under 100 seals, and no
whales, producing a mere 1 ton of oil. |
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1789
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Total
failure. Harrison replaced by Captain Peacock. |
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1790-
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Over
the next 8 years Peacock averaged 33 tons of oil annually. |
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1798
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Command
of the Robert passed to a Peterhead man, Alexander Geary.
In his first 4 years he took 27 whales and averaged 77 tons
of oil per year. |
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1802
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Such
success encouraged the owners to replace the Robert with
a fine new ship, the 240 ton Hope
(1). Under Geary she took 18 whales, providing 201
tons of oil, in her first 2 years. |
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1804
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Enterprise
(1) was added to the fleet. Under the command of
William Volum she sailed with the Hope for 6 seasons, each ship
averaging 140 tons of oil per year and taking a total of 226
whales. |
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1810-
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Other
owners and investors now joined the fray and new ships were
launched:
1810 Active
(1) under John Souttar.
1811 Perseverance
(1) under David Gray.
1813 Union under William Hutchison and Resolution
(1).
1814 Dexterity. |
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1814
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A
record season! 7 vessels took 163 whales making 1390 tons of
oil
Resolution (1) alone took 44 whales - an annual catch
never exceeded by a British vessel. |
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1820-
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Due
to the lack of whales in the Greenland Sea the whalers moved
to the Davis Strait to the west of Greenland.
This was a most dangerous area and in 1822 Invincible
under Captain Hogg was lost. |
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1825
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16
ships sailed north but Active (1) was frozen up in the
ice of the Davis Strait. |
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1826
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The
Jean and the Dexterity were both lost in the Davis
Strait. |
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1830
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Of
the British fleet of 91 vessels, 19 were lost in the Davis Strait.
The casualties included the Peterhead ships Resolution (1)
and Hope (1). |
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1831
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The
James lost in the ice. |
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1835
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Large
number of British ships trapped by the ice, without adequate
supplies, in the Davis Strait and Baffin Bay. Many died of exposure,
scurvy and starvation. Peterhead ships escaped the tragedy. |
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1840
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The
Peterhead fleet down to 10 ships. They had abandoned the Davis
Strait and were now sealing on the ice of the Greenland Sea.
This was highly successful and led to a rapid expansion of the
fleet:
1851 - 15 ships.
1852 - 20 ships
1853
- 27 ships
1857 - 31 ships |
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1859
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The
only 2 steel vessels in the fleet, The Empress of India and
the Innuit were both lost in the ice. |
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1860-
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From
this point on the Peterhead fleet started an inexorable decline
due to the over-exploitation of seals and the near extinction
of whales.
1861
- 22 ships
1863 - 16 ships
1866 - 13 ships
1872 - 11 ships
1880 - 6 ships. Of the 6, Alert (2) and Perseverance
(2) were old sailing ships, the Jan
Mayen and Windward were sailing ships that
had had steam engines added. Only Eclipse
(2) and Hope
(2) were modern purpose-built steam ships.
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1883
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The
Erik
, the largest whaler ever to sail from Peterhead, was
brought to the port by Alexander Gray. |
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1891
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Just
3 ships went north. Hope (2), Eclipse (2) and
the Windward. |
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1893
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David
Gray came out of retirement to take the Windward to the
Greenland Sea. He caught just one whale - Peterhead whaling
was at an end. |
By
the time the industry died, the scale of casualties inflicted by
the Peterhead whalers was truly enormous:
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Period
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Whales
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Seals
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Tons of oil
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| 1788-1807 |
144 |
2,325 |
1,639 |
| 1808-1827 |
2,064 |
30,325 |
20,437 |
| 1828-1847 |
1,200 |
300,130 |
15,025 |
| 1848-1867 |
642 |
1,075,900 |
18,837 |
| 1868-1873 |
1,623 |
185,223 |
4,070 |
| Grand Total |
5,673 |
1,593,903 |
60,005 |
Data
from: Peterhead and the Arctic Whale Fishery. Dr. Alexander Milne.
In the Book of Buchan, Jubilee Edition, 1943.
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