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Whaling in East Greenland waters was maintained largely due to the enterprise of a few notable
whaling skippers. Following the retirement of the Scoresbys’ after 1822, members of the Gray family of
Peterhead were most celebrated, with their equally notable ships, ACTIVE, ECLIPSE and HOPE. They
were among the few to make paying voyages to the Greenland Sea in the 1870s, and the Peterhead
fishery ceased with the retirement of David Gray in 1891. Tom Robertson was among the last to seek
whales off East Greenland, and made regular voyages from 1895 until 1907 with ACTIVE and BALAENA
with moderate success, and occasionally reached land. In 1899 he assisted A. G. Nathorst’s expedition,
and took home 10 muskox. The effective end of the Greenland whale fishery is placed at about 1910.
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time line of Peterhead Arctic whaling
1788 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.
1789 Total failure. Harrison replaced by Captain Peacock.
1790- Over the next 8 years Peacock averaged 33 tons of oil annually.
1798 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.
1802 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.
1804 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.
1810- 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.
1814 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.
1820- 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.
1825 16 ships sailed north but Active (1) was frozen up in the ice of the Davis Strait.
1826 The Jean and the Dexterity were both lost in the Davis Strait.
1830 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).
1831 The James lost in the ice.
1835 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.
1840 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
1859 The only 2 steel vessels in the fleet, The Empress of India and the Innuit were both lost in the ice.
1860- 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.
1883 The Erik , the largest whaler ever to sail from Peterhead, was brought to the port by Alexander Gray.
1891 Just 3 ships went north. Hope (2), Eclipse (2) and the Windward.
1893 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.
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When the whaling industry opened up the Arctic circle two centuries ago to begin its search for whale oil, only a handful of Scottish whalers took part in the early explorations . One was the 169-ton brig Robert, the first Peterhead whaler to be sent to Greenland. By all accounts she should never have been there, for she was only half the size of a normal whaling ship.
But the little Robert, bouncing her way into whaling history, blazed the trail for the huge armada of whale ships that turned the Arctic into a vast fishery during the 19th century. Old whaling songs told of the danger and suffering faced by the men who sailed to Greenland in the hope that they would come home with ‘a ship that’s fu’ o’ oil, my lads, and money to our name’.
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Lewis Cameron
Ontario Census, 1861
birth: 1801 Scotland
census: 1861 Kingston,? Frontenac,? Ontario,? Canada
name: Lewis Cameron
event: Census
event date: 1861
event place: Kingston, Frontenac, Ontario, Canada
enumeration district: 08
gender: Male
age: 60
marital status: Married
religion: Church Of Scotland
birthplace: Scotland
estimated birth year: 1801
sheet number: 176
line number: 6
library and archives canada film number: C-1096-1097
digital folder number: 4108494
Lewis Cameron
Scotland Census, 1841
birth: 1801 Lanarkshire
residence: 1841 Barony,? Lanarkshire,? Scotland
name: Lewis Cameron
event type: Census
event date: 1841
gender: Male
age: 40
birthplace: Lanarkshire
parish: Barony
county: Lanarkshire
estimated birth year: 1801
Lewis Cameron
Scotland, Births and Baptisms, 1564-1950
birth: 21 Jun 1801 GOVAN,?LANARK,?SCOTLAND
parents: George Cameron,? Agnes Morison
name: Lewis Cameron
gender: Male
birth date: 21 Jun 1801
birthplace: GOVAN,LANARK,SCOTLAND
father's name: George Cameron
mother's name: Agnes Morison
indexing project (batch) number: C11646-4
system origin: Scotland-ODM
source film number: 1066592, 0990755
Lewis Cameron
Scotland, Births and Baptisms, 1564-1950
christening: 19 Feb 1799 MORTLACH,?BANFF,?SCOTLAND
parents: Alexander Cameron,? Clementina Gordon
name: Lewis Cameron
gender: Male
baptism/christening date: 19 Feb 1799
baptism/christening place: MORTLACH,BANFF,SCOTLAND
father's name: Alexander Cameron
mother's name: Clementina Gordon
indexing project (batch) number: C11162-2
system origin: Scotland-ODM
source film number: 990989
Lewis Cameron
Scotland, Births and Baptisms, 1564-1950
birth: 28 Apr 1801
christening: 03 May 1801 GORBALS,?LANARK,?SCOTLAND
parents: Daniel Cameron,? Christian Ross
name: Lewis Cameron
gender: Male
baptism/christening date: 03 May 1801
baptism/christening place: GORBALS,LANARK,SCOTLAND
birth date: 28 Apr 1801
father's name: Daniel Cameron
mother's name: Christian Ross
indexing project (batch) number: C11935-2
system origin: Scotland-ODM
source film number: 0102941, 1042981
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He was a whaler and sailed out of Peterhead, Scotland. Don't know the name of the ship, but we have his scrimshawed horn, showing the route of his whaling ship to DAVIS STRAIT, on west coast of GREENLAND He was born about 1800,but this is only speculative, based on age of horn(possibly 1820-40) Please help if you have any info.
Thanks
Diane
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