Rafael Osona Auctions
Marine, Fine Art, Marine Auctions
August 4, 2018
59 A. Logbook for the Whaling Ship Meteor Sailing from Groton/Mystic, Connecticut, 1841-1844,
this logbook contains parts of two different voyages of the Meteor in 122 pages, with 67 whale stamps.
Voyage One: May 5, 1841 – May 7, 1842
This is done in 54 pages and contains 27 whale stamps; of these are 17 whales, 3 sperm whales, 5
blackfish, and 2 whale tails. The Master of this voyage was Austin M. Lester, who departed from
Groton August 10, 1840, for a voyage to the South Atlantic and returned May 9, 1842. The Meteor
returned with 100 barrels of sperm whale oil and 2,300 barrels of whale oil. The managing agents were
J. & William P. Randall.
Voyage Two: July 25, 1842 – March 26, 1844
This is done in 78 pages and contains 40 whale stamps; of these are 34 whales and 6 whale tales. The
Master of this voyage was William T. Burrows, who departed from Groton July 14,1842, for voyage to
the South Atlantic and returned June 19,1844, with 2,000 barrels of whale oil and 17,000 pounds of
whale bone (baleen). The managing agents were J. & William P. Randall.
The ship Meteor was built in Newbury, Massachusetts, in 1819, tonnage 325. The Meteor was one of
twenty-four whale ships that were sailed to the entrance to Charleston Harbor, South Carolina; it was
sunk on January 9, 1862, in an effort to block entry to the harbor by blockade runners during the Civil
War. The fleet of ships (mostly old whalers) was purchased from New Bedford and other New England
ports, loaded with stone so they would sink, and thereby got the name “Stone Fleet.”
The logbook is written in clear, dark ink and is easy to read. There is minor damage by boring insects
and drilled completely through the book cover and all pages through the front cover. A few of the
larger holes were professionally repaired and at that time the book was nicely rebound with the
original covers. Entries for Voyage One starts on May 5, 1841, approximately 10 months into the
journey. Voyage Two entries begin on July 25, 1842, 10 days after the voyage commenced and end on
March 26, 1844, about three months before the Meteor returned home.
Whaler Made Whalebone Fid, circa 1840, turned from a single piece of jaw bone tapering down from 9
in. diameter to a point. Length 13 ½ in. (To Be Sold August 11, 2018)