Welcome to the British Southern Whale Fishery Website

For 350 years until the early 1960s the British were involved in several types of whaling.  This involvement was divided into three distinct trades; the northern whale fishery between 1610 and 1914; the southern whale fishery or ‘south seas trade’ from 1775 to 1859; and the modern whaling trade, from 1904 to 1963.  Each of these trades was distinguished by the geographical location in which it was undertaken, the types of whales pursued and to some extent by the methods and techniques used to capture whales.  The northern and southern whale fisheries were even differentiated and defined by law.

A NEW PAGE HAS BEEN ADDED CALLED 'WHERE THE WHALERS WENT'.  IT PROVIDES ACCESS TO TABLES PRODUCED IN 1835 BY J. W. NORIE WHICH LIST THE MAJOR PLACES, PORTS, HARBOURS, ISLANDS, ETC VISITED BY BRITISH WHALING SHIPS. ESSENTIAL WHEN DECIPHERING 'WHERE THE WHALERS WENT'. 

​WE'VE FINALLY ADDED A BIOGRAPHY FOR THE ENDERBY FAMILY TO THE OWNERS BIOGRAPHIES! 

Dedication

The BSWF Project Team

This independent research project seeks to make available and build on work initially undertaken by A. G. E. (Joe) Jones. During a period of over thirty years Mr Jones twice read through over 15 million entries in Lloyds List, extracting some 15,000 entries for ships participating in British southern whaling between the years 1775 and 1859.
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If you are using this site to support academic research please properly acknowledge the people who did the work!

Rhys Richards compiled the initial voyage data. Dale Chatwin edited the data and created the Voyage and Crew Databases. Mark Howard  and Jane Clayton contributed extra information to the databases and website. Other acknowledgments are contained in our Notes and Acknowledgements document and on the Voyage and Crew Databases page.