Ships' Logs Collection

This is a collection of ships’ logs and shipboard journals assembled by the Nantucket Historical Association. Logs, generally kept by captains or first mates of vessels, include daily observations of position (latitude and longitude), weather, vessels sighted, and ports visited. For whaling voyages, the logs also record whales seen and/or taken. Some logs contain crew lists, cargo lists, and sometimes personal observations, poems, and drawings. Journals, often written by captains’ wives, passengers, or crew members, record sights and events of a voyage, often including accidents, illnesses, weather, pastimes, port visits, and contact with Native people in foreign ports. Voyages departing from Nantucket, Mass., and New Bedford, Mass., are strongly represented in the collection. The majority of the logbooks document whaling voyages.