These five lithographs tell the extraordinary story of the loss of 32 ships from the New Bedford whaling fleet near Point Belcher in September, 1871.
Following the increased availability of petroleum products during the 1860s, and the resultant drop in the price of whale oil, the whaling fleets were forced farther and farther North, into ever more dangerous waters, in order to increase the weight of their catch. In 1871 the New Bedford whalers sailed northeast towards Point Barrow when very rare, but not unknown, weather conditions caused the ice to close in on the fleet in September. Only seven ships managed to escape, leaving 32 others surrounded by ice on three sides, with their only route out being through an open channel close to shore which was too shallow to allow the whalers passage. During the following two weeks the ice continued to encroach on the ships, and four whalers were crushed.
With the prospect of losing the whole fleet, the captains emptied the smallest of the remaining ships, in the hope that they would ride high enough in the water to allow passage through the shallow channel, and thereby enable them to make their escape. However, the ships ran aground and the 1200 people, amongst whose number were women and children, were trapped, with only enough supplies for three months, and with no winter clothing. The Captain of the Champion wrote: “An attempt to pass the winter here would be suicidal… Looking our deplorable situation squarely in the face, we feel convinced that to save the lives of our crews a speedy abandonment of our ships is necessary.” With no other options open to them the ships’ longboats were reinforced and provided with some protective cover for the passengers and crew before they set out across the Arctic Ocean. The boats were forced to cover some 70 miles before they finally reached the seven whalers which had managed to escape, yet not one life was lost.
The New Bedford whaling industry was badly shaken by this catastrophe and never recovered. Of the forty ships which set out at the beginning of the 1871 season, only seven managed to make it to Honolulu, 32 having been crushed by the ice in the Arctic. With the sheer number of passengers rescued from the other ships, there was little room for much else, and the catch and equipment had to be thrown overboard.
OCLC locates a single copy at Dartmouth..
