Whaling Museum

The New Bedford Whaling Museum has organized a project to digitize the names of men who sailed from New Bedford on whaling vessels from the second half of the 19th century to the end of American whaling in 1924.

Captain Antone T. Edwards and some of his crew aboard the Wanderer

In cooperation with the New Bedford Free Public Library and the New Bedford Port Society, the Museum will complete the project begun several years ago by the New Bedford Free Public Library to make crew list information available.  When completed, this will provide a fully searchable database of names of whalemen who left the port of New Bedford, men who hailed from all the corners of the world.   This resource will be useful to persons seeking family history, to museum staff for exhibit purposes, and to scholars interested in understanding the diversity of the participants in the whaling industry.  The list created will be housed on the Museum’s website, and could, in the future, be linked to biographical information, immigration records, and other information about crew members generated by our ECHO partner organizations.

Participants in this project need to have a computer and be familiar with an excel database.  The work can be done at home.  Copies of crew list information printed from microfilms of the Port Society Seamen’s Registers can be mailed to you, and completed databases can be sent back electronically.  If you are able to assist with this project email Crewlist Project for more information.  We need a few good volunteers!