August 11 - 25, 1862

Private Journal of Bark Solon’s Voyage

From August 11th to September 7th inclusive

During this interval I have been engaged writing letters until we arrived at Fayal (Faial Island)1.

So I neglected this for that time. We have had strong winds all of the time and sometimes a gale of wind. Every body has complained of bad weather this season and a great many like us have seen no whales. We have spoken several vessels in the mean time. The Bark Lafayette2 3 1/2 months out 200 bbls. of Sperm3.

Aug 12th

We spoke the Sch Walter Irving4of Provincetown. 175 of Sperm.

Aug 17th

Sch Admiral Blake of Sippicann5 9 bbls Sperm.

Aug. 19th

Ship Benf (Benjamin) Tucker6 Capt Childs 15 most out 500 Sperm. I was aboard there during the evening.

Aug. 20th

Spoke the Bark Tropic7. Bind she has had hard luck. the same day spoke the schooner Tekoa of Fairhaven8 150 Sperm 15 mos out. They had a Boat’s crew lost the other day. All the Boats were down after whales. The Mate and Capt got ? and it came up a squall. the 2nd Mate (a colored man) chased the whales off against orders and he has not been seen nor heard from since. Funny the whole time we have been North. We have had almost a gale of wind from the N & W and N & E.

August the 25th

We lay off an on Lagen's on Flores9. Stopped there two days.

1 Faial Island aka Fayal - The harber of Horta on the southeast coast was a major port of call in the 19th century.

2 On Aug 10th Duntlin wrote of Bark Solon speaking to Bark Lafayette. Not clear if this is second encounter or the same one.

3 200 barrels of Sperm oil is a lot for a ship out 3 1/2 months.

4 The schooner Walter Irving of Provincetown is well documented but nothing found about a voyage in 1862.

5 Logbook of the Admiral Blake (Schooner), mastered by William C. Hathaway on whaling voyages between 1860 and 1863. https://provlibdigital.org/islandora/object/logbookofadmiral00admi

6 Whaling ship Benjamin Tucker Mastered by William Childs sailed from New Bedford May 8, 1861. On September 14, 1862 the Benjamin Tucker was captured near the Azores Islands by the Confederate cruiser Alabama. Capt Childs and the crew were taken prisoner and the ship burned.

7 Bark Tropic Bird Oct 30 1861-1863; Master Charles H. Hagar, New Bedford, MA Crew List Account book of the Tropic Bird (Bark) … on whaling voyages between 1862 and 1866

8 Schooner Tekoa of Fairhaven, MA, departed Jul 11 1861 returned 1863, Master John A Benson, Crew of 21, 110 bbl sperm oil, 6 bbl Whale oil. Fairhaven was the second-largest whaling port in the US. The author of Moby-Dick, Herman Melville, departed from the port of Fairhave about the whaleship Ascutnet in 1841.

9 Flores Island is the westermost Island of the Azores, on common mid-Atlantic whaling routes. Lajes das Flores was a frequent stopping point for American whalers in the 18th and 19th centuries.