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DAN  HARRIS GOES WHALING

Dan Harris Steps Out on the Ice Near the South Pole

Excerpt from the Log Book of the Ship "Levant," January 26, 1853
New Bedford Whaling Museum
Microfilm Roll No. 1009, Log No. 1075, Pg. 90.


Reproduction

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Verbatim Transcription

Remarks on Board Ship Levant M Cooper master
January 26, 1853
Wednesday 26 Commences with strong breezes from East Standing off from the ice under Clost reefed fore & mizen topsail doubl reefed main jib & mainsail furled at 6 PM vered Ship to SSE at 12 vered agane NNE thick & hazy weather latter part 4 AM agane to SE at 8 Saw the ice at 11 Capt Cooper and a boat crew lowered went to the ice harres got out apon it saw penguin ice bierd in abundance ice bergs in toward the land Mount Dalmeny in Sight dis 75 mil barring SSW by Comp Latt 70:10 Long 168:20

Thursday 27 Commences with pleasant breezes from the East hading NNE after keeping off giting around the ice abarrer at 3 PM got out water at 4 PM tacked Ship to South & acame up with the barrer tacked agane to NE Latter part tacked to SSW Stood that way until 9 AM Came thicker tacked to NW at 10 tuck in maion topg Sail at 11 doubl reefed topSail tuck in jib & mainsail Snowing & blowing very heavy So ends Sup Latt 70:55 Long 169:00

Notes in margin record temperatures of 35 degrees on the 26th and 28 degrees on the 27th.

Discussion

The ship "Levant," a 382 ton square-rigged vessel, left Sag Harbor, New York for a whaling voyage to the Pacific, Arctic and Antarctic on August 7, 1851. Mercator Cooper was captain and Dan Harris was one of the boatsteerers (harpooners). After crossing the Atlantic, rounding Africa and crossing the Indian Ocean, the ship's first port of call was Hobart, Tasmania, where Dan Harris spent his nineteenth birthday (February 16, 1852) in jail for quarreling with his crew mates after staying ashore eight hours beyond his liberty. The "Levant" spent the summer of 1852 in the North Pacific and Arctic Oceans, reaching as far as Latitude 71 Degrees North. The ship headed south in late August, stopping at Hawaii in November and Chatham Island in December. The "Levant" then headed straight south doing little whaling. A note in the margin of the log}k in mid-January 1853 describing this section of the voyage as "a cruise in the Antarctic regions" may indicate Captain Cooper's intent to establish a record for a vessel of United States registry sailing closest to the South Pole. As noted in the log entries cited above, this goal was actually achieved. Only the English Captain James Cook had previously sailed further south. Mercator Cooper is credited for taking his ship to a latitude higher than 70 Degrees South. However, it was Dan Harris who actually stepped out on to the ice near the point of the "Levant's" southernmost position.
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