Charles Melville Scammon
Encyclopedia
Charles Melville Scammon (1825-1911) was a 19th-century whaleman
History of whaling
The history of whaling is very extensive, stretching back for millennia. This article discusses the history of whaling up to the commencement of the International Whaling Commission moratorium on commercial whaling in 1986....

, naturalist
Naturalist
Naturalist may refer to:* Practitioner of natural history* Conservationist* Advocate of naturalism * Naturalist , autobiography-See also:* The American Naturalist, periodical* Naturalism...

, and author
Author
An author is broadly defined as "the person who originates or gives existence to anything" and that authorship determines responsibility for what is created. Narrowly defined, an author is the originator of any written work.-Legal significance:...

. He was the first to hunt the gray whale
Gray Whale
The gray whale, Eschrichtius robustus, is a baleen whale that migrates between feeding and breeding grounds yearly. It reaches a length of about , a weight of , and lives 50–70 years. The common name of the whale comes from the gray patches and white mottling on its dark skin. Gray whales were...

s of both Laguna Ojo de Liebre
Laguna Ojo de Liebre
Laguna Ojo de Liebre , translated into English as "Hare's Eye Lagoon", is a coastal lagoon located in Mulegé Municipality near the town of Guerrero Negro in the northwestern part of the Mexican state of Baja California Sur...

 and San Ignacio Lagoon
San Ignacio Lagoon
San Ignacio Lagoon is a lagoon located Mulegé Municipality in the Mexican province of Baja California Sur, from San Ignacio, Mexico and Highway 1...

, the former once being called "Scammon's Lagoon" after him. In 1874 he wrote the book The Marine Mammals of the North-western Coast of North America, which was a financial failure. It is now considered a classic.

Scammon was born in Pittston, Maine
Pittston, Maine
Pittston is a town in Kennebec County, Maine, United States. The population was 2,548 at the 2000 census. The town was named for the family of John Pitt, who were early settlers....

, on May 28, 1825. In 1850 he sailed for California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

. On April 1, 1852 he left San Francisco in command of the brig Mary Helen (160 tons) on a combined sealing
Seal hunting
Seal hunting, or sealing, is the personal or commercial hunting of seals. The hunt is currently practiced in five countries: Canada, where most of the world's seal hunting takes place, Namibia, the Danish region of Greenland, Norway and Russia...

 and whaling
Whaling
Whaling is the hunting of whales mainly for meat and oil. Its earliest forms date to at least 3000 BC. Various coastal communities have long histories of sustenance whaling and harvesting beached whales...

 voyage. He returned on August 26 with 350 barrels of oil obtained from elephant seal
Northern Elephant Seal
The northern elephant seal is one of two species of elephant seal . It is a member of the family Phocidae . Elephant seals derive their name from their great size and from the male's large proboscis, which is used in making extraordinarily loud roaring noises, especially during the mating...

s. During the winter of 1855-56 he was among the vessels hunting gray whales in Magdalena Bay
Magdalena Bay
Bahía Magdalena is a 50 km long bay in Comondú Municipality along the western coast of the Mexican state of Baja California Sur. It is protected from the Pacific Ocean by the sandy barrier islands of Isla Magdalena and Isla Santa Margarita....

, when he was commanding the ship Leonore. In December 1857, commanding the brig Boston, with the schooner-tender Marin, he first hunted the gray whales of Laguna Ojo de Liebre, catching twenty. The following winter (1858-59), commanding the bark Ocean Bird and accompanied by the schooner tenders A.M. Simpson and Kate, he returned to the lagoon, catching forty-seven cows. In the winter of 1859-60 he first exploited another lagoon to the south, San Ignacio. Within a few seasons it had been swept clean of whales. He spent the following three decades in the Revenue Service
United States Coast Guard
The United States Coast Guard is a branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven U.S. uniformed services. The Coast Guard is a maritime, military, multi-mission service unique among the military branches for having a maritime law enforcement mission and a federal regulatory agency...

, before retiring from disability in 1895.
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