The Whaling Disaster of 1871 was an incident off the northern Alaska

Alaska

Alaska is the largest state in the United States by area. It is situated in the northwest extremity of the North American continent, with Canada to the east, the Arctic Ocean to the north, and the Pacific Ocean to the west and south, with Russia further west across the Bering Strait...

n coast in which a fleet of 33 American whaling ships were trapped in the Arctic

Arctic

The Arctic is a region located at the northern-most part of the Earth. The Arctic consists of the Arctic Ocean and parts of Canada, Russia, Greenland, the United States, Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Iceland. The Arctic region consists of a vast, ice-covered ocean, surrounded by treeless permafrost...

 ice in late 1871 and subsequently abandoned. It dealt a serious blow to the American whaling industry, already in decline.

The 1871 whaling season

In late June 1871, forty whaleships passed north through Bering Strait

Bering Strait

The Bering Strait , known to natives as Imakpik, is a sea strait between Cape Dezhnev, Chukotka Autonomous Okrug, Russia, the easternmost point of the Asian continent and Cape Prince of Wales, Alaska, USA, the westernmost point of the North American continent, with latitude of about 65°40'N,...

, hunting bowhead whales. By August the vessels had passed as far as Point Belcher, near Wainwright, Alaska

Wainwright, Alaska

Wainwright or Ulguniq or Kuuk is a city in North Slope Borough, Alaska, United States. At the 2000 census the population was 546, making it the third largest city in the North Slope Borough. The community was named after Wainwright Lagoon, which in turn was named an officer under Capt. F.W....

, before a stationary high, parked over northeast Siberia

Siberia

Siberia is an extensive region constituting almost all of Northern Asia. Comprising the central and eastern portion of the Russian Federation, it was part of the Soviet Union from its beginning, as its predecessor states, the Tsardom of Russia and the Russian Empire, conquered it during the 16th...

, reversed the normal wind pattern and pushed the pack ice toward the Alaskan coast. Seven ships were able to escape to the south, but 33 others were trapped. Within two weeks the pack had tightened around the vessels, crushing four ships. The vessels were spread out in a long line, some 60 miles (96.6 km) south of Point Franklin

Point Franklin

Point Franklin is a piece of land located on the Chukchi Sea side of North Slope, Alaska.Point Franklin is a few miles north of Wainwright, limiting with the Peard Bay to the east....

.

By mid-September all 1,219 people aboard the ships evacuated in small whaleboats with a three-month supply of provisions, crossed 70 miles (112.7 km) of ocean, and were eventually brought to safety by the seven ships which had escaped the ice to the south. Amazingly, there were no casualties.

The seven whalers that escaped (the vessels Europa, Arctic, Progress, Lagoda, Daniel Webster, Midas, and Chance) were forced to dump their catch and most of their equipment overboard to make room for passengers on the return trip to Honolulu. The total loss was valued at over $1,600,000. Twenty-two of the wrecked vessels were from New Bedford, Massachusetts

New Bedford, Massachusetts

New Bedford is a city in Bristol County, Massachusetts, United States, located south of Boston, southeast of Providence, Rhode Island, and about east of Fall River. As of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 95,072, making it the sixth-largest city in Massachusetts...

. In 1872 the bark

Barque

A barque, barc, or bark is a type of sailing vessel with three or more masts.- History of the term :The word barque appears to have come from the Greek word baris, a term for an Egyptian boat. This entered Latin as barca, which gave rise to the Italian barca, Spanish barco, and the French barge and...

 Minerva was discovered intact and subsequently salvaged, but the rest were crushed in the ice, sank, or were stripped of wood by the local Inupiat.

Lost whaling vessels

The lost vessels were as follows:

Vessel	Homeport	Captain	Notes
Bark Barque A barque, barc, or bark is a type of sailing vessel with three or more masts.- History of the term :The word barque appears to have come from the Greek word baris, a term for an Egyptian boat. This entered Latin as barca, which gave rise to the Italian barca, Spanish barco, and the French barge and...  Roman	New Bedford	Jared Jernegan?	Crushed in the ice Sept. 7, 1871.
Bark Concordia	New Bedford	Robert Jones	Abandoned and lost. Wreck burned by local Inuit.
Ship Gay Head	New Bedford	William H. Kelley	Abandoned and lost. Wreck burned by local Inuit.
Bark George	New Bedford	Abraham Osborn	Abandoned and lost.
Ship John Wells	New Bedford	Aaron Dean	Abandoned and lost.
Bark Massachusetts	New Bedford	West Mitchell	Abandoned and wrecked. One lone sailor remained with the wreck through the winter.
Bark J.D. Thompson	New London, Conn.	Capt. Allen	Abandoned and lost.
Ship Contest	New Bedford	Leander C. Owen	Abandoned and lost.
Bark Emily Morgan	New Bedford	Benjamin Dexter	Abandoned and lost. (Wreck later found ashore.)
Ship Champion	Edgartown, Mass. Edgartown, Massachusetts Edgartown is a town located on Martha's Vineyard in Dukes County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 3,779 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Dukes County. Edgartown has the largest population and area in the entire Dukes County and Martha's Vineyard.- History :In 1642....	Henry Pease	Abandoned and lost. (Wreck later found ashore.)
Bark Henry Taber	New Bedford	Timothy C. Packard	Abandoned and lost.
Bark Elizabeth Swift	New Bedford	George W. Bliven	Abandoned and lost.
Ship Florida	New Bedford	D. R. Fraser	Abandoned and lost. Wreck burned by local Inuit.
Bark Oliver Crocker	New Bedford	James H. Fisher	Abandoned and lost.
Bark Navy	New Bedford	George F. Bouldry	Abandoned and lost.
Ship Reindeer	New Bedford	B. F. Loveland	Abandoned and lost. (Sunken wreck found, 1872.)
Bark Seneca	New Bedford	Edmund Kelley	Abandoned and lost. (Beached wreck found, 1872.)
Bark George Howland	New Bedford	James H. Knowles	Abandoned and lost.
Bark Fanny	New Bedford	Lewis W. Williams	Abandoned and lost.
Bark Carlotta	San Francisco, Calif.		Abandoned and lost.
Bark Paiea or Paia	Honolulu, Hawaii Honolulu, Hawaii Honolulu is the capital and the most populous city of the U.S. state of Hawaii. Honolulu is the southernmost major U.S. city. Although the name "Honolulu" refers to the urban area on the southeastern shore of the island of Oahu, the city and county government are consolidated as the City and...		Abandoned and lost.
Bark Monticello	New London, Conn.	Thomas W. Williams	Abandoned and lost.
Brig Kohola	Honolulu, Hawaii		Abandoned and lost. (Wreck later found ashore.)
Bark Eugenia	New Bedford	Daniel B. Nye	Abandoned and lost.
Ship Julian	Honolulu, Hawaii	John Heppingstone	Abandoned and lost.
Bark Awashonks	New Bedford	Ariel Norton	Crushed in the ice Sept. 8, 1871.
Bark Thomas Dickason	New Bedford	Valentine Lewis	Abandoned and lost. (Wreck found, 1872.)
Bark Minerva	New Bedford	Hezekiah Allen	Abandoned. Discovered intact in 1872; manned and taken south.
Ship William Rotch	New Bedford		Abandoned and lost.
Brig Victoria	San Francisco	Capt. Redfield	Abandoned and lost.
Ship Mary	Edgartown		Abandoned and lost.
Brig Comet	Honolulu	Capt. Sylvia (Joseph D. Sylvia?)	Crushed in the ice, Sept. 2, 1871