Dear colleagues:

Please keep in mind the tremendous resource for environmental studies that exists in maritime archives, specifically whaling logbooks and journals. I noticed a paper on MARMAM a few weeks back that analyzed through a mathematical formula the size of sperm whales in the Gulf of Mexico. It so happens that I had reason to answer that very question for colleagues working with the National Marine Fisheries Service and was able after about two hours work to ascertain that sperm whales in the Gulf of Mexico were generally smaller that their counterparts in other oceans and substantially smaller than those taken in, say, the Tasman Sea, where very large bull sperm whales were hunted. Yankee whalemen recorded the size of animals in barrels of oil made. One very large sperm whale (80 feet) for which we have an illustration and description taken in the North Atlantic made 120 barrels. The bulk of sperm whales taken in the Gulf consistently yielded up to 30 barrels most made less. Because these whalemen were earning a living from this extractive hunt these barrel figures are very accurate. They kept good records. These archives are simply one more tool in our collective box and a shortcut in many cases to forming a foundation for further research. Please feel free to contact me with any inquires as to access, resources, etc.

Michael P. Dyer

Librarian and Maritime Historian

New Bedford Whaling Museum

18 Johnny Cake Hill

New Bedford, MA 02740

(508) 717-6837

FAX (508) 717-6924