Two of the most successful whaling captains were William Scoresby senior and his son, the Reverend Dr William Scoresby junior, DD, FRS. Whitby museum has an extensive collection of objects and papers linked to Arctic whaling and to the Scoresby family.
William Scoresby Junior Also born in Cropton near Whitby in October 1789 was William Scoresby Junior. His schooling was very broken, going to 3 different ones before settling in a private schoool in Whitby run by Mr Routh whom Routh Walk in Skinner Street is named. Scoresby junior made his first voyage at the age […]
Other whaling ships Whitby Then in 1807 Scoresby invented the Crows Nest. It is believed the pulpit in St Mary’s Parish Church, at the top of the 199 steps, near Whitby Abbey, was the inspiration for this. Scoresby went on to to sail for a further ten years on board other whaling ships making four […]
The ‘Resolution’ Whitby In 1803 Scoresby was offered captaincy and one eighth ownership of a new Whitby ship the ‘Resolution’ a brand new ship built by Fishburn and Brodrick. The ‘Resolution’ set sail from Whitby with the captain’s son, William Scoresby Jnr at just 13 years old, and was a huge success. With another 7 […]
The ‘Dundee’ Whitby Soon offers were being made to Scoresby and eventually he finally became commander of the London ship the ‘Dundee’, a much larger vessel than ‘Henrietta’. In 1798 the Dundee set sail for the Greenland Fishery and returned with an enormous 36 whales. This was Scoresby’s record catch. For 5 years he sailed […]
The ‘Henrietta’ Scoresby’s first command, the ship the Henrietta, came in 1791 when he took over from Captain Chrispin Bean. Its was a bad first season for the Whale Fishery, 4 out of 7 ships came home with empty holds, one ship was lost and the 2 remaining ships came home with 1 ‘fish’ each. […]
William Scoresby, Senior (1760 – 1829) One of Whitby’s famous son’s is William Scoresby, the famous whaler and explorer spending most of his life around the Whitby area when not at sea catching whales! Few other names in the history of Arctic exploration are so well known as that of Captain William Scoresby. Born on […]
