Biography of Members of the Scoresby family
William Scoresby Sr was a man from Whitby, England who, between 1791 and 1822, commanded thirty whaling voyages into dangerous Arctic waters and never lost a ship. He is credited with inventing the top gallant “crow’s nest” in 1807, and numerous other things connected with whaling operations.
In addition to being a successful whaling master, Scoresby developed keen navigational skills and was the fist after Hudson to trace the east coast of what was then called “West” Greenland, as distinguished from Spitsbergen, then known as Greenland and “East” Greenland. In 1822 William Scoresby Sr. and his son, William Jr. – now commanding his own whaling vessel and whose navigation abilities where perhaps equaled only by his father’s – explored an immense bay along Greenland’s east coast, known thereafter as Scoresby Sound.
William Scoresby Sr. was a farmer’s son, born in 1760, who spent nearly 43 of his 69 years at sea. He died at Whitby in 1829, approximately seven years after retiring from his career at sea.
William Scoresby Jr. was born in 1789, and at age 21 was master of the whaler RESOLUTION. After a very successful whaling career he continued his scientific and religious studies, receiving a degree of D. D. from Cambridge in 1839. He died at Torquay in 1857.
The younger son, Thomas Scoresby (1804-1866), received a degree in medicine after spending some years at sea. He practiced in Edinburgh and London before finally coming to the United States. He died at Ellenville, N. Y. in 1866.
For a more complete Scoresby biography, see volume #71 in this collection.
Restrictions
Restrictions on Access
Available for use in the Manuscripts Division
Restrictions on Use
Various copying restriction apply. Guidelines are available from the Manuscripts Division.
Index Terms
This collection is indexed under the following headings in the catalog of the G. W. Blunt White Library. Researchers desiring materials about related topics, persons or places should search the catalog using these headings.
Persons:
Scoresby, Thomas, 1804-1866
Scoresby, William, 1760-1829
Scoresby, William, 1789-1857
Subjects:
Medicine–Practice–England–London
Medicine–Practice–Scotland–Edinburgh
Whaling–Arctic regions
Whaling–England–Whitby
Whaling ships–England–Whitby
Document Types:
Autobiographies
Diaries
Lectures
Sermon
Occupations:
Clergy–England
Physicians–Great Britain
Whaling masters–England–Whitby
Return to the Table of Contents
Administrative Information
Coll. 055, Manuscripts Collection, G. W. Blunt White Library, Mystic Seaport Museum, Inc.
Detailed Description of the Collection
The following section contains a detailed listing of the materials in the collection.
| Papers; 1805-1925 | |||||||||||||
| Box | Folder | ||||||||||||
| 1 | 1 | Notes kept on board the ship RESOLUTION; ca. 1805 | |||||||||||
| 2 | Inventory of whale oil, ship RESOLUTION; 1812 Jun 29 | ||||||||||||
| 3 | Accounts, William Scoresby Jr.; 1820-1825 | ||||||||||||
| 4 | Letters, Scoresby family; 1821-1858 | ||||||||||||
| 5 | Papers, ship FAME; 1823 | ||||||||||||
| 6 | Papers, ship BAFFIN; 1823 | ||||||||||||
| 7 | Notes, Whitby Harbor Improvement; ca. 1825 | ||||||||||||
| 8 | Notes, Whitby Harbor Improvement; ca. 1825 | ||||||||||||
| 9 | Memoir Notea, William Scoresby Sr.; ca. 1830 | ||||||||||||
| 10 | Thesis on English Highway system improvement; ca. 1840 | ||||||||||||
| 11 | Obituary, Dr. Edmund Scoresby-Jackson; 1867 Feb 2 | ||||||||||||
| 12 | Notes; undated | ||||||||||||
| 13 | Sketches, Whitby Church door and ship FAME; undated | ||||||||||||
| 14 | Photgraph, S.S. MOOLTAN; undated | ||||||||||||
| 15 | Papers, Frederick S. Dellenbaugh & P. Edwin Clark; 1914-1925 | ||||||||||||
| 16 | Monograph, The Scoresby Family | ||||||||||||
| Volumes; 1774-1858 | |||||||||||||
| Volume | |||||||||||||
| 1 | Account book; 1811-1821 | ||||||||||||
| 2 | Account book; 1819-1822 | ||||||||||||
| 3 | Account book, ship BAFFIN, William Scoresby, Jr.; 1820-1825 | ||||||||||||
| 4 | Account book, ship BAFFIN, William Scoresby, Jr.; 1823-1824 | ||||||||||||
| 5 | Memorandum book, ship FAME; 1818-1828 | ||||||||||||
| 6 | Whale Oil Account, ship FAME; 1820-1828 | ||||||||||||
| 7 | Lecture; 1858 Feb 25 | ||||||||||||
| 8 | Lecture; 1858 Feb 25 | ||||||||||||
| 9 | Lecture; undated | ||||||||||||
| 10 | Lecture; undated | ||||||||||||
| 11 | Lecture; undated | ||||||||||||
| 12 | Lecture; undated | ||||||||||||
| 13 | Lecture; undated | ||||||||||||
| 14 | Lecture; undated | ||||||||||||
| 15 | Letter copybook, lectures; 1810-1812 | ||||||||||||
| 16 | Letter copybook, lectures; 1810-1812 | ||||||||||||
| 17 | Lecture; 1861-1862 | ||||||||||||
| 18 | Lecture; 1861-1862 | ||||||||||||
| 19 | Lecture; 1861-1862 | ||||||||||||
| 20 | Lecture; 1861-1862 | ||||||||||||
| 21 | Memorandum book; 1839-1844 | ||||||||||||
| 22 | Notebook; undated | ||||||||||||
| 23 | Copybook; undated | ||||||||||||
| 24 | Patent copybook; 1828 Oct 30 | ||||||||||||
| 25 | Sermons, Wm. Scoresby Jr.; 1852-1856 | ||||||||||||
| 26 | Sermons, Wm. Scoresby Jr.; 1852-1856 | ||||||||||||
| 27 | Sermons, Wm. Scoresby Jr.; 1852-1856 | ||||||||||||
| 28 | Sermons, Wm. Scoresby Jr.; 1852-1856 | ||||||||||||
| 29 | Sermons, Wm. Scoresby Jr.; 1852-1856 | ||||||||||||
| 30 | Sermons, Wm. Scoresby Jr.; 1852-1856 | ||||||||||||
| 31 | Sermons, Wm. Scoresby Jr.; 1852-1856 | ||||||||||||
| 32 | Sermons, Wm. Scoresby Jr.; 1852-1856 | ||||||||||||
| 33 | Sermons, Wm. Scoresby Jr.; 1852-1856 | ||||||||||||
| 34 | Sermons, Wm. Scoresby Jr.; 1852-1856 | ||||||||||||
| 35 | Sermons, Wm. Scoresby Jr.; 1852-1856 | ||||||||||||
| 36 | Sermons, Wm. Scoresby Jr.; 1852-1856 | ||||||||||||
| 37 | Sermons, Wm. Scoresby Jr.; 1852-1856 | ||||||||||||
| 38 | Sermons, Wm. Scoresby Jr.; 1852-1856 | ||||||||||||
| 39 | Cargo book, for ship RESOLUTION, whale oil; 1808 | ||||||||||||
| 40 | Cargo book, for ship RESOLUTION, whale oil; 1809 | ||||||||||||
| 41 | Chronology of whalers out of Whitby, England; 1774-1808 | ||||||||||||
| 42 | Listing of vessels built at Whitby, England; 1792-1797 | ||||||||||||
| 43 | Journal, ship HENRIETTA; 1787-1795 | ||||||||||||
| 44 | Journal, ship HENRIETTA; 1796-1797 | ||||||||||||
| 45 | Journal, ship DUNDEE; 1798 Feb 26-Jul 3 | ||||||||||||
| 46 | Journal, ship DUNDEE; 1802 Feb 2-Jul 18 | ||||||||||||
| 47 | Journal, ship MARS; 1817 May 28-Aug 18 | ||||||||||||
| 48 | Journal, ship FAME; 1819 Mar 24-Aug 30 | ||||||||||||
| 49 | Account book, ship RESOLUTION; 1809-1817 | ||||||||||||
| 50 | Journal, ship FAME; 1820 Mar 24-Aug 30 | ||||||||||||
| 51 | Journal, ship FAME; 1822 Apr 8-Sep 17 | ||||||||||||
| 52 | Journal, ship BAFFIN; 1823 Apr 8-Sep 12 | ||||||||||||
| 53 | Daybook; 1821-1828 | ||||||||||||
| 54 | Journal, ship ALEXANDER; 1828 Mar 19-Dec 8 | ||||||||||||
| 55 | Journal, ship BAFFIN; 1823 Apr 8-Jul 16 | ||||||||||||
| 56 | Math Rule Book; undated | ||||||||||||
| 57 | Math Rule Book; undated | ||||||||||||
| 58 | Catalog, free lending library; undated | ||||||||||||
| 59 | Memoir, Thomas Scoresby; 1760 | ||||||||||||
| 60 | Account book, Wm. Scoresby, Jr.; 1820-1834 | ||||||||||||
| 61 | Account book, Wm. Scoresby, Jr.; 1827-1839 | ||||||||||||
| 62 | Autobiography, Thomas Scoresby (Part I); 1810-1855 | ||||||||||||
| 63 | Autobiography, Thomas Scoresby (Part II); 1810-1855 | ||||||||||||
| 64 | Autobiography, Thomas Scoresby (Part III); 1810-1855 | ||||||||||||
| 65 | Autobiography, Thomas Scoresby (Part IV); 1810-1855 | ||||||||||||
| 66 | Diary; 1848 Nov 9-1856 Jul 8 | ||||||||||||
| 67 | Diary; 1837 Jul 20-Sep 10 | ||||||||||||
| 68 | Diary; 1858 May 24-1860 Jan 25 | ||||||||||||
| 69 | Diary; 1858 May 24-Jun 12 | ||||||||||||
| 70 | Letter copybook, William Scoresby Sr.; 1811-1812 | ||||||||||||