FILE – In this Tuesday, Dec. 8, 2015 file photo the likeness of a whale adorns a door at the New Bedford Whaling Museum in New Bedford, Mass. The museum has compiled a digital archive of more than a hundred thousand names of men who embarked on whaling voyages out of the Massachusetts port before the final one in 1927. (AP Photo/Stephan Savoia, File)
BOSTON (AP) — The New Bedford Whaling Museum has put together a digital list of all the men who set sail on whaling voyages out of the port to help people researching family history.
The list contains the names of more than 127,000 sailors as young as 10 and as old as 70 who set sale from 1809 until 1927.
The searchable database includes the sailor’s name, age, job title, home state or country, and in some cases skin and hair color. It lists men from 33 states, two U.S. territories and more than 100 foreign nations.
Museum officials say people using the database have made some surprising discoveries about their ancestors, including one man who found out that a forefather had sabotaged a vessel in the South Pacific and was thrown off the crew.
About CapeCod.com NewsCenter
Speak Your Mind