Whaling Disaster of 1871

[Jim Eshelman]

33 American whaling ships became trapped in Arctic ice, forcing eventual abandonment of the ships. Besides the harrowing conditions and hardship for those involved, this dealt a serious economic blow to the American whaling industry.

August 1871 - Ships reached Point Belcher near Wainwright, Alaska. Shifting weather conditions moved the northern ice pack to block their exit. Within two weeks, this hardened, locking them in place (and crushing four ships). Their positon is described as about 60 miles south of Point Franklin.

Sometime before mid-September 1871, the 1,219 people on these ships all evacuated in small boats with three months of supplies, escaping to safety with no casualties, Economic damages, though, were calculated as $1.6 million (about $32 million today). All but one of the abandoned ships was completely lost, though one was recovered later.

This should be a fascinating event to study, though we are constrained with limited information on when it occurred and exactly where. Furthermore, in these far northern regions, even small locational differences can make vast differences in the charts. We at least know the solar ingresses - one might expect the Cansolar to have much to say. The original problem began in August 1871, and the evacuation began by mid-September. The last reported location (but with the ships stretched along 60 miles of ice, which alone is at least a degree of longitude) was about 60 miles south of Point Franklin, which is 70N54, 158W49, a few miles north of Wainwright. I suspect that Wainwright is about the best location I'll get.

Capsolar (Jan 13)
A close Sun-Uranus opposition squares Ascendant for Wainwright, Pluto is tightly conjunct Westpoint and also < 3° above Descendant, and Neptune is a few degrees below Descendant. It's all Sun and the outer planets, and certainly shows extreme, surprising, disorienting, disruptive conditions (which would include the surprise weather turn, in principle).

Cansolar (Jul 15)
The mundoscope of this chart is quite striking! Mars is precisely rising (0°19' above Ascendant) with Mercury 0°01' from MC. (Remember, this is for Wainwright, not exactly where the ships were stuck, but close.) Uranus is < 3° from MC on the other side, aspecting Mercury and, especially, Mars mundanely. Neptune a few degrees above Descendant. It looks most like a travel disaster (it was), and has elements consistent with destructive weather conditions, human ingenuity, and a great deal of disorientation.''

Oh, for out-and-out hardship, mundanely there is a near-partile Moon-Saturn opposition exactly square Venus.

Caplunars
The July 30 Caplunar covers most of August. Saturn is on IC, and there is a very tight Moon-Mars-Neptune T-square.

The August 26 Caplunar covers the month of the evacuation. Moon squares Neptune partile, and opposes Jupiter just a bit wider - I think they benefitted from this edge of fortune, universal to all locations. Venus, Mars, Mercury, and Sun are squeezed in the setting foreground, with Venus only a few minutes from Descendant; and Neptune is rising distantly, in mundane opposition to Sun. Mundanely, the Moon-Jupiter opposition becomes Moon opposite a 15' Jupiter-Uranus conjunction.

I can't say this chart covers every detail of the evacuation, but it does seem to hit the main psychological patterns.