Seafaring Sunday: Mary Brewster

The boats from the different ships have all be off whaling. Two of the ships got one each. We man 4 boats which takes all on board save brother James who is both cooper and carpenter, the cook and Steward and cabin boy. Husband and self are quite alone and we enjoy it much and anticipate much pleasure whilst the fish are catching. The boats start before light so to be up there where the whales are early enough to get fast before they leave in the morning. They take their dinner with them and stop till towards night before they return. These whales frequent this bay once a year to calve.

~ from the diary of Mary Brewster, wife of the captain of the whaleship Tiger at Magdalena Bay, Baja California, December 31, 1846

Header: Daguerreotype of Mary Brewster via the Mystic Seaport Historical Society