IMHICIHU   13380
INSTITUTO MULTIDISCIPLINARIO DE HISTORIA Y CIENCIAS HUMANAS
Unidad Ejecutora - UE
congresos y reuniones científicas
Título:
Between words and oceans. Logbooks and the Antarctic sealing industry
Autor/es:
MELISA A. SALERNO; MARÍA JIMENA CRUZ
Lugar:
Ushuaia
Reunión:
Conferencia; SC-HAAS Conference 2019 - Antarctic Connections at the End of the World: Understanding the Past and Shaping the Future; 2019
Institución organizadora:
Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research -SCAR
Resumen:
In the nineteenth century, sealing vessels representing the interest of capitalist companies (mainly from the United States and the United Kingdom, among other nations) visited the South Shetland Islands (Antarctica) and exploited animal resources to feed a large world market of oil and skins. One of the duties of the merchant captains of that time was to keep a logbook to record observations on weather, the location of the vessel, incidents on board, etc. on a daily basis. Logbooks represent a valuable source of information to shed light on the sealing industry. However, both historians and archaeologists dealing with Antarctic sealing still need to explore in greater depth the potential of these documents. Considering logbooks from American sealing vessels, written in the early, mid and late nineteenth century, in this presentation we will try to show how these documents can offer synchronic and diachronic information on: 1) The complete trajectory of the sealing voyages bound to Antarctica, from their port of departure to their port of return (including visits to intermediate ports, other hunting grounds, etc.). 2) The nature of the sealing operations on the South Shetland Islands (including the establishment of sealers' camps on specific locations; the composition of the gangs; the amount of resources obtained; the animal species hunted at each location -seals, elephant seals, etc.). Finally, as historical archaeologists and members of the Landscapes in White Research Project, we will try to discuss how the information gathered trough the analysis of logbooks could be integrated to archaeological evidence.