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The First Printed German Whaling Journal.
Christian Bullen's Daily Record of a Hamburg Whaling Voyage to Spitsbergen and Northern Norway in the Year 1667.
335 years after its first publication, the earliest printed German whaling journal is again available to the interested public. In his 1948 "Bibliography of whaling", Jenkins had noted that the only extant copy known was in the Bremen Municipal Library. Sadly, this copy has been missing since World War Two. Now another copy has been discovered and in addition, a hitherto completely unknown second edition of 1677.
Both form the basis of a careful transcription and scholarly edition now in print again.
When early in 1667, all hopes to enroll in the Dutch merchant marine had come to nil, the German sailor Christian Bullen, out of necessity mustered on board a Hamburg whaleship in the rank of a coxwain.
Although published already in the following year, the journal he kept on board during this voyage is one of the rarest sources on 17th century whaling in the North Atlantic and Eastern Arctic. The author describes not only bowhead (Balaena mysticetus) whaling and right whaling (Eubalaena glacialis) off Spitsbergen and Northern Norway, but also offers detailed insights into shipboard life. The toils in chasing and processing the giant prey (4 bowheads taken, of which 2 "dauhval", 1 right whale taken, 2 struck-and-lost), emergency maneuvers in sea storms and to avoid collisions with ice, the funeral of a shipmate, the ruthlessness of the ship owners, but also the beauty of Arctic nature and the folklore of the whale hunters, all these aspects are covered in Bullen's "daily record".
An exhaustive scholarly commentary and over 70 illustrations (half of which in color, a substantial part from contemporary depictions, mostly hitherto unpublished) introduce to the present-day reader life on a whaleship three centuries ago. The first printed German whaling journal is an important source on whale ecology, sea ice conditions, and practical seamanship of the late 17th century.
Bullen's scarce, 24-pages imprint has been edited by Cologne whaling historian and collector Klaus Barthelmess, who also wrote the extensive commentary (with additions by glaciologist Boerge Pflueger and maritime art historian Hendrik Busmann). Barthelmess has authored and co-authored several books and numerous articles on cetacean-related topics.
Klaus Barthelmess: Das erste gedruckte deutsche Walfangjournal - Christian Bullens "Tag=Register" einer Hamburger Fangreise nach Spitsbergen und Nordnorwegen im Jahre 1667. [the first printed German whaling journal. Christian Bullen's daily record of a Hamburg whaling voyage to Spitsbergen and Northern Norway in the year 1667; in German]. Amsterdam: De Bataafsche Leeuw, in cooperation with the German Maritime Museum, Bremerhaven, 2003. 128 pages, 2 tables, 5 maps, 70 illustrations, approx. half of which in color, notes, bibliography, hardcover, dust jacket. ISBN 90 6707 568 X. price 27.50 Euro.
International orders:
De Bataafsche Leeuw
Rooseveltlaan 191
NL - 1079 AP Amsterdam
+31 - 20 - 644 64 58
bataaf@euronet.nl
Orders from within Germany:
Deutsches Schiffahrtsmuseum
Redaktion
Hans-Scharoun-Platz 1
27568 Bremerhaven
0471 - 48207-28
redaktion@dsm.de