Search for the Lost Whaling Fleets of the Western Arctic

Vessel: R/V Ukpik; Expedition Dates: August 8, 2015 to August 26, 2015; Ports: Prudhoe Bay, Alaska to Prudhoe Bay, Alaska

Project Principals: James P. Delgado¹, Bradley W. Barr¹

Co-Project Principals: None

PI Institution(s): ¹NOAA/ONMS Maritime Heritage Program

Partnerships: University of New Hampshire (UNH), U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) - Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM), NOAA Office of Coast Survey (OCS), NOAA National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science (NCCOS)

Grant #: BOP, OE_FY14_55; Award Period: Unknown

This project involved conducting acoustic, magnetic, and video archaeological surveys and a small amount of core sampling in an area of the Chukchi Sea coast between Wainwright and the terminus of the Seahorse Islands, approximately 60 miles west of Barrow, Alaska. The surveys were targeting a place where, between 1871 and 1876, nearly 50 whaling ships were lost due to adverse ice conditions. The losses of these whaling ships were a major contributory factor to the demise of commercial whaling in the United States. This area is largely unmapped and unexplored, and therefore little is known about the potential physical remains of these wrecked ships. With increasing human activities in the Arctic as the ice diminishes due to climate change, underwater cultural heritage resources are potentially at risk from these activities. As this area has already been preliminarily proposed as a pipeline route for the Chukchi Sea oil and gas development area, it was essential to begin acquiring information about the presence of any shipwreck sites or physical artifacts that could be disturbed by this or other economic development activities in this region. The project was also potentially important with regard to the identification and establishment of marine protected areas in the Arctic. Funding for this project was provided by NOAA Ocean Exploration via its Ocean Exploration Fiscal Year 2014 Funding Opportunity.

Data Citation

Delgado, James; Barr, Bradley (2024). Environmental data and products from NOAA Ocean Exploration Grant Award BOP OE_FY14_55 Project: Search for the Lost Whaling Fleets of the Western Arctic. [indicate subset used]. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information. Project Datasets. https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/waf/ocean-exploration-nofo/15lostwhalingfleets/15lostwhalingfleets_cruise_landing_page.html. Accessed [date].