Oil, ice & bone : arctic whaler Nathaniel Ransom /Helen Hiller Frink.

A biography of Nathaniel Ransom, who spent almost 20 years working as a whaler on voyages throughout the world with the New England whaling fleet, based out of New Bedford, Massachusetts, from 1860, written by his great granddaughter. Based largely on Ransom's own ship journals, the book provides an account of day-to-day life on board the whaling boats, the practicalities and economics of the whaling industry, and the 1871 ice trap, which saw some 33 vessels trapped in Arctic pack ice and their crews forced to abandon ship. Black and white illustrations throughout.