Dec 29th, 2019 : Oil, Whale Oil

[xoxoxoBruce]

After that 1871 disaster of 33 ships caught in the ice they would lay up in San Francisco for the winter.
Then about 1888 they discovered they could overwinter at Herschel Island, saving a long voyage south and back.



Of course that meant the ship owners were supplying room and board all winter.
A ship's captain bringing his wife and kids along, as most of them did, had to pay the owners $1,000 to overwinter at Herschel.
I don't know if that was for one winter or for the duration.