Ryedale Folk Museum

Whalebones were often a feature of the farm gateway in the Ryedale area. During the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, many farmers sons would go to sea with the whaling ships from the local ports such as whitby. The whalebones erected on the farm gateway were like a badge of honour, to show you had relatives at sea whaling. Please have a look at a previous blog post about a local man Wiliam Stockell, amongst his many adventures he spent time whaling. http://ryedalefolkmuseumarchive.blogspot.com/2009/05/eventful-narrative-of-william-stockell.html Jonathan Severs, B.A (Hons)

The Ryedale area of North Yorkshire does not conjure up an image of ships and whaling, but an individual named Captain William Stockell came from Malton and led a full and adventurous life. He taught himself sea navigation, and went to sea in January 1804. This led to him developing a love for life at sea and many adventures. If one is fortunate to read his autobiography, The Eventful Narrative of William Stockell, one may assume that is the work of someone with an overactive imagination. Further investigation into other sources of information such as ship's rosters that he wrote about prove that much of the contents of the book are true. Maybe he does bolster his own image with tales of courage under the worst conditions, but one cannot dispute that he led a full life. Service in the Royal Navy, the U.S navy, working on merchant ships and whaling were just some of the vessels he sailed on, in days before steam ships. Here is a brief excerpt from his book in which the Cornwall eng...