Stranded whaling fleet, miraculous survival story make archaeological jackpot

“Abandonment of the Whalers In The Arctic Ocean September 1871.” Ships depicted: Monticello, Kohola, Eugenia, Julian, Awashonks Thom Dickason, Minerva, WM. Rotch, Victoria and Mary. Wainwright Inlet is in the background. Credit: Ted and Ellie Congdon, Huntington Library
Federal scientists discovered the battered remnants of two whaling ships near Wainwright in the Chukchi Sea this fall.
The ships are believed to be from 1871 when 33 ships were trapped by sea ice.
All 1,219 whale