What Did the Arctic Ocean Look Like 150 Years Ago?

Photos reveal fascinating details of life on historical ships in the Bering Sea – Arctic region beginning in the mid-19th century. The photos augment the data being recovered from the ships logs.

Go to the Image Galleries:

• Gallery of images from Coast Guard and Revenue Cutters
• Gallery of images from Navy
• Gallery of images from Coast Survey

About the Coast Guard Image Gallery

University of Washington iSchool student and Coast Guard reservist Hallie Portz assembled this digital image library and on-line exhibit from photographs taken by the crews of US Revenue Marine and Coast Guard cutters. In addition to showing what the environment looked like at specific times and places, these pictures also reveal fascinating details of daily life on the cutters. The images will be used to support the Old Weather project, to augment web content at the US National Archives, as a service for the volunteer-run Coast Guard Museum NW and the Coast Guard Historian’s Office, and are also available in this gallery. The original photographs are in the collection of the Coast Guard Museum NW in Seattle.

Other Image Libraries

• Coast Guard Historian's Office
• Naval History and Heritage Command
• New Bedford Whaling Museum Photo Archives
• University of Washington Libraries Digital Collections
• Alaska's Digital Archives
• Library of Congress Prints and Photos
• National Archives Photographs
• First International Polar Year (IPY) 1881-1884