On December 9, the New Bedford Whaling Museum will release "Around the World in Search of Whales: A Journey of the Lucy Ann Voyage". The hard-bound, non-fiction book is a recounting of a 31-month whaling voyage aboard the whaleship Lucy Ann (1841-1844). The book presents, in its entirety, the personal account and illustrations of whaleman and artist John F. Martin, edited by Kenneth R. Martin.
 
John F. Martin was at sea during the cultural heyday of American whaling. Though thousands of logbooks, diaries, and journals have survived the days of Yankee whaling, none have matched Martin’s combination of droll narrative and evocative watercolors.

His journal is considered a masterpiece of its genre. Thirty-one months of daily entries are vibrantly and sometimes comically detailed by the seasoned, savvy observer with a humorous take on the whaling trade. It is richly illustrated with elegant, vivid watercolors large and small: whales, whaling encounters, ships and boats, sea creatures, distant landfalls, and exotic strangers.
 
The detailed account of life aboard Lucy Ann includes dangerous encounters, shipboard shenanigans, faraway ports, good times, bad food, close scrapes, and dashed hopes, described in a rollicking comic style worthy of a professional author. His observations and illustrations are second to none in their historical, anthropological, and biological value.

A book launch will be held on Friday, Dec. 9, from 6 to 8 p.m., at the New Bedford Whaling Museum, 18 Johnnycake Hill, New Bedford. The event is free and open to the public. The book can be purchased at the Museum’s gift store, online at store.whalingmuseum.org, or by calling 508/997-0046.