Captain Charles M Scammon

Captain Charles Scammon was born to a well to-do family in Pittston, Maine in 1825 and was one of eight children. As a teenager Charles had a calling to the sea, something his father thought little of but he perused anyway. He was a skipper by the age of 23. In 1849 he set off for the Californian waters where he ventured the coastal lines hunting elephant seals and, around 1851, whales, specifically the Gray Whales in 1855. Scammon saw the creatures with more interest than just money however and he kept detailed notes of his observations and findings. They were eventually published in his 1874 book "The Marine Mammals of the North-western Coast of North America." By the time of it's publication Scammon had been elected a member of the California Academy of Sciences.