Charles Melville Scammon

In 1874 he wrote the book The Marine Mammals of the North-western Coast of North America,[1] which was a financial failure.

On April 1, 1852, he left San Francisco in command of the brig Mary Helen (160 tons) on a combined sealing and whaling voyage.

In December 1857, commanding the brig Boston, with the schooner-tender Marin, he first hunted the gray whales of Laguna Ojo de Liebre, catching twenty.

[3] The following winter (1858–59), commanding the bark Ocean Bird and accompanied by the schooner tenders A.M. Simpson and Kate, he returned to the lagoon, catching forty-seven cows.

[3] In 1860–61 he returned to Laguna Ojo de Liebre in the bark Ocean Bird, taking a paltry 245 barrels of oil: about seven whales.