Album containing original photographs of the whaling ship 'Costa Rica Packet', including many images taken on board including hauling whales aboard, dismembering whales, rendering the oil in the tryworks etc.
In 1887 Costa Rica Packet was purchased by a syndicate of Sydney citizens and was registered as owned by shipping company Messrs Burns Philp & Co. Her maiden voyage as a whaler was undertaken in 1888. However, even though the size of the catch made the voyage very profitable, an incident occurred which had unforeseen consequences: ie. the total demise of the Sydney whaling fleet and the re-writing of maritime law.
Whilst sailing in the Dutch East Indies in 1888, the Costa Rica Packet came across a waterlogged and derelict outrigger, or proa, and took aboard its cargo which consisted of thirteen cases of spirits and a tin of kerosene. Three years later, when the whaler again came into these waters, the Dutch authorities arrested Captain Carpenter and took him to Macassar. They charged him with piracy, because of the cargo taken from the proa. After being held for over a month, Carpenter was released but was 1000 miles from the Costa Rica Packet. In the meantime, without supervision, the ship was not maintained by the crew, many of whom contracted malaria. The captain decided to abandon the enterprise and sell the vessel in Singapore, for a tenth of its original price. 
The Sydney owners made official complaints through the British Government, who made a strong claim against the Netherlands Government for compensation. The case went before the International Court at The Hague and it was determined in favour of the British in 1897. The case known as The Costa Rica Packet Arbitration Case has been used ever since as a precedent in cases involving abandoned ships.
This album has a loosely inserted newspaper clipping 'The storm that sank Sydney's whalers', undated.