Bell from the Active

Ships bell from the whaler Active, a three masted rigged whaling ship, built in Peterhead and became part of the Dundee Whaling Fleet in 1873.

The Active (along with the Balaena, Diana and Polar Star) took part in the 1892-93 Dundee Whaling expedition to investigate and hunt the whale population of the Weddell sea. On the 8th of January in 1893 the Active came across an unknown land and the ships captain, Thomas Robertson named it 'Dundee Island' in honour of the port. In 1914 the Active was taken over by the government and placed into the hands of the Hudson Bay Company who used her to carry war munitions to Northern Russia. The ship, along with all hands, was lost in a gale off the Orkney Islands on the 25th of December 1915.

The donors grandfather was the ship's doctor, Dr Peach Hay, originally from Arbroath, for the 1890 whaling season. The bell was cracked during the 1890 voyage and replaced by Dr Hay who retained it.