To obtain insight into the assumed relation between the education the pupils received at the Nautical College in Harlingen and their careers, research was focused on the students who pursued careers in whaling. In the table below they are listed in alphabetical order. The years they spent at the Nautical College in Harlingen are presented in the second column with the total number of years between brackets […]. This number of total years at the college was copied from the data in the registers of students at the Nautical College in Harlingen. The folio numbers refer to this source.

Occasionally these totals do not coincide with the total number they should have. If, for instance, a pupil is listed as having spent the years 1818 to 1821 at the Nautical College, then the number between brackets should read [3] for the total of the seasons spent in school. At the time this list was completed, however, attention was focused solely on the person with the remark that they left school for Greenland whaling. It may well be that the whaleman who, according to the listings, spent the years 1818 through 1821 at school may in fact have spent more seasons at the school but were instead pursuing non-whaling careers. In that case, the total presented in the book was not [3] but was given, as done in the table below, as, for example, [5]. The non-whaling years mentioned were not included. Additional research may show for example that many students who went whaling first tried their luck in shipping to the East Indies, or perhaps in coastal trade with the Baltic.

Where applicable, an overview is given of their careers: the rank they had when they attended their first courses, their age at that time, the rank they reached at the end of their career, and their age when they obtained that highest rank. Finally, an attempt was made to link these students at their highest rank with the ships they sailed on. In this manner, a picture of the career of these 60 or so students can be deduced.