Looking at Nantucket’s picturesque harbor surrounded by multimillion-dollar vacation homes, it is hard to imagine what it looked like during the heyday of the whaling industry in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. At that time, Nantucket was a filthy working port, swarming with activity, with people busy preparing whaling ships to depart on long voyages, and transforming whales into usable products when they returned. Riches from across the globe poured into the island, as still reflected in the magnificent houses that line the town’s cobblestone Main Street.
Ironically, these imposing and graceful mansions were funded by one of the world’s bloodiest businesses.
History
English settlers first arrived in Nantucket in the mid 1600s (Philbrick, Nathaniel p.
4). At that time, there was already a longstanding Native American presence on the island, and the name “Nantucket” comes from the Wampanoag word for “faraway land” [Image 1] (Dolin, Eric p.
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“ She followed all my directions. It was really easy to contact her and respond very fast as well. ”
63,67; Philbrick, Nathaniel pp. 16-24).
Like other English settlers in New England, the settlers who decided not to farm rocks made their living by raising crops and herding sheep (Philbrick, Nathaniel p.5). They also looked to the ocean for sustenance, fishing cod, and harvesting shellfish. But they had no history of whaling. To the contrary, the first whales they encountered were ones that washed ashore (Philbrick, Nathaniel, pp.75, 79). They learned from the Native Americans all the uses for the various parts of the whale.
By the 1690s, the Nantucketers—again, assisted by the quickly dwindling Native American population—had begun to organize expeditions in small boats to pursue the “right” whales—so-called because they were of moderate size and slow-moving and therefore easy to catch—that passed close to shore on their annual migrations (Dolin, Eric p.5-6; Philbrick, Nathaniel p.82).
They built “whale houses” on elevated platforms along the island’s southeastern shore to watch for the whales, and when they saw the spouts, they set off in boats to capture them (Oldham, Elizabeth p.7; Philbrick, Nathaniel p.83). These massive whales were towed to shore and the carcasses stripped of the blubber which would later become the prized oil for which Nantucket became so well known (Oldham, Elizabeth p.7).
But this “shore whaling” offered only limited potential. Around 1715, Nantucketers began venturing out to the deep sea. This started as the result of an accident, when a sailboat was blown out to sea and returned with the island’s first sperm whale (Oldham, Elizabeth p.7; Philbrick, Nathaniel p.85). The head of these whales contained oil of the highest quality, much better than any other man made products — and in those pre-electricity days, oil for lighting was at a premium (Dolin, Eric p.103).
By the late eighteenth century, technological advances led to larger whaleships that became virtual seagoing factories for processing the whale [Image 2] (Oldham, Elizabeth p.7; Philbrick, Nathaniel p.134). With that development, Nantucket whaleships ruled the world’s oceans. From the island’s harbor, they embarked on their legendary three-, four-, and five-year voyages around the world in search of “greasy luck.”
Whale capture
The capture of a whale was a dangerous adventure. The journey would always begin with a long search. Every day from sunrise to sunset, a lookout was stationed at the masthead for a two-hour shift, scanning the ocean, hoping to spy a spout (Dolin, Eric p.32). Like most jobs on the ship, this one was definitely uncomfortable: the lookout had to steady himself 100 feet above deck supported only by two pieces of lumber nailed to the mast and a pair of iron hoops at breast-height (New Bedford Museum). Under ideal conditions, he could spot a whale’s spout eight miles away [Image 3].
Each whale species has a distinctive spout, which meant that experienced lookouts were invaluable because they could tell the difference between a prized sperm whale and a less valuable fin whale (New Bedford Museum). Working with a mate or the captain, the lookout then tried to steer the ship as close as possible to the whale (New Bedford Museum). Then the race would begin: captain, mates, and crew all dashed across the deck, jumped into their whale boats and dropped down into the sea [Image 4].
Once the whaleboats were launched, the crews struggled to arrive at the whale first. The men could not see the whale: they faced the rear of the whaleboat. It was a terrifying moment as the small whaleboat approached the hulking whale. These large beasts have acute hearing, so it was very important to approach them quietly because the splash of an oar could “gally” the whale and make it “sound” and swim away (New Bedford Museum; Dolin, Eric p.33). To minimize the sound and physical toll of rowing, whenever there was a favorable wind, the crew attached a rudder and put up mast and sailed.
As the whaleboat slowly approached its prey, the harpooner picked up his spear [Image 5]. Contrary to popular belief, the harpoon (or “whale iron”) was not used to kill the whale, but instead to tie it to the whaleboat (Dolin, Eric p.33). A whaleship embarking on a four-year voyage in the mid-nineteenth century usually carried 150-200 harpoons (New Bedford Museum). The harpoon’s head was made of forged iron mounted to a wooden shaft. The weapon was attached to a long coil of strong rope which fed from a bucket (Fishermen’s Voice). The most popular harpoon was designed by Lewis Temple, an African-American from New Bedford, Massachusetts, who, unfortunately for him, did not patent his design (Dolin, Eric pp.233-34).
The harpooner stood at the front of the whaleboat, ready to thrust his weapon into the animal. Once the boat was within a few feet of the whale, the boat header shouted “Give it to him,” and the harpooner struck. As the whale thrashed in pain, the crew backed the boat away (New Bedford Museum). This was the most dangerous moment of the voyage: the jaws or tail of a 50-ton whale could smash a boat and scatter the crew (most of whom could not swim) into the ocean. The whale often took a deep dive, taking the embedded harpoon down with it. To prevent the boat from being dragged down, the crew allowed the line to run out. (New Bedford Museum).
Whales cannot breath underwater and must eventually come up, but can still swim on the surface at speeds of over twenty miles per hour (New Bedford Museum). With a captured whale swimming so fast, the attached whaleboat bounced up and down, showering the men with spray — a so-called “Nantucket sleigh-ride” [Image 6] (Dolin, Eric pp.33-34; Philbrick, Nathaniel p192). Sea-sickness was not the only consequence of such adventure: there was a real danger that the whale might carry the crew so far away that the ship would never find them again.
When the whale eventually tired, the crew pulled on the line to approach their prey. At that point, the boatheader and harpooner changed places at the front of the boat, and the boatheader plunged a lance into a vulnerable spot like the heart or lungs. That led to a geyser of blood, and the whale swam around in ever smaller circles, called the “flurry.” [Image 7] (New Bedford Museum). Finally, the great mammal beat the water with its tail, shuddered and rolled over on its side (New Bedford Museum).
But the whale’s death after so many hours was not the end of the hard work. The exhausted men had to tow the whale’s carcass, which often weighed more than 50 tons, back to the ship. The boatheader of the capturing boat would make a hole in the whale’s tail with a cutting spade, and then attach the whale with a line. (New Bedford Museum). Time was of the essence: the sooner the men could get the bloody carcass back to the ship, the less time the sharks would have to feast on it. When they reached the ship, they attached the whale to the ship with heavy chains [Image 8], and immediately began dissecting it.
To perform that task, the crew erected a platform above the carcass. They first stripped off the blubber, a thick layer of fat, with cutting spades set in 15-foot long poles [Image 9] (New Bedford Museum). They cut the blubber into long strips (“blanket pieces”), each of which weighed about a ton. After hauling the blanket pieces up on deck, they divided them into smaller “horse pieces” and “Bible leaves” (which resembled the pages of a book) (Dolin, Eric p.251).
Although trying out, or “boiling” (extracting oil from blubber) was carried out onshore in the early days of whaling, by the mid-nineteenth century, whaleships carried “tryworks” – big iron pots set in a brick stove [Image 10] (Dolin, Eric pp. 36-37). A fire was set in the stove beneath the pots; “Bible leaves” were tossed into the pots and cooked until the oil was rendered (extracted) from the blubber (Dolin, Eric, p.36). The oil was then cooled, placed in casks of varying sizes, and stored in the ship’s hold (New Bedford Museum).
The sperm whale’s head was very valuable [Image 11]. It is separated into three parts. The “case” is the top of the head. Tons of the purest oil was scooped from the case with buckets (Dolin, Eric pp.60-61). This oil, known as spermaceti, hardened into a white waxy substance that was worth three to five times more than other whale oil (Dolin, Eric pp.60-61). A large sperm whale’s head might yield up to 500 gallons of the liquid wax (New Bedford Museum). The second part of the head, the “junk” or lower half of the forehead, contained more oil, and was cut into horse pieces and tried out separately.
Although oil from the junk was not as valuable as the spermaceti from the case, it was considered superior to the rest of the whale’s blubber. The third part of the head is the jaw and teeth, which were saved for scrimshaw carving by the crew [Image 12] (Dolin, Eric pp.250-51). Unlike sperm whales, baleen whales, such as bowhead and right whales, do not have teeth. Instead, they use long vertical strips in their mouths, called baleen, to strain ocean water for krill, masses of shrimp-like organisms that float near the surface. Baleen is made of keratin, a substance found in nails, horns, hoofs, and hair [Image 13] (Dolin, Eric pp.4-5). It was used for a wide variety of items: buggy whips, carriage springs, corset stays, fishing rods, frames for traveling bags, trunks, and women’s hats, hoops for women’s skirts, and umbrella and parasol ribs.
Processing a whale was nearly as dangerous as hunting one. The ship’s deck became so slick with blood and oil that the men sometimes slipped and fell overboard to a certain death. Others were crushed by the enormous strips of blubber or injured by their tools (New Bedford Museum). As the blubber was being rendered, the movement of the ship could splash boiling oil onto the crew (New Bedford Museum).
Sometimes, the fire in the tryworks spread and destroyed the ship [Image 14]. And throughout the days and nights of work, a terrible smell clung to the men and their ship (New Bedford Museum). After the last cask was stored, the crew scrubbed and polished, although it was never really possible to rid the ship of the stench of smoked blubber (New Bedford Museum). Word has it that a downwind ship could smell a whaleship approaching.
The rise of the whaling industry
With the rise of the whaling industry, sooty factories, warehouses, and workshops quickly sprung up around Nantucket’s harbor (Philbrick, Nathaniel pp.11-12). Skilled labor was in demand and much of the work was hazardous. An unnamed writer, reflecting on those days, wrote to the local newspaper, The Inquirer and Mirror, in 1880, “There was work for every man then who wanted to work, and when the old South bell rung out the hour of noon, Main Street, as well as the other streets leading up from the wharves were filled with an army of workingmen, going up for their dinners” (Morral & White p.64).
The vast majority of whaling ships were built off island, but much of the outfitting was done locally. The smaller whaleboats launched for the “Nantucket sleigh rides” were more likely to have been built on Nantucket. An entire industry of skilled carpenters built masts and spars (Morral & White, p.65). Each ship needed at least twenty-five different spars, which had to be cut, rounded and shaped for individual ships (Morral & White, p.65). Ships also needed wooden blocks of a wide variety of sizes, most used to fasten ropes securely (Morral & White, p.65). Coopers made wooden barrels, buckets, and casks (Morral & White, p.65). In the 1830s, there were twenty-two cooperages on Nantucket churning out thousands of wooden containers.
Manufacturing ropes and iron details
Ships also needed miles of rope. Ten ropewalks on the island converted hemp into rope. Workers walked the rope the length of the long buildings, looping strands around machinery that stretched and twisted the fibers (Morral & White p.67). This was dangerous work: the machines could amputate fingers and arms, and the factories were highly flammable.
Blacksmiths working in hot, fiery forges turned out harpoons, lances, knives and other implements needed to hunt and dismember the whales. This was also dangerous work. In addition, blacksmiths manufactured cleats, hinges and anchor chains (Morral & White, p.68). At the peak of whaling, there were approximately a dozen blacksmith shops on Nantucket, most surrounding the harbor (Morral & White, p.68).
Making sails and candles
Each ship also needed twenty to thirty sails, totaling over an acre of sailcloth. Sailmaking was highly skilled work requiring three-year apprenticeships (Morral & White p.68). Each sail had to be carefully measured, cut and sewn. Making large sails required ample space, and there were at least four large sail lofts on the island in the 1830s (Morral & White p.68).
Other industries came into play when the ships returned laden with whale oil. Oil factories rendered the blubber into oil, and candle factories manufactured candles. Nantucket’s oil was considered the world’s finest, and lit streetlamps from Paris and London to New York and Chicago (Morral & White p.69). Candle factories churned out millions of candles; at the peak, it is estimated that four million candles were shipped off island every year (Morral & White p.69). Nantucket’s Whaling Museum is housed in the former Hadwen and Barney Candle Factory, where visitors can see how candles were made [Image 15]. There were at least seventeen oil factories and nineteen candle factories on the island. Two more factories specialized in making the boxes for the candles (Morral & White p.69).
“Greasy Luck” running out
But “Greasy Luck” eventually ran out, as Nantucket’s whaling industry suffered a series of blows over a period of about thirty years in the mid-nineteenth century (Dolin, Eric pp.136-37 & n.11; Philbrick, Nathaniel, p.xiv). In the 1830s, the petroleum fields of Pennsylvania began producing kerosene, a cheaper and more easily obtainable source of lighting oil (Dolin, Eric pp.294, 323-24). The Great Fire of 1846 destroyed more than one-third of Nantucket town (Philbrick, Nathaniel pp.13, 205). The whale population declined precipitously as a result of over-hunting (Philbrick, Nathaniel pp.204-05).
A sandbar at the entrance to Nantucket harbor prevented the much larger and heavily loaded whaleships from approaching the wharves, and they had to be off-loaded outside the bar or carried over it in a drydock (Philbrick, Nathaniel pp.13, 242). The mainland ports of New Bedford and Salem had access to the expanding railroads, which linked them to the rest of the country and the world (Morral & White p.70; Philbrick, Nathaniel p.243). The discovery of gold in California in 1848 lured hundreds of Nantucketers there to seek their fortunes (Philbrick, Nathaniel pp. 243-44). Almost 400 Nantucketers fought in the Civil War, and seventy-four of them died (Morral & White, p.29).
With the decline of the whaling industry in the mid-nineteenth century, the “nation of Nantucket,” as it was dubbed by Ralph Waldo Emerson, fell on hard times (Philbrick, Nathaniel, p.235). Between 1840 and 1870, the island’s population decreased by more than half, from almost ten thousand to a little more than four thousand (Oldham, Elizabeth, p.8). Gradually, the island faded into economic insignificance and obscurity, only to re-emerge as a tourist hotspot in the twentieth century. But whaling remains a powerful part of the island’s identity; even now, the high school’s sports teams are known as the “Whalers.”
Nantucket Whaling. (2022, Mar 30). Retrieved from https://paperap.com/nantucket-whaling/
