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The Nantucket Letters of ]. Hector St. John de Crevecoeur EDITED AND CONDENSED BY A. MORRIS CROSBY
(Continued from our July, 1971, issue) LETTER VI (After a brief description of the island of Mar tha's Vineyard, where de Crevecoeur stopped on his re turn to Falmouth from Nantucket, and following a rather romantic description of the methods of taking whales, de Crevecoeur returns to his chief interest, the people of Nantucket.) THE MORAL CONDUCT, prejudices, and customs of a people who live two thirds of their lives at sea, must naturally be very different from those of their neighbors, who live by cultivating the earth. That long abstemiousness to which the former are exposed, the breathing of saline air, the frequent repetitions of danger, the very impulse of the winds; one would imagine must lead them, when on shore, to no small desire of inebriation, and a more eager persuit of those pleasures, of which they have been so long deprived. Yet notwithstanding the powerful effects of all these causes, I observed here, with the return of their fleets, no material irregularity; no tumultuous drink-assemblies: whereas in our continental town, the thoughtless seaman indulges himself in the coarsest pleasure; and foolishly lavishes in a few days of intoxication, the fruits of half a year's labour. On the contrary all was peace here and a general decency prevailed throughout; the reason I believe is, that almost every body here is married, for they get wives very young; and the pleasure of returning to their families absorbs every other desire. The motives that lead them to the sea, are very different from those of most other seafaring men; it is neither idleness nore profligacy; it is a settled plan of life, a well founded hope of earning a livelihood; it is because their soil is bad, that they are early initiated to this profession. The sea, therefore, becomes to them a kind of patrimony, they go to whaling with as much pleasure and tranquil in-
