Historic Nantucket
PRISONER OF WAR MODEL This handsome model is an attractive feature in the Whaling Museum Library. During the Napoleonic Wars many French prisoners in British prisons made such models from beef bone, whalebone and tortoise shell. This is of the type called sloop-of-war, and was restored in 1937 by Charles Sayle and the late Nikita Carpenko. JANUARY 1973 Published Quarterly by NANTUCKET HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION NANTUCKET. MASSACHUSETTS
NANTUCKET HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION OFFICERS President, Henry B. Coleman Vice-Presidents, W. Ripley Nelson, George W. Jones. Alcon Chadwick, Albert F. Egan, Jr.. Mrs. Edith C. Andrews, Walter Beinecke, Jr.
Honorary Vice Presidents, Mis9 Grace Brown Gardner, Mrs. William L. Mather Secretary, Albert G. Brock Treasurer, John N. Welch Councillors, Henry B. Coleman, Chairman; Mrs. H- Crowell Freeman. Mrs. Charles Clark Coffin, terms expire 1972; Henry Mitchell Havemeyer, David Worth, terms expire 1973; Mrs. Richard Swain, Bernard Grossman, terms expire 1974; Robert Metters, George A. Snell, terms expire 1975. Administrator, Leroy H. True Curator, Miss Dorothy Gardner Historian, Edouard A. Stackpole Honorary Curator, Mrs. William L- Mather Editor, "Historic Nantucket", Edouard A. Stackpole; Assistant Editor, Mrs. Merle Turner Orleans.
STAFF Oldest House: Chairman, Mrs. J. Clinton Andrews Receptionists. Mrs. Charles Barr. Miss Adeline Cravott
Hadwen House-Satler Memorial: Chairman, Mrs. Charles Clark Coffin 1800 House: Receptionist, Mrs. John Kittila Old Gaol: Chairman, Albert G. Brock: Receptionist. Hugh MacVicar Whaling Museum: Chairman, Hugh R. Chace, Manager. David Allan. Re ceptionists, Clarence H. Swift, Mrs. Reginald Hussey, Mrs. Harold Killen, Mrs. Joan Gallagher, Jesse Dunham.
Peter Foulger Museum: Chairman and Director, Edouard A. Stackpole Receptionists. Mrs. Elizabeth B. Worth, Mrs. Clara Block. Everett Finlay
Christian House: Chairman, Mrs. John A. Baldwin Receptionists, Mrs. Noreen Shea. Miss Eleanor Phinney, Mrs. Sarah Morris
Archaeology Dept.: Chairman, Paul C. Morris, Jr. Old Town Office: Chairman, Hugh R. Chace Old Mill: Chairman, Richard F. Swain Receptionist, Miss Helen MacDonald
Folger-Franklin Seat & Memorial Boulder: Chairman, Francis Sylvia Friends Meeting House-Fair Street Museum: Chairman, Mrs. Harding U. Greene
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HISTORIC NANTUCKET Published quarterly and devoted to the preservation of Nantucket's antiquity, its famed heritage and its illustrious past as a whaling port.
Nantucket Historical Association Officers and Staff Editorial
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Administrator's Report
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The Significance of Public Schools in Ante-Bellum Nantucket By Elinor M. Gersman
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Cisco — How It Was Originally Designated By Edouard A. Stackpole
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Hand to Hand With a Tuna By Francis W. Davis
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Green Hand on the Susan — Conclusion By Edgar L. McCormick
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Charms of Nantucket By Jesse F. Crawford
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Legacies and Bequests
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Historic Nantucket is published quarterly at Nantucket, Massachusetts, by the Nantucket Historical Association. It is sent to Association Members. Extra copies $.50 each. Membership dues are — Annual-Active $5.00 ; Sustaining $25.00; Life — one payment $100.00. Second-class postage paid at Nantucket, Massachusetts. Copyright 1972, Nantucket Historical Association Communications pertaining to the Publication should be addressed to the Editor, Historic Nantucket, Nantucket Hstorical Association, Nantucket, Massachusetts 02554.
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Editorial Our Role and Responsibility During the past two decades Nantucket has entered a new phase in its continuing life as a community. When it first adopted its guise as a summer resort just over a century ago, its popu larity was based on the cleanliness of its air, its location in the sea, its opportunities for sailing, swimming and fishing, and its "quaint" atmosphere as an old town in an island setting. Modern conveniences for the comfort of its visitors added immeasurably to its attractions, and with the advent of the 20th century it had become one of the favored New England resorts. Now, beginning our second century as a "resort," we have taken on a new mien. Recognition of Nantucket as a place of history has presented us with a new appeal and a new respon sibility. The part played by Nantucket in maritime history — its whaling tradition — can no longer be accepted as a matter for scholars and historians to study and interpret; it is a matter of economics — a stock in trade. Visitors now come in the winter as well as the summer. The appeal of this town and this island has gone beyond the seasonal resort complex. While this is now a factor appreciated by more and more islanders it has definite responsibilities involved. Chief among these is the problem of historic preservation. This is not a matter for private enterprise, so well shown by the individuals who have carefully restored their homes and improved their grounds. It is a concern which must be attended to by the town, as a community enterprise. Every dollar spent for historic preservation is an investment in the future of Nantucket. The question is much more than mere expenditures, however, There must be a program, carefully prepared and carried out year after year. The citizens have depended on individual action by both residents and by corporations in improving the town's traditional "look." This should be the responsibility of the com munity as a whole. Every year the annual warrant should contain an article or articles authorizing an expenditure to carry out a phase of historic preservation. As a place to start let us consider the streets and sidewalks. Over the years the creeping menace of black-top concrete has covered much of the old pavement and cobbled ways. As an example, the dozen crosswalks at the intersections of the streets entering Main Street have been covered with tar, concealing the attractive original stone and cobbles. Restoring them is not costly but the result would provide both an appeal to the eye as well as an investment. Entire cobbled streets may be uncovered; curb stones reset; community pumps replaced; former shops built in replica along the waterfront, and wire services laid under ground. The restoration of our old-time environment is an investment that will pay dividends.
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Administrator's Report FALL ADMISSIONS to our buildings have been good and, as before, the visitors seem especially interested and appreciative. We have had a number of student groups and a few college classes with their professors. Mr. Stackpole gave a lecture to each student group which they found most interesting and helpful. This was especially appreciated by the college classes who were required to write a thesis on Nantucket history, whaling or archi tecture. Major repairs at the 1800 House and the Hadwen-Satler Memorial fence are nearly completed and a number of minor repairs to the other buildings have been cleaned up. I cannot say that all is done that needs to be done because with old build ings, new problems constantly arise but I am certain we are in better shape than we have been for some time. The resignations of Mr. W. Ripley Nelson as Chairman of the Whaling Museum, Mr. Alcon Chadwick as Chairman of the Had wen-Satler Memorial, and Mr. and Mrs. Lindquist from the Whal ing Museum Staff were serious losses because each had been con tributing a great amount of time and talent to these museums for many years. We have been extremely fortunate, however, in filling these positions with very competent people. Mr. Hugh R. Chace has taken over the chairmanship of the Whaling Museum, Mrs. Charles Clark Coffin as chairman of the Hadwen House-Satler Memorial, and Mr. David Allan has taken Mr. Lindquist's place. Besides these, we have been most fortunate in getting Mrs. Hard ing U. Greene to become chairman of the Friends Meeting HouseFair Street Museum. We are planning a number of Association meetings at the Peter Foulger Museum this winter at which Mr. Stackpole will talk about and illustrate various phases of Nantucket history. The first of these will be January 17th and we hope many will attend. These lectures should be very interesting and enlightening, plus giving members and guests an opportunity to browse through the Museum. Another look at things you have seen before is often worthwhile and we have some recent additions well worth seeing. The State, through the Department of Arts and Humanities, has given us a $300.00 matching grant to start a program of cataloging and indexing our books and manuscripts and Miss Eleanor Phinney will begin this work immediately. We had another sizable increase in membership in response
ADMINISTRATOR'S REPORT
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to our appeal letters and a number of new people have purchased life memberships. At present these only cost $100.00 but are good for us because the income continues after the purchaser is no long with us. We now have booklets describing the Peter Foulger Museum on sale there or by mail from this office for $1.00 plus .25 for tax and mailing. We also have copies of Mr. Stackpole's new book "Whales and Destiny" for $15.00 plus .45 for tax and .50 more if by mail. This is a beautiful, authentic book representing a lifetime of accumulated knowledge and several years of intensive research both here and in England. It is always interesting to read a book by an author one knows but doubly so when the author is the leading authority in the world on the subject. We have started an attic cleanout project and two more ap preciated volunteers, Mrs. Martha Boynton and Mrs. Mary Amey, have made considerable progress at the Whaling Museum. Many important artifacts stored there at a time when we were short of space, can now be brought out and exhibited. Scrap books compiled over the years with Inquirer and Mirror clippings by Miss Grace Brown Gardner are now at the Peter Foulger Museum and are a valuable source of quick reference. Leroy H. True
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The Significance of Public Schools in Ante-bellum Nantucket BY ELINOR MONDALE GERSMAN
SEVENTEENTH-CENTURY NANTUCKET settlers clustered together in a central town and made the best of their sandy island, thirty miles off the southern coast of Cape Cod, through farming and sheep herding. Later, butchering beached whales led to pur suit of them at sea, and by 1770 Nantucket had a fleet of 125 ships averaging ninety-three tons each, with an annual produc tion worth $358,200.' During the Revolution and the War of 1,812, Nantucket's exposed position resulted in great suffering and an accompanying loss of wealth and population, but the most serious obstacle to economic development was the sand bar blocking the mouth of the harbor and preventing entry of large, loaded ships. As early as 1803 the islanders began petitioning Congress for various kinds of aid in dealing with the bar, and eventually they constructed a "camel," a steam-operated device, to lift ships over the bar. This worked successfully during the 1840s, but it proved too expensive.2 In the face of adversity Nantucketers left the island in droves throughout the late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries to form whaling colonies abroad or to join friends and relatives in American cities and on the frontier. Despite this outward mi gration, Nantucket flourished; the years between 1820 and 1850 are remembered as a "Golden Age" of cultural and financial growth. From 5,617 in 1800 the population grew to 9,012 in 1840 after which it began to lose ground and was reduced to 4,123 in 1870. In the census years of 1810 and 1820 Nantucket was the third largest city in Massachusetts, but thereafter the urban population of the state grew more rapidly than did the island's, presaging its eventual loss of position among the major cities. The dominance of the Society of Friends and the Presbyter ian church in eighteenth-century Nantucket was lost as the number of sects multiplied and secular interests soared in the nineteenth century.3 After several false starts a permanent newspaper was established in 1821, and islanders developed such a taste for news that in 1836 a successful "Commercial Reading Room" was opened. A number of library associations eventually combined into one main library in the mid-1830s, the Nantucket Philosophical Institute became popular for its scien tific and literary talks, a Lyceum was encouraged, and an Educa tion Society formed in addition to a variety of fraternal and social voluntary associations. Temperance, abolition, and other reform causes all had their adherents. A general interest in
SIGNIFICANCE OF PUBLIC SCHOOLS
navigation provided incentive for the scientific observations of the astronomer, William Mitchell, and his more famous daughter, Maria, who formed the core of an intellectual elite on the island.4 Municipal safety and improvements were a major concern to Nantucketers during this period. Public provision was made for the poor, diseased persons were isolated, the town was cleaned, and drainage was encouraged; by 1854 public opinion permitted the town to order that all citizens be vaccinated. Firefighting equipment was given high priority in the town budget and so was the town clock, that symbol of modern efficiency, erected in 1823. People were delighted with the prospect, and the successful operation, of a regular connection with the mainland by steamer. Street lighting became a progressively more popular cause, eventually supported by public funds.5 The wealth of the town became more apparent as Quaker objections to obvious consumption were ignored. Whole streets of expensive houses, some built of brick and all in the newest styles, sprang up. In 1840 Nantucket County had the second highest valuation of property per person — $674.03 — in Mas sachusetts. Construction was booming in ships, housing and furniture. Ropewalks, whale oil refineries and grist mills pro vided jobs although the largest number of men in any single industry, 1,614, still navigated the oceans.6 Public schools were simply one more example of the intense interest in improvement and progress; this may be true every where, but it is particularly clear in Nantucket where there were no public schools until 1827 despite the Massachusetts laws, although private schools abounded. These schools had only a minor role in the education of Nantucketers, and J. Hector St. John de Crevecoeur described this role when, after two pages of eulogy for the education inculcated by home, religion, and society on the island, he said: At schools they learn to read, and to write a good hand, until they are twelve years old; . ...7 And then he continued with the apprenticeship which fit young men for the whaling industry and for business. Both the Quakers and the whalers supported the unorganized, private approach to schooling; the Quakers feared having their children mingle with non-Quakers while the whalers, aristocrats that they were, feared that indiscriminate schooling would generate pride and cause whaling to die out for educated young men might choose not to follow such a harsh occupation.8 There were two causal factors in the establishment of public schools in 1827: one was a new state school law passed early in the year with a heavy penalty for noncompliance, and the other was the development of a strong public demand for public schooling as the islanders turned away from traditional leader-
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HISTORIC NANTUCKET
ship. Nantucket citizens brought the dereliction of the town to the attention of a Grand Jury, for the first time, causing the town to be placed under indictment. Quickly the town elected a School Committee, voted $2,500 for "Free Schools," and opened the doors of the new public schools in July. So great was the demand that in 182,8 the School Committee was forced to exclude all applicants under nine years of age until more spaces could be provided, and by 1831 there were 805 children attending public schools.9 One of the strongest arguments supporting public schooling in Nantucket was based on the importance attached to a standard ized level of behavior in which morality, self-discipline and punc tuality were the keys. In 1817 a column in a short-lived Nan tucket paper said: In a public school, children imbibe a sameness of thinking, and an uniformity of reasoning, which is productive of much subsequent har mony and friendship. But children scattered among numerous private schools, come out thence with feelings, and ideas as discordant as their manners are various, and their masters variable. — They have no such sentiments of common interests and equal advantages which they would derive at a public school.'0 Nantucket introduced an adapted monitorial system thinking it would be the form of schooling most conducive to developing the desired behavior. The knowledgeable editor of the Nantucket Inquirer wrote in 1828: . . . in many of the Public Schools, and particu larly those on this Island, a kind of midway course is pursued — neither all the exercises are performed by the Teachers, nor by the Monitors; so that they present the most inter esting institutions of improvement and indus try that we ever witnessed.'' Punctuality, regular attendance, and parental cooperation were considered of primary importance, but during the 1830s systematic moral training and education for crime prevention were added to public school rhetoric. The monitorial system was dropped in favor of a district system graded into primary, inter mediate, and grammar schools; after an inspiring Education Convention, keyed by Horace Mann, a high school was added to the system in 1838, regulations were changed to include daily Bible reading without comment, and every parent was urged to read the Common School Journal in order to keep abreast of
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the latest developments.12 Horace Mann said of Nantucket in 1839: Did all parts of the State receive me as cordially and pay half as much attention to my views, as the good people of Nantucket, there would soon be a common-school revolution in the state.13 In 1841 Henry Barnard praised the Nantucket schools saying they offered an example of a really complete system of education for children from the age of four to the age of eighteen.14 Because a number of freed blacks were attracted to the island by the booming economy, Nantucket faced the problem of racial integration during the 1840s. Abolitionists and one or two strong black leaders led the battle against the traditionally oriented segregationists. Integration rhetoric was based on the individual's right to the means of self-improvement and progress and the importance of a "common fountain of knowledge, from which all should draw freely" thus advancing the "utility, har mony, and beauty of the system." The belief in systematization and in self-improvement through schooling, a black boycott of segregated classes, and an economic squeeze combined to settle the question of race relations on the island in favor of integra tion and equality of treatment.15 The desire for standardization came to full fruition during the 1850s. A committee of teachers drew up a report which detailed, with charts, exactly what books and what lessons were to be taught to children in each grade and at what ages children would enter and leave each of the schools. In 1859 the School Committee noted with pride that years of extolling regularity and punctuality were winning success; attendance had improved greatly at the high school and the grammar schools where pupils were no longer permitted to enter if they were late.16 The public schools did not replace the private schools in Nantucket. Newspaper advertising continued to announce the openings and the terms of both day and evening schools for the "common branches," nautical and business studies, college prep aration, and cultural lessons. These classes boomed during the economic and population growth of the 1830s, but slacked oif as much as eighty percent in the years after the devastating 1846 Ore which destroyed the entire business district and is credited with starting the degeneration of Nantucket's economic life, a degeneration hurried by the California gold rush and the Civil War. However, at least one academy, a number of common schools, and many "cent" schools, a nineteenth-century Nantucket version of dame schools, continued to survive for most of the century.
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Public education was highly useful for the ambitious and may have been responsible for producing a high degree of mo bility, if the tentative evidence drawn from a sampling of a list of all high school students between 1838 and 1865 can be accepted as meaningful. Between 1840 and 1865 the population of Nan tucket dropped 46.7% from 9,012 to 4,830. This means that 53.3% of the population remained on the island. But of the students attending the high school between 1838 and 1865 only 30% remained. Such a large difference in mobility between the population as a whole and the high school population is quite striking and needs further study.17 Symbolic of the highest ideals of the more verbal and reformoriented Nantucketers throughout this period was Cyrus Peirce who was brought to Nantucket in 1810 as a young Harvard grad uate to teach school. During the next forty years his life was intimately intertwined with that of the island; he married a Nantucket woman and, when he was not actually living on the island, he was a frequent visitor. He studied theology and became a minister, but eventually decided to devote his life to teaching. Peirce's frequently reiterated rejection of competition and awards, such as were used in the monitorial system to motivate students, was characteristic of his evolving instructional prin ciples. "Whatever advantages may be gained to learning from resorting to this principle," he said, "is more than counter balanced by the decidedly bad moral tendency, . . ." which tended to arouse a sense of power and greed rather than a love of knowl edge and truth.18 Inextricably related to this belief in the power of knowledge was Peirce's determination to avoid use of physical punishment in teaching because "I could see that it often shocked, disturbed, but did not exalt the moral sentiment of the school." He explained that he had talked to many people about this and; I think it "was after listening to a conversation from Mrs." Mott, [Lucretia Mott] at Nantucket, in 1827, that I definitely formed the resolution to attempt thenceforward to keep school without the intervention, (for I can say aid,) of blows.19
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Thus he combined the power of knowledge with the power of moral self-dicipline as motivational devices in his teaching while rejecting all external motivational incentives. During the 1830s Peirce conducted an excellent, very expen sive private school in Nantucket; he led the movement to grade the public schools; he participated ardently in abolitionist and temperance activities ; he presented frequent talks on science and education; and he was a leader in the efforts of reformers, be ginning in 1837, to support and follow Horace Mann. When the high school was established in 1838, Peirce was persuaded, at a
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HISTORIC NANTUCKET
personal financial loss, to become the principal and, after little more than a year, he was tapped by Horace Mann to head the first public Normal School at Lexington, Mass. Peirce was re membered by his students as an excellent teacher who demanded and got a high level of performance; he treated students with dignity and kindness, he experimented with teaching methods in order to get good results, and he worked around the clock himself in order to meet his own expectations. He was always pleased when his students were punctual, prepared and attentive; his mood became depressed when attendance was not regular. Internal discipline and love of true knowledge which he believed to be the most successful motivational factors were inculcated both by precept and direct instruction, but he also insisted that schools must give direct moral instruction in order to prevent the growth of crime in society.20 With its unique industry and location, Nantucket might have developed any other system of schooling or continued to resist public schooling altogether. Instead the town enthusiastically supported the ideas of reformers and put them into practice. This paper has noted the events and will briefly suggest an explanation. Richard D. Brown has recently suggested that the concept of modernization, widely used in the social sciences to explain differences and changes in human beings, has an important place in history. He writes: In the modern personality secular-rational val ues are dominant, ascribed status has become subordinate to functional status, mobility pos sesses a positive value, and an empathic, cosmo politan outlook is typical.21 In order to be more specific, Brown cites the description of the modern personality which has been provided by Alex Inkeles after extensive study in six developing nations: Central to this syndrome [of a modern man] are: (1) openness to new experience, both with people and with ways of doing things . . .; (2) assertion of increasing independence from the authority of traditional figures like parents and priests and a shift of allegiance to leaders of government, public affairs, trade unions, co operatives, and the like; (3) belief in the efficacy of science and medicine, and a general abandonment of passivity and fatalism in the face of life's difficulties; and (4) ambition for oneself and one's children to achieve high occu pational and educational goals. Men who mani-
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fest these characteristics (5) like people to be on time and show an interest in carefully plan ning their affairs in advance. It is also part of the syndrome to (6) show strong interest and take an active part in civic and community affairs; and (7) to strive energetically to keep up with the news, and within this effort to prefer news of national and international im port over items dealing with sports, religion, or purely local affairs.22 This syndrome of the modern personality explains the changes taking place in Nantucket by setting up a model which clarifies the more vocal islanders' values and motives. There may have been a time when Nantucketers could have chosen to remain a sleepy rural community with small fishing interests. But the choice of whaling as a chief occupation en couraged modernization of thoughts and values. Progress in whaling meant larger ships making longer voyages over greater distances. Improved skills and greater understanding in ship building and navigation were essential. Mapping new parts of the globe, speculating about possible explanations of observed natural phenomena, and trying new approaches to surmount obstacles all resulted from the changing and experimental nature of whaling. Whaling forced men to gamble, to plan ahead for all possible contingencies and, as ships traveled further, to take an interest in foreign news. At home Nantucketers lived in a town because the port was their main focus. The clustered wooden buildings prompted a civic interest in fire control, street lighting and other improve ments; the usual problem of any port — transient sailors, diseases and safety hazards — prompted other kinds of public interest and action. These kinds of interests could be explained by the need for cooperative action growing out of municipal life, but it is not sufficient to explain the Nantucketer's openness to new ideas, the shift from traditional religious groups, and the multiplicity of voluntary associations. Nor is it adequate to to explain the new emphasis on punctuality, regularity, and standardization of experience and behavior which permeated the temperance and abolition movements as well as the educational and other reform groups, whereas modernization can. Among the influences which make a man modern, Inkeles cites the school, the effects of which "reside not mainly in its formal, explicit, self-conscious pedagogic activity, but rather are inherent in the school as an organization."23 If mobility is a measure of modernization, then the Nantucket experience with high school students would support Inkeles idea of the school's
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HISTORIC NANTUCKET
importance. It could be argued that men who fought for the public schools were already modernized and for that reason they saw the school was a means of promoting punctuality, regularity, and morality; and that they had already rejected the more traditional home, church and society as teachers. They were looking for new ways of teaching. Their solution, the schools, increased the adherence to a modern value system among its young charges, thus speeding the social changes. The unique characteristics of Nantucket, rather than pro moting a traditional life style, rewarded modern characteristics such as planning, mobility, and secular-rational values even before the nineteenth century. This development, in turn, made it possible for Nantucket to respond to the message of- reformers promptly and with enthusiasm. Footnotes 1 John R. Spears, The Story of the New England Whalers. New York: The Macmillan Company, 1908, pp. 70-71. The dis cussion in this book is very useful and should be supplemented with the interesting study by Edouard A. Stackpole, The SeaHunters: The Netv England Whalemen During Two Centuries 1635-1835. New York: Bonanza Books, c. 1953.
"What the Camels Were Doing in 1,845," One Hundred Years on Nantucket 1821-1921. The Inquirer and Mirror Cen tennial Number, c. 1921. Unpaged. 2
3 There are a number of good studies of the Quaker religion but those which help clarify the Nantucket situation are: Burnham N. Dell, "Quakerism on Nantucket," Historic Nantucket, 2 (January 1955), pp. 8-30; Robert W. Doherty, The Hicksite Separation: A Sociological Analysis of Religious Schism in Early Nineteenth Century America, New Brunswick, N. J.: Rutgers University Press, c. 1967; Henry Barnard Worth, "Quakerism on Nantucket Since 1800," Nantucket Historical Association Bulletin, I (1896), pp. 3-38. 4 The following are a few of the notices appearing in the Nantucket Inquirer: October 18, 1821, p. 3; February 25, 1823, p. 3; January 24, 1825, p. 3; April 11, 1825, p. 3; June 24, 1826, p. 2; November 21, 1829, p. 2; September 6, 1835, p. 3; September 27, 1835, p. 2; October 26, 1836, p. 1. 5 Michael Hugo-Brunt et al, An Historical Survey of the Physical Development of Nantucket: A Brief Narrative History and Documentary Source Material. Ithaca, N. Y.: Division of Urban Studies, Center for Housing and Environmental Studies, Cornell University, April 1969, pp. 105-153; "The History of the Nantucket Fire Department," One Hundred Years on Nantucket,
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17
unpaged; Nantucket Inquirer, February 25, 1823, p. 3; Novem ber 4, 1823, p. 3; September 26, 1825, p. 2; December 12, 1825, p. 2; February 13, 1826 p. 2; March 11, 1826, p. 3; January 3, 1829, p. 2; June 6, 1829, p. 2. 6 United States Office of the Census, Compendium of the Enumeration of the Inhabitants and Statistics of the United States, as obtained at the Department of State, From the Returns of the Sixth Census, by Counties and Principal Towns, Exhibiting the Population, Wealth, and Resources of the County. Washington: Thomas Allen 1841. 7 J. Hector St. John de Crevecoeur, Letters from an Amer ican Farmer. New York: E. P. Dutton & Co., Inc., 1957, pp. 109-110. 8 Nantucket Inquirer, May 20, 1826, p. 2; there is a dis cussion of all of the objections to public schools.
» Ibid., March 31, 1827, p. 2; March 29, 1828, p. 2. Emily Weeks, "Development of Schools in Nantucket," Proceedings of the Ninth Annual Meeting of the Nantucket HistoHcal Associa tion, July 21, 1903, p. 15. 10 Quidam, "On Public Instruction," Nantucket Weekly Mag azine: Literary and Commercial, July 12, 1817, p. 10. '1 Nantucket Inquirer, March 8, 1828, p. 2. '2 Records from 1838 to 1840 of the Town of Nantucket, pp. 198-9; "School Education," Talk given to Nantucket Philo sophical Institute, n.d., M.S. in folder, "Schools — Walter Folger, Jr. Collection" at Foulger Museum, Nantucket; Cyrus Peirce and others, "Address to the Inhabitants of Nantucket on Education' and Free Schools," (Providence: Knowles, Vose & Company, 1838) ; Inquirer: October 18, 1837, p. 2; October 21, 1937, p. 3; January 13, 1838, p. 3; June, 1842, p. 2. '3 Mary Tyler Mann, Life of Horace Mann, By His Wife. Boston: Walker, Fuller and Company, 1865, p. 119. '4 Henry Barnard, ed. "Common Schools in Cities," Con necticut Common School Journal, IV, (December 1, 1841), pp. 14-15. is Reports of the School Committee of the Town of Nan tucket for the Years Ending 1841, 1842, 1843, 1844, 1845, 1846, 1847. The segregation issue is a recurring theme during these years, the School Committee elections drew large voter participa tion and the Committee members changed every year as first one side and then the other side gained the upper hand. The Records of the town are also informative during this period. •6 Report of a Committee of Teachers, appointed by the School Committee of Nantucket, to Consider the Subject of Sys-
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HISTORIC NANTUCKET
tematizing a Course of Studies, To Be Pursued in the Public Schools of That Toivn, and to Prepare a Programme of Such Studies. Nantucket: Printed by Authority of the School Com mittee, 1855. Report of the School Committee, 1859, p. 4. 17 Catalogue of Names, Embracing All Scholars Who Have Ever Been Pupils of the Nantucket High School, From Its Organ ization, April 16, 1838, to the Present Time, July 1, 1865. Nan tucket : Hussey & Robinson, Printers — Inquirer and Mirror Office, 1865. 18 Peirce and others, p. 23; there is supportive evidence to show that Peirce continued to express these beliefs in Arthur 0. Norton, ed., The First State Normal School in America: The Journals of Cyrus Peirce and Mary Sivift. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1926. Also see Henry Barnard, ed., Normal Schools and othei* Institutions, Agencies, and Means designed for the Professional Education of Teachers, I. Hartford: Case, Tiffany and Company, 1851, p. 75. 19 Quoted in Samuel J. May, Memoir of Cyrus Peirce, First Principal of the First State Normal School in the United States. Hartford: F. C. Brownell, n.d. pp. 32, 33. [A Reprint from Henry Barnard, ed., American Journal of Education, XI (December 1857), pp. 273-308.] 20 Cyrus Peirce, Crime: Its Cause and Cure. Boston: Printed by John Wilson and Son, 1854. This paper was presented to the American Institute of Instruction in 1853 and the flurry whch it caused is reflected in Michael B. Katz, The Irony of Early School Reform: Educational Innovation in Mid-Nineteenth Century Mas sachusetts. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1968, pp. 115-160. See also The Annals of the American Institute of Instruction Being a Record of Its Doings for 51+ Years, from 1830 till 1883, edited by Charles Northern!. New Britain, Conn.: The Case, Lockwood & Brainard Co., of Hartford, Conn., 1884, pp. 81-83. 21 Richard D. Brown, "Modernization and the Modern Per sonality in Early America, 1600-1865: A Sketch of a Synthesis," The Journal of Interdisciplinary History. II (Winter 1972), 201. 22 Ibid., pp. 215-216; Alex Inkeles, "Making Men Modern: On the Causes and Consequences of Individual Change in Six Developing Countries," American Journal of Sociology. 75 (Sep tember 1969), 210. 28
Inkeles, pp. 212-217.
20
Cisco—How It Was Originally Designated And The Man For Whom It Was Named BY EDOUARD A. STACKPOLE
In recent years that area of Nantucket's South Shore famil iarly known as Cisco has become one of the most popular summer spots on the Island. Here, during the season, whether on sunny or overcast days, large groups of young people swim and enjoy that comparatively new sport called "surfing," and many spec tators are on hand to watch. The scene becomes both colorful and exciting, as the younger generation brings gaiety to any spot where they may congregate. But, if one should ask, on some summer day, of one of the bronzed swimmers. "Why is this place called Cisco?" it is doubt ful that the answer would be forthcoming. This is not unexpected, as localities bearing names unfamiliar to new generations are often obscured by the passing of time. The particular region which has been called "Cisco" has had this name affixed over a much longer period than is realized. Its name came from the fact that a New York banker named John Jay Cisco had decided to buy a small piece of land on the beach front, and during the next eighty years successive generations of the Cisco family regularly came here to enjoy swimming and relaxing on the white beach. Three decades ago, the great-grand son of that first John Jay Cisco, and bearing the same name, built a small cottage on the bluff, which he retained until recent years. But the reason for the first visit of the first John Jay Cisco should not be forgotten, as it brings to the naming of the area an important significance. The year of that initial visit was 1867, one hundred five years ago. Cisco was then one of the most prom inent financiers in New York City, and he was in the midst of an enterprise that only a man of tremendous courage would have attempted — the building of the Union Pacific Railroad (as Ex ecutive Secretary of the United States Treasury at New York under Lincoln, he represented United States Government inter ests in the Union Pacific). It was a time of crisis. Despite an auspicious beginning, the progress of this unprecedented venture was almost to a complete halt, and the possibility of a disaster was close at hand. At this time John Jay Cisco came to Nantucket, where he found the peace and quiet which had been denied him in the city. Walking along the south shore of the Island, he would often stop to gaze out to sea, his mind filled with the exigencies of the
Cisco — How IT WAS ORIGINALLY DESIGNATED
21
times. The bluff between Hummock and Miacomet ponds became his favorite place for resting and thinking. It is proper to sup pose that during this time he gained new faith in his great idea of a railroad which would span a continent and unite a nation. Whatever were his thoughts must be conjectured, but what is known is that he found in the lonely place surcease from a troubled world of finance, and that the place came to be known as "Cisco." *#
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During the year 1,868 there appeared an advertisement which asked for investment in the Union Pacific Railroad. This project was unquestionably being considered by Mr. Cisco as he stood on Nantucket's south shore a few months before, and the ad vertisement was similar to others appearing in the newspapers of the time. The reason was simple enough — in order to com plete the railroad the company needed millions; banks and wealthy individuals had already invested millions; now the appeal was to be made directly to the people of the nation. To appreciate the situation one must go back to the year 1863 — October 29 to be exact. On that date a group of thirty men met in New York City to form a company which proposed to build a railroad from the Mississippi to California and thus link the country together with iron rails, and to be known as the Union Pacific Railroad. John Jay Cisco was elected as the company's treasurer, a most fortunate choice, indeed. Once the first funds were raised, work began immediately. At Omaha, Nebraska, on December 2, 1863, ground was broken and the rails began to be laid. The nation was in the midst of the Civil War. True, Gettys burg had been a Union victory, and the Confederate invasion of the north forcibly checked, but General Lee's army was still intact and the Southern States' cause not dismayed. Materials were difficult to obtain and labor costs equally exhorbitant, but the work on the railroad pushed forward. During the next year money problems developed. Interest rates rose to a staggering 15 per cent; the cost of the road con struction exceeded all estimates; and the company was forced to sell some of its rolling stock to continue the work. It was real ized that a new fiscal policy and agency was absolutely necessary, and the Directors placed the problem in the hands of two men in whom they had complete confidence — Thomas C. Durant and John Jay Cisco. These two men devised the "Credit Mobilier," an agency in which the liability was limited to the amount of the subscrip tion of the stock, and the necessary funds were subscribed.
22
HISTORIC NANTUCKET
It was now March, 1865, and the new agency had a working capital of $2,000,000. With the end of the War, men and mater ials were more available, and during the year and the succeed ing 1866, a total of 275 miles of track were laid. But a new source of trouble loomed when Oliver Ames, who had became a large subscriber to the "Credit Mobilier," and Durant became in volved in a bitter quarrel resulting in Ames not being elected to the Board of Directors of the Company. Cisco was caught be tween his awareness of Ames' legitimate reaction to be denied membership and his loyalty to Durant who had worked so closely with him in organizing the Company. Ames attacked Durant in the press, accusing him of being more interested in profits than in the future of the Union Pacific. The trouble boiled over into the courts, and finally there was a Congressional investigation of the "Credit Mobilier." It was a drab moment in the history of the railroad. By 1867, however, funds were again running low. Over $6,000,000 had been spent, and the Union Pacific's rails had reached the slopes of the mountains of the west — and it appeared they were destined to end there. But, John Jay Cisco had faith in the ultimate completion of the road, and wisely engaged the services of a young New Haven banker, C. S. Bushnell. The two men de cided to put the future of the Union Pacific Railroad up to the American people. The campaign called for a wide range of news paper advertisements, similar to the one which appeared in the columns of The Inquirer and Mirror. The faith of Cisco and Bushnell was amply justified. The public response was quick and the funds came steadily into the Company. But another danger arose — the speculative fratern ity of Wall Street became involved and Cisco feared this specu lation would have an adverse effect equal to the initial lack of funds. He urged the road-building program be pushed forward as rapidly as possible, thus keeping the money in use. Additional problems arose when Washington got into the picture, and government inspectors attempted to direct opera tions. These set-backs, coupled with fighting the Indians, quar rels with section gangs, and other handicaps delayed the prog ress, but at last the Union Pacific approached its goal — the link up with the road to San Francisco. On May 10, 1869, the Central Pacific and the Union Pacific were joined. A colossal task had been accomplished; the dream of men like John Jay Cisco had come true; a great nation had been joined by the iron rails of the Union Pacific Railroad. Today, as one stands at the bluff on the South Shore at "Cisco," one may visualize the emotions of the man who con tributed so much to the building of a great railroad, and to think of him standing there a century ago, gazing out to sea and find ing in the elemental forces of the ocean some of the strength necessary to carry on his part in that unprecedented venture.
23
Hand to Hand with a Tuna BY FRANCIS W. DAVIS
MRS. DAVIS AND I were fishing at Great Point, one of the few people who could go there because running on the beach with a car that didn't have four-wheel drive made it difficult. With my experience at Pierce-Arrow Co. I learned enough to drive on the sand. Four-wheel-drive vehicles were not yet available. Mrs. Davis caught the first bluefish that had been taken from the beach that summer — 1939. Late in the afternoon, the tide went down and before dark, Mrs. Davis said, "Let's go around to the inside of the Point where there are two or three pools to dig some clams." One pool was about 60 yards across and 10 feet deep in the center. There was great motion in the pool and I cast a few times with a lure but the fish that was in there didn't want that. He wanted back into the ocean. It was low tide then. My wife went over to the other side of the pool where the clams were. I said, "I'm going to play with him to see what I can do." I stripped down to my shorts and took a shovel from the car and went into the pool about five feet deep, and watched the fish go by me in circles. Each time he would go by I would splash the water with the shovel. That caused him to swim a bit faster and when he came nearer the beach in back of me and then raced up into shallow water in front of me and was flopping, I ran up into the shallow water where he had to flop a few times to get back into deep water. I ran up alongside the fish and with my eyes shut, I reached down and with three heaves I had him on the beach. I then killed him and weighed him and found it was a sixty-pound tuna. He was much too big to go in my regular fish box so I stopped at the ice house where they had a floor of ice and told the iceman I would come down the next morning and pick up the fish. Next morning, when I went to the ice house, there were a lot of people standing along side the little wooden platform looking at the fish lying there, with their eyes popped out. They all said, "What did you catch him on and how long did it take?" First I made up a story about the lure and the rod and struggle I had with him; then, one of the onlookers, Gibby Manter, whom I knew very well, came over to me and said, "Mr. Davis, I opened his mouth and I didn't see any hook marks. Then I had to tell him the truth about how I picked him up and threw him on the beach. We cut him up in pieces and gave him to friends and he was very good eating because the tuna fish that we get in the market
Francis W. Davis and his 60-lb. tuna which he landed on Great Point in one of the most unique fishing exploits in island annals. The catch was made in 1939.
HAND TO HAND WITH A TUNA
25
we get from 200 to 300 pounds and up and are only caught 20 or 30 miles offshore. I had quite a few experiences with other fish and over the years have landed a 21-pound bluefish on the east shore near Great Point. I also landed a 48-pound bass at Great Point a few years ago. From all records, I have never heard of any tuna being caught on the beaches. They are all offshore and much bigger than the baby tuna I struggled with.
Catboat Lillian, a familiar sight in Nantucket harbor 75 years ago.
26
Green Hand on the "Susan'1 BY EDGAR L. MCCORMICK
The Seventh Cruise and Home XI Conclusion FOR TWENTY-FIVE DAYS the Susan lay in Talcahuano Har bor after her arrival there on August 14, 1845. Captain Reu ben Russell, the very next day, discharged the three collabor ators in the July 26 assault and battery incident, George E. James, Alonzo Gilbert, and James Williams. And as time to sail approached, it was evident that several of the crew were hardly reconciled to one last cruise off Chile to offset 45 months of "hard old times" that had yielded only 700 barrels of sperm and 450 of right whale oil. Desertions and drunkenness (rarities thus far under Cap tain Russell's benign yet firm command) suddenly seemed quite commonplace. On August 30 the blacksmith returned from town intoxicated, and the next day two crewmen on liberty were thrown into jail for drunkenness. Four men deserted as Sep tember began, and three apprehended on the third were "put in the calaboose." The Susan, by then well supplied with Irish potatoes, beef, pork, flour, wood and water, and a few geese, turkeys, apples, figs and plums, was ready for sea, but a strong wind from the north kept her in port for another five days. Andrew Meader devoted this time ashore to observations of the town and its people. On Sunday, August 17, he attended mass in the large Catholic church where most everyone knelt on richly wrought mats during the whole service, there being no "accommodations to sit." He regretted that Catholicism was the only religion "even tolerated in the Chilean country," and was shocked that foreigners, "nominally Protestant people," would give up their freedom of religion to marry Spanish women "and apparently take no trouble to undeceive even those of their own family." From their numbers at mass, he concluded that the women, many dressed beyond their means in silks and satins, were the real supporters of the Church, the men apparently con sidering themselves "safe enough" spiritually without attending. Each time he went ashore, Andrew visited the prison and the hospital. In the jail he found two Americans whom he did not name, one a long-time resident of Chile, the other a South erner who had been steward of a ship gone six months from Talcahuano. Both were charged with stealing $600.00 from the Master of that ship. Unsentenced, they languished in jail, the Spanish being quite severe with foreigners. At the hospital, run by a doctor and Deputy American Consul from Edgartown, named Airey, he likewise visited with
GREEN HAND ON THE "SUSAN"
27
two Americans, one a black man named David Paddock, "quite low with consumption. All allow that the Doctor loses too many patients to be called skillful." One morning at the market Andrew saw "not more than five dollars' worth altogether; three or four women were at their stands offering for sale beef chops, dried peaches and onions. Onions were the high price of four cents apiece. . . ." He accounted for such a poor market by the prevalence of poverty, and by so many people depending upon "a sort of shell fish called Choroe" as the chief part of their diet, as heaps of shells at nearly every house attested. The Susan began her seventh cruise on September 8, firing three guns that afternoon as she squared away for nearly five months on the Chilean coast. Meader wrote in his journal that day of the young Spaniard, Medardo Lopez, from a "fist-class" family, who had decided to come to America for an "English education under the care of our Captain." Not yet 17, parting with his widowed mother, his three brothers, and friends un nerved him considerably. He was accompanied to the ship by three boat-loads of friends, his family having been guests of the Captain to see the Susan on August 31. Rough weather the day after the Susan's departure made the young passenger quite seasick. And as the ship rolled heav ily, Mr. Pitman, the First Mate, broke the barometer "fetching away from the weather side of the cabin." When on September 12 three boats took four good-sized blackfish, Andrew concluded that the prospects were good for a profitable cruise. The Susan steered Eastward, soon shifting her course to S.S.E. Near dusk on the second day they saw what seemed to be spouts but the distance and the late hour prevented their lowering. Not for a week were they to see further signs of whales, but two lowerings in fine weather on September 27 brought them a 60-barrel right whale. Unfortunately, since there were other whales nearby, both James Pitman, the First Mate, and Oliver Coleman, Second Mate, both fastened to the same whale by mistake. That evening the Susan took in all sail just before en countering a gale that seemed to turn the spray to fire. Beneath the black clouds, the deck seemed bathed in starlight. Their ill-fortune continued as Mr. Pitman lost a right whale by sinking on October 5. "This often happens to right whales," wrote Meader, "and 'tis said . . . because they are lanced in a particular spot near the Fin." Captain Russell, Mr. Pitman, and the passenger, Medardo Lopez went aboard the Massachusetts, Codd, Nantucket, 4 mos., 120 bbls., for a gam on the evening of October 10. The Susan now worked Northwest. Whales got away on four successive days
28
HISTORIC NANTUCKET
when at mid-month the chase invariably was into a strong wind. At least there was some encouragement in the frequent sightings as "these whales all appear to be settled about here." But three more such wasted days passed, one involving eight hours of chasing, before Mr. Pitman killed a 71-barrel whale on October 25. Also good for morale was a meeting with the Constitution, Bunker, Nantucket, 37 mos., 1,000 bbls. by which Andrew got an old but "very acceptable letter from a very kind Sister." On November 1 Captain Russell noted that young Lopez was quite sick with a cold and fever. Three days later he began coughing and it was not long before he was raising blood. He wanted to return home to Talcahuano, and the Captain planned to oblige him as soon as possible. In the meantime the Susan raised whales on November 4 and all things worked well for Mr. Pitman. The whale he fastened to ran about a mile to wind ward and lay there "apparently in the greatest distress, run ning his head and half of his body direct in the air; then his enormous flukes with the other half of the body would rise in the air, and there he would keep fanning and flirting. "He afforded us," said Meader, "a fine view of a whaling scene, although his maneuvering was quite different from the generality of whales who most always as soon as they are struck, start as fast as they can go." Two days later the First Mate got another whale while the Second Mate, Mr. Coleman, had his boat so badly stove that another boat had to go to the rescue. On November 7 the Susan spoke the Martha, Gifford, New port, 6 mos., 100 bbls., and Meader sent aboard for papers. He was most agreeably surprised to receive a "good lot of tracts" from a kindred spirit, a boatsteerer. Though consistently re ligious and one likely to be perturbed by forgotten Sabbaths, Andrew tended to pin his faith more and more to that "perfect vision of eternity" which will someday reveal the grievous par ticulars of the difficult voyage to be all for the best. Neverthe less, his pain at young Medardo Lopez's plight was immediate and real. "He has learned just enough of our language," he wrote, "to interest everyone in his favour and his being sick and so downhearted about giving up his cherished idea of seeing America makes me really pity him." But there was little time for sentiment as the Susan got two whales on November 13, one a 70-barrel fellow. It was "a most prosperous day's work." On the 21st they exchanged money and molasses for bread with the Fortune of New Bedford. The Massachusetts, again in company, brought news to Andrew of the death of his cousin, Mary Cotton, and one of the officers also learned of the death of his brother-in-law,
GREEN HAND ON THE "SUSAN"
29
Then came rugged weather, followed at month's end by two successful lowerings. A strong gale from the south on Decem ber 3 threw the ship into an "ugly sea," jerking the fluke chain so violently that it parted, and the last whale taken "went off with a good irons in him plus considerable line." The week of December 7 brought fine weather and four whales, one struck by the Captain himself. Mr. Coleman fastened a large one on Sunday, December 14. On Sunday, December 21, the Susan spoke the Montana of Nantucket, 4 mos., 150 bbls., and Captain Russell gam'd with his old acquaintance and "a relative withal," Captain Uriah Russell. There were letters on board the Montano from the Su san's owners [perhaps from Aaron Mitchell] requesting Reuben Russell to stay out five years. "All moonshine," he responded in the log. "We are out four years now & everything worn out. Intend to leave soon." But they lowered again that very day and lost a small whale when the iron drew. The next day, after an unsuccessful chase, Cap tain Russell went on board the Isabella of New Bedford which had been in the vicinity for a week and got a second-hand cutting fall. Then, in the latter part they got a whale, "a real dry skin." On Christmas Day the Planter of Nantucket, Barzillai T. Folger, Master, and the Montano were in sight, the former get ting a whale. Captain Russell boarded her that evening, invited to a gam. The Susan worked southward and eastward. Mr. Pit man got a small whale as the month ended, and Mr. Starbuck, the Fourth Mate, got a larger one on New Year's Day. On Jan uary 4, a Sunday, they lowered twice, each time successfully. Rugged weather made cutting in slow and costly. What might have been done in three hours took seven. Besides, they lost the head spade overboard, and parted one of the guys of the cutting blocks as well as breaking the large fin chains. The lar board boat got another whale on January 9, 1846. On Monday January 12, after the Susan spent Sunday boil ing, Captain Uriah Russell of the Montano gam'd all day with his relative Reuben Russell. Captain William Rawson of the John Adams, Nantucket, 5 mos., 200 bbls., also came aboard for a brief visit. Captain Russell noted on the 13th that his passenger, Medardo Lopez coughed up a tumbler of blood. He was very sick with a high fever. Meader spoke of his condition as the Susan prepared for port: "his case is critical, and he receives . . . every kindness and skill possibly to be had at sea, yet for his own good I heartily wish he might soon join his own family." On January 20 she came to anchor at 2:30 p.m. and Captain Russell at once took the invalid boy to his home, only to find that his mother was out of town. The crew painted the ship and
30
HISTORIC NANTUCKET
set up shooks. On January 23 four of the crew were absent be yond liberty ; one of them, the blacksmith, stabbed by soldiers, had been put in the hospital by the Consul. Apparently he was back aboard on the 29th. Captain Russell discharged seven men and shipped six. As the Susan sailed from Talcahuano, homeward bound on January 31, Andrew Meader wrote that Medardo Lopez, that "good-natured boy, seemed still bent upon making a voyage to America provided his health returned. Whilst our officers and men were ashore at leisure they scarcely failed of calling at his house, where they always found him confined to his room and apparently very glad to see any one of us. After thinking of how well he was . . . and how bent he was to go the voyage when we left here before, I can hardly realize but that it's all a dream about his ever having been amongst us." By February 4 Captain Russell was "getting ready for Cape Horn." On the 9th they mistook a large sulphur bottom for a right whale. On February 13 he noted that the Susan was 50 months out. On the 17th they got their last whale, a 73-barrel sperm. They finished boiling two days later and stowed the fat cooler below. Thick rainy weather engulfed the Susan as she neared Cape Horn. Strong gales buffeted her, and the Captain had the spare spars taken in from over the stern and lashed on deck. Four men were sick as the Susan met the height of the fury on March 2. On March 5 the ship's log recorded a successful pas sage around the Horn "which we passed four years ago outward bound & are now nearly 51 months from home & with cheering hopes & a plenty of fair winds we expect to be there again three months." By March 8 they had passed the Falkland Islands. On the 15th Captain Russell attempted to learn from a Bark "if there were any wars with our country," but the unidentified merchant man give him no sign. On March 18 they had better luck when a ship suddenly ran across their stern, giving them only time to ask "what ship pray? How long out? Have you heard from home lately? Is it peace able times? Have you seen any whales about here? To which he answered: 'The Brandt [New Bedford]. Three years. Five months since. It is peaceable. Have seen whales two or three times' . . . the only question we gave him an opportunty of asking was 'who commands that Ship, pray'?" On March 31 Andrew began an almost daily practice of succinctly listing the Susan's position before he recorded the events of the voyage itself. His entry begins: "27:13S 29:26W Nantucket 4617 m N.N.W." A French ship outdistanced them
GREEN HAND ON THE "SUSAN"
31
that day and Meader had an alibi for the Susan, no longer able to outsail them all: " 'tis not at all strange considering the time we are out with our bottom covered with long sea grass." Steer ing as nearly North as possible, they raised the island of Trinidad on April 7. A Brig avoided them on the 9th, and Meader concluded "she might possibly have been a slaver as she shewed appearance of either being frightened or very private." On April 21 a light squall set the ship into the Northeast Trades. "Now it seems more like going home than it has before," declared Andrew. On the 22nd they replenished their water supply by catching about ten gallons of rain. On the 25th they were diverted by the taking of an uncommonly large fish of its kind, a Portuguese Man-of-War. While getting altitudes that same day they saw the end of an eclipse of the sun that had been obscured by clouds during most of its progress. On May 1, 2240 miles from Nantucket, the painting began, inside and out. The cabin was painted and varnished too, the muskets and carpenter's tools cleaned, and the anchors were got out on the bows. On May 19 they threw the try works overboard. ». On May 26, the fog broke away before breakfast, and Meader described the long-desired prospect of familiar landfalls and har bors: "We found ourselves within a few miles of Newport which bore about N.W. Vessels of all sorts and sizes in sight, some bound in one direction, and some another with as different winds. Tn the forenoon sent a boat on board of a fishing Schooner where we got N. York & Boston papers dated May 21st. To wards night we saw the two ships Franklin and Lagoda go into N. Bedford with flying colours and firing guns; the wind's quite t brisk from S.E. but we make nothing as the current is against us. So at midnight with foggy weather drop our anchor in 14 fathoms of water." At about midnight on May 28 the Susan came to anchor in Holmes Hole or Tisbury. "Here," wrote Meader, "we had the latest news from home, from the sea, and from the seat of War. When the Steamer Massachusetts came along our Captain took passage to Nantucket. The weather continued thick and hazy, with the wind from Eastward." The voyage was over so far as Reuben Russell was con cerned, his sixth and last since becoming a Master in 1,825 at the age of 26. His final entry on May 28 summed it up tersely: "53 months & 16 days out & 117 days from Talcahuano." He had left the ocean in his 45th year. In 1847 he settled on a farm in Portage County, Ohio, where he was recognized as a ' good man, good citizen, and good neighbor," with "great executive power," as his obituary in the June 30, 1875 Ravenna, Ohio, Democrat testified.
32
HISTORIC NANTUCKET
Andrew Meader made brief entries in his journal during the four remaining days away from Nantucket. Characteristic ally he mentioned on Sunday, May 31, that a number of the crew went to the Methodist Church at Holmes Hole where they "were kindly offered a convenient seat" to hear a forceful sermon on Matthew, Chapter 18, verses 19-20. We may be sure that he was there himself. June 2 tbrought fine weather with light winds from the West and Southwest. Then it was Andrew's turn for a succinct conclusion: "Start from H. Hole at 10 a.m. and arrive at the Bar at 7 p.m. So ends my first voyage."
The Hadwen-Satler House is one of the Nantucket Historical Association's exhibits which attracts visitors during the winter holiday season.
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Charms Of Nantucket BY JESSE P. CRAWFORD Nantucket, the "Far-away Island," So named by the Indians, I'm told, Where whalers would start their sea-journeys In search for the sperm and its "gold." The island of Quaker and Tory When Freedom was struggling for birth, Where the Quaker survived for a period But the Tory was crushed to the earth. The island of breezes and sunshine And flowers from springtime till fall, And mists sometimes so concealing That vision is lost over all. Your Coffins, your Chases, your Folgers And others whose praises are sung, Your Starbucks, your Motts and your Mitchells Made history when our country was young. I hail yp.u, famed Isle of Nantucket, The place for vacations and rest, Your Beaches, your moors, your museums And people"who are of the best. Nantucket, hold fast your traditions; Yield not to commercialized greed Your quaintness, your customs and manners — Rare virtues that most of us need. Fair Island, hold fast to your heritage; Change not the old for the new; The present hasf little to offer In exchange for the spirit that's you. Yield not to the lure of the modern The charm with which you're endowed; Once lost it can't be recovered, — Your despoiler will sneer with the crowd. I greet' you, fair crescent-shaped island, Your arms opened wide like a maid Awaiting the return of her lover, Whose coming has long been delayed. Again to your arms, dear Nantucket, I'll come with the roses in June, And live for another brief moment Where heaven and earth are in tune. Nantucket, the "Far-away Island," So named by the Indians, I'm told, Say: How could the whalers forsake you To search for a ship-load of "gold"?
35
Legacies and Bequests Membership in our Association proves that you are interested in its program for the preservation of Nantucket's famed heritage and its illustrious past, which so profoundly affected the develop ment of our country. You can perpetuate that interest by giving to the Association a legacy under your will, which will help to insure the Association's carrying on. Counsel advises that legacies to the Nantucket Historical Association are allowable deductions under the Federal Estate Tax Law. Legacies will be used for general or specific purposes as directed by the donor. A sample form may read as follows: "i give, devise, and bequeath to the Nantucket Historical Association, a corporation duly or ganized under the laws of The Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and located in the Town of Nantucket, in said Commonwealth, the sum of dollars."
Legacies may be made also in real estate, bonds, stocks, books, paintings, or any objects having historical value, in which event a brief description of the same should be inserted instead of a sum of money. Please send all communications to the Secretary, Box 1016, Nantucket, Massachusetts 02554. Office, Union Street.
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