Historic Nantucket, Fall 1977, Vol. 25 No. 2

Historic Nantucket

The First Baptist Church on Summer Street is one of the handsome steeples of the Island churches. Damaged seriously by storms, the original steeple was taken down in 1962 and completely restored by Michael Lamb, a Nantucket contractor.

Photo by Louis S. Davidson.

FALL, 1977

Published Quarterly by Nantucket Historical Association Nantucket, Massachusetts

HISTORIC NANTUCKET Published quarterly and devoted to the preservation of Nantucket's antiquity, its famed heritage and its illustrious past as a whaling port.

Volume 25

Fall, 1977

No. 2

CONTENTS Nantucket Historical Association Officers and Staff

2

Editorial

5

The Annual Meeting and Other Summer Events

6

"Last Scene of All" - The Author of Miriam Coffin in the Canary Islands

by A. Stuart Pitt

9

A Nantucket Retirement

by Eleanor Phinney

13

Important Accessions by the Nantucket Historical Association during the Past Three Years

14

Legacies and Bequests

23

The USS Nantucket. Navy and Schoolship Takes Her Place in Our Maritime History

by Theodore C. Wyman

24

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 $7.50; Sustaining $25.00; Life—one payment $100.00 Second-class postage paid at Nantucket, Massachusetts Communications pertaining to the Publication should be addressed to the Editor, Historic Nantucket, Nantucket Historical Association, Nantucket, Massachusetts 02554.

NANTUCKET HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION OFFICERS President, Leroy H. True Vice-Presidents, Albert G. Brock, George W. Jones, Alcon Chadwick, Albert F. Egan, Jr., Walter Beinecke, Jr. Honorary Vice-President, Henry B. Coleman Secretary, Richard C. Austin Treasurer, John N. Welch Councillors, Leroy H. True, Chairman Mrs. R. A. Orleans, Robert Tonkin, terms expire 1978; Robert D. Congdon, Harold W. Lindley, terms expire 1979; Mrs. James F. Merriman, Miss Barbara Melendy, terms expire 1980; Donald Terry, Mrs. H. Crowell Freeman, terms expire 1981.

Registrar, Miss Dorothy Gardner Historian, Edouard A. Stackpole Editor, "Historic Nantucket", Edouard A. Stackpole; Assistant Editor, Mrs. Merle Turner Orleans.

STAFF Oldest House: Curator, Mrs. Kenneth S. Baird Receptionists: Mrs. Margaret Crowell, Miss Adeline Cravott Hadwen House-Satler Memorial: Curator, Mrs. Phoebe P. Swain Receptionists: Mrs. Irving A. Soverino, Mrs. Alfred A. Hall, Mrs. Harold Arnold, Miss Helen Levins, Miss Barbara Nathan 1800 House: Curator, Mrs. Clare Macgregor Receptionists: Mrs. Richard Strong, Mrs. Edouard A. Stackpole Old Gaol: Curator, Albert G. Brock Receptionists: Miss Danica Buckley, Miss Nanette Caton, Ned Horton Whaling Museum: Curator, Hugh R. Chace Receptionists: Clarence H. Swift, Frank Pattison, James A. Watts, Patricia Searle, Rose Stanshigh, Alice Collins, Avery Trumbull Taylor, A. W. Craig Peter Foulger Museum: Curator and Director, Edouard A. Stackpole Receptionists: Mrs. Clara Block, Everett Finlay, E. Louise Sweet, Mary Barrett Librarian: Mrs. Louise Hussey Nathaniel Macy House: Curator, Mrs. John A. Baldwin Receptionists: Miss Dorothy Hiller, Mrs. Henry C. Petzel Archaeology Department: Curator, Mrs. Roger Young Old Town Office: Curator, Hugh R. Chace Old Mill: Curator, Richard F. Swain Miller: John Stackpole Folger-Franklin Seat & Memorial Boulder: Curator, Francis Sylvia Friends Meeting House-Fair Street Museum: Curator, Albert F. Egan, Jr. Lightship "Nantucket": Curator, Benjamin S. Richmond Ship Keeper: Richard Swain; Buel Wrenne, David Branscombe Greater Light - Receptionist: Dr. Selina T. Johnson

J

Modern Uses For Historical Records A rather unusual use of old whaling logbooks has resulted in the proposal emanating from an International Workshop on Historical Whaling Records, which was held at the Kendall Whaling Museum, in Sharon, Mass., September 12 through 16, 1977. Sponsored by the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the U.S. Marine Mammal Commission, the International Whaling Commission, and the Kendall Whaling Museum, the Workshop was attended by some thirty specialists in a wide range of marine study. Participants came from Australia, South Africa, Canada, England, Japan and the United States.

The Nantucket Historical Association was represented by Edouard A. Stackpole and Miss Helen Winslow.

The objective of the Workshop was to determine if historical whaling records could provide the data required to adequately assess the status of whalestocks which were subjected to early whaling. As a result of the week's deliberation it was announced that the Workshop had determined such a study was feasible and should proceed.

Thus, the old logbooks and journals, which are a veritable treasure trove of whaling history, are now to be called upon to fill a scientific role.

The study intends to reveal where whales were found and taken in the 19th century, what species are represented, and how many were killed.

Marine biologists hope to obtain viable evidence of the abundance of whale stocks in particular oceans of the world, as well as determining the effect of exploitation upon them.

While the largest collections of whaling logbooks and journals are located in New Bedford, there are sizable collections at the Providence Public Library (the Nicholson Collection), at Mystic Seaport's G. W. Blunt White Library, and at the Kendall Whaling Museum. The Nantucket Historical Association has a collection of more than 300 logs and journals, most of which are of Nantucket ships. There is also a collection held by the Atheneum which has some of the early 18th century logs. The largest microfilm collection is that of the International Marine Archives, at 21 Orange Street which has been the work of Douglass C. Fonda, its President.

Much of value will result from this study. Perhaps, the effort will reveal that the difficulty of imposing a modern blueprint on century-old records demonstrates that we must provide a longer period of study than that presently estimated. But the ultimate accomplishment will have an en­ during value to all scholars.

Edouard A. Stackpole

6

The Annual Meeting and Other Summer Events THE EIGHTY-THIRD annual meeting of the Nantucket Historical Association was held on Thursday afternoon, July 27, at the Peter Foulger Museum. With the historic Walter Folger Clock striking 4:00 o'clock the meeting was opened by President Leroy H. True, with some seventy-five members and friends on hand.

As the first order of business Mrs. Elizabeth Tyrer read the minutes of the last annual meeting, which was approved as read. President True then called for the report of the Nominating Committee, composed of Benjamin Richmond, Chairman, Mrs. R. A. Orleans, and Francis Pease. After the reading of this report it was voted that the Secretary cast one ballot for the election of the officers, as follows: President — Leroy H. True; Vice Presidents — Albert G. Brock, George W. Jones, Alcon Chadwick, Albert Egan, Jr., Walter Beinecke, Jr.; Honorary Vice President — Henry B. Coleman; Secretary — Richard C. Austin; Treasurer — John N. Welch and Councillors — Mrs. H. Crowell Freeman, Donald Terry — 4 year terms.

President True made a brief report of the activities of the Associa­ tion during the past year, expressing his appreciation of the work ac­ complished by the several curators in their respective exhibit structures, and had praise for those employees who have been with the organization for a number of years. He also mentioned the work at the "1800 House" which Mrs. Claire MacGregor, the Curator, has accomplished in her renovation of this interesting exhibit; and the aquariums established in the Nantucket Lightship through the co-operation of the Maria Mitchell Association. Of special interest was the work being done at the Old Mill where John Gilbert and his men have been replacing the huge drive shaft, found necessary by the evidence of rot in the old shaft. Plans for the continuation of educational activities, especially the introduction of a course in Nantucket History in the local schools, were mentioned, and the two publications sponsored by the Association — "Nantucket In The Revolution," by Edouard A. Stackpole, and "Whales," by Adam W. Craig — were described. Plans for two special exhibitions on Scrimshaw and Needlework are in the works for the coming year.

The newly revised By-Laws were discussed, ana tne changes brought out. The meeting voted to approve these changes by unanimous agreement.

THE ANNUAL MEETING

7

George W. Jones, former President of the Association, then in­ troduced the speaker for the afternoon — James C. Massey, a VicePresident of the National Trust For Historic Preservation. Mr. Massey then spoke informally and well on the activities of the National Trust, with a description of their new headquarters in Washington, D.C. He mentioned the annual meeting of the Trust, to be held this year in Mobile, Alabama. The speaker stressed the importance of preserving old structures — our architectural heritage — and praised the efforts of the Nantucket Historical Association over the years.

The Fair Street Building has been the scene of two excellent exhibitions during the months of July and August, arranged by Albert Egan, Jr., one of the Vice Presidents of the Nantucket Historical Association. The first was an exhibit of Marine Art, featuring some of the outstanding artists in this field. The Coe Kerr Gallery, of New York City, brought the paintings to the Island and hung them in a most attractive manner. Among the great painters represented were Winslow Homer, James Buttersworth, Andrew Wyeth and Frederick Remington. On July 23 a special opening was held for members and friends of the Association, and the exhibit remained open from July 24 through July 28.

The second exhibit took place from August 28 through the 31st.

Works of major American marine artists from the collection of the Marine Arts Gallery in Salem, Massachusetts, were on display, comprising some forty oil paintings and several watercolors. Such distinguished artists as Montague Dawson, Robert Salmon, Roy Cross, John Stobart and Richard Hasenfus were represented by a dazzling display of their can­ vases. The show was hung by Donald V. Kiernan, the proprietor of the Marine Arts Gallery, and his brother, Russel. Mr. Kiernan stated this was the largest number of paintings he has ever taken outside his Gallery for a show.

Both exhibits yielded excellent results, and the Association was the recipient of contributions totalling some $2,000.

A very interesting evening for members and friends took place at the Peter Foulger Museum on August 24, when Captain Harry Allendorfer, recently appointed to head the newest branch of the National Trust - the

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HISTORIC NANTUCKET

Marine Division - spoke on the potential of this department. Captain Allendorfer, who played a prominent role in the great event of the Bi­ centennial year - the coming of the "Tall Ships" - also showed a sound film in color which gave highlights of this extraordinary event.

The difficult task of replacing the main drive shaft at the Old Mill was accomplished by John Gilbert, an Island contractor, and his assistants. The big timber selected was placed in position for the various cuts and mortises on April 28, and during the next three months the slow process of shaping the wood made an interesting display in the area west of the Mill. Considerable difficulty was experienced as the oaken piece was well seasoned and hard, and on occasion even the motorized drills broke down, but Mr. Gilbert kept steadily at it and on July 31 it was ready for installation.

From August 1st through the 4th the scene at the Mill attracted many interested people, including Joseph Senecal, who had been the last carpenter to fashion a new drive shaft some thirty years ago, and Richard Swain, the Custodian of the Mill, who worked with Mr. Gilbert, and some of the engineering fraternity. During this time preparations were completed for installation. Howard Jelleme, another Island contractor, became a key figure as with his truck and sturdy crane, he lifted the big shaft (weighing well over a ton) slowly into position. With great carefulness the inner end of the shaft was positioned to slide through the opening at the top of the Mill, while a counter-balance placed on the other end-, kept the timber at the proper angle.

It was on August 4th, the birthday of the Miller, John Stackpole, that the installation was completed. After getting the shaft into position it was necessary to anchor it securely, affix the huge wooden wheel to it, and line up the teeth of the wheel with the spindle atop the grinding shaft. On the 5th of August the vanes were again turning and the Old Mill was grinding corn once more — the first since last summer.

Altogether it was a most satisfying experience, demonstrating that a local group could accomplish a demanding piece of work. Most im­ portant, it has revitalized one of the Nantucket Historical Association's most important and dramatic exhibits, and brings new life to an out­ standing part of our Island's history.

"Last Scene of All": The Author of Miriam Coffin in the Canary Islands

By A. Stuart Pitt THE ULTIMATE NANTUCKET novel is Miriam Coffin by Joseph Coleman Hart, first published in 1834. Melville's Moby-Dick, not in­ conceivably the Great American Novel, towers over it, of course, but despite its wry little chapter XIV "Nantucket" and its Nantucket characters, the great book is only launched from the island. But Miriam Coffin is about Nantucket: its people, its history, its houses, its set­ tlements, its beaches, its customs, its lore.

Hart's opening chapter establishes this focus and concentration: "...that little and peculiar world... is the abode of much wealth and in­ telligence; and...we have constituted it the principal scene of our story."

Perhaps there is no other place in the wide world of similar size and population, possessing so few intrinsic attractions, which has produced, under so many disadvantages, such an industrious and enterprising people as Nantucket. Though it is said to be literally sterile in the spontaneous gifts of nature, yet it is rife in the physical and intellectual vigour of manhood.

For more than a century the islanders have exhibited the curious and unique spectacle of a thrifty community, bound together by a common interest as well as by a relative tie of consanguinity; — primitive though not altogether puritanic in their manners,... — reaping harvests where they„have not sown, and fishing up competency for their families from the unappropriated natural wealth in the depths of the sea.

Calling them, admiringly, "an amphibious race. . .half quaker-half sailor" he describes them further as "a bold and hardy race of men;—in danger, cool, collected and ad­ venturous;—seldom or never indulging in the vices or evil propensities of the common sailor, but possessing all his generous and manly qualities, tempered with correct notions of economy and of the true obligations of society," while their women are "modest, virtuous, and agreeable, and thrive with a commendable industry at home."

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HISTORIC NANTUCKET

Miriam Coffin, or the Whale Fishermen: A Tale — in another of his books, The Romance of Yachting (1848), the author designates it a "semiromance of the sea" — deserves a revival. It is a successful amalgam of local-color sketch, whaling yarn, and moral fable, quaint, exciting, and homiletic by turns, as well as a precursor and narrative archetype of Moby Dick, as I have detailed elsewhere. 1 The biography of its author is at the moment anything but definitive, but what is known is engaging (as well as tantalizing), and has in it a good many of the ironies and virtues of the Nantucket culture he was so fond of: "We love to linger upon this island."

The varied and intensely active career of Joseph Coleman Hart (1798 1855) suggests some intriguing coincidences with the strengths and energies of the Nantucket natives he so warmly praised. The son of Mary Coleman, daughter of John Coleman of Nantucket, he lived most of his life in New York. Besides being a writer, he was a school principal, a compiler of widely used school atlases, geographies, and geographical exercises, a lawyer, and ultimately (and briefly) American Consul at Santa Cruz on Teneriffe (also spelled Tenerife) in the Canary Islands. On the title page of the 1872 San Francisco reprint of Miriam Coffin he is identified as "Colonel".

About the time he became principal of the Mechanics' Society School in his mid twenties, he began to put together a highly successful series of school atlases and geographies that were still being "Revised, enlarged, and improved" and used after his death thirty years later. His first production, Introduction to Geography, appeared in 1826. An abridgement of his Geographical Exercises reached its fourteenth edition in two years, and subsequent versions came out as late as 1857. The ninth edition of A Modern Atlas of Fourteen Maps was published in 1833. This lifelong interest in geography and its implications seems reflected in the panoramic scope of his vision in Miriam Coffin, in which the Nantucket men are "fishermen upon a grand scale, and pursue and conquer the monarch of the seas in distant and remote waters" and "lamp-supplyers to more than half of the civilized nations of the globe." It may also account for his later obsession with becoming a consul somewhere, or anywhere.

1. " 'A Semi-Romance of the Sea': Miriam Coffin as Precursor of MobyDick, Historic Nantucket, 19 (April 1972), 15-30.

THE LAST SCENE

11

But it was the final chapter of his life that came closest to being an episode in romantic fiction, the Last scene of all, That ends this strange eventful history,... in the tag from Jaques' speech in As You Like It (II. vii. 163-4) that 9ervod as epigraph for the last chapter of Miriam Coffin.

After having for more than a year importuned Secretary of State William L. Marcy and President Franklin Pierce for a patronage job, particularly a post as consul, because he was "without adequate em­ ployment while surrounded by a large family," Hart was finally appointed consul at Santa Cruz de Teneriffe in the Canary Islands on 2 August 1854, following unsuccessful requests for the consulships at Trieste, Malaga, Matanzas, Tunis, Bermuda, and Marseilles — unsuccessful despite the fact that he was "an intelligent and orthodox Democrat" and had been recommended to President Pierce by Boss Tweed.

Preparations, routine difficulties, and the problem of finding a ship that was going to or somewhere near the Canaries delayed his departure until February of 1855, but at last he was able to inform Marcy in "Despatch No. 3" that he had arrived in Santa Cruz on the 21st of April though only after "a stormy and most unpleasant passage of 63 days from New York, in the brig 'J. Guttenberg' during which we were driven to the Cape Verdes, where we put in for water, and were again driven as far North as the Azores or Western Isles..."

He seems to have settled down to his duties earnestly and con­ scientiously, though a bit anxious, in Dispatch No. 4 of 30 June 1855, about the fact that the new law "remodeling the Diplomatic and Consular systems,"which had just come into his hands, made no mention of a consulate at Teneriffe, and therefore he could well be a man without* a country to authorize him. Nevertheless, he set about submitting his dispatches, inventories, account sheets, and recommendations very promptly and efficiently, a pleasant change for the State Department from the habits of one of Hart's predecessors at Santa Cruz, who had never bothered to report to his post at all and whose whereabouts was unknown.

He joined with the local citizens in expressing outrage that the territorial waters of Teneriffe had been violated by a posse of "Nine New York Policemen" aboard the brig Grapeshot, which had been chartered by the mayor or the police of New York City in their extraordinarily zealous efforts to apprehend the notorious Baker, alleged murderer of Poole. Hart also concerned himself with seeking out good locations for coaling stations and recommending the profitable trade in cochineal and barilla.

But within a month he was dead, in circumstances that would make a

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HISTORIC NANTUCKET

chapter in any romance, and involving a coincidence that even he might have hesitated to invent: U.S. Flag Ship Jamestown Off Santa Cruz, (Teneriffe,) July 26th 1855 Sir, It has become my duty to inform you of the sudden death of Mr. Joseph C. Hart, American Consul at this port. On my arrival here on the 23rd inst. I received a note from him, stating that he was too unwell to visit the ship. I immediately sent a Surgeon and other officers to his relief; but their efforts proved unavailing;—they found him in a state of stupor which continued until his death on the morning of the 24th—His remains were interred in the English cemetery, with all the honors due his position.

I have requested Mr. Charles Le Brun, formerly American Consul, to take charge of the Consular effects, and attend to the unfinished business at hand. It was my desire to have him act as commercial agent until the wishes of the State Department were known, but he declined.

Mr. Hart's private effects have been taken in charge by his nephew Jn. E. Hart, Acting Master of this.ship.

I am, very respectfully, Your Obdt. Servt.

Thomas Crabbe, Commander in chief of the U.S. Naval Forces Coast of Africa Hon. Wm. L. Marcy Secretary of State.

With these appropriate ironies Hart's final months mimicked the stuff of romance he himself had written. 2

2. The letters and other documents cited, reproduced, and quoted from are available on microfilm at the National Archives: Microcopy 967, "Letters of Application and Recommendation During the Ad­ ministrations of Franklin Pierce and James Buchanan 1853 - 1861," Roll 21, and Microcopy T-690, "Tenerife, 1795-1906, Despatches from U.S. Consuls in," Roll 3, "July 15, 1853-Dec. 31, 1863."

THE LAST SCENE

13

Dr. A. Stuart Pitt is a Professor in the Department of English, at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, and has contributed a number of articles for Historic Nantucket. He has prepared a new edition of Joseph C. Hart's Miriam Coffin, with the added title, "A SemiRomance of the Sea: Miriam Coffin as Precursor of Moby -Die k".

A NANTUCKET RETIREMENT

To hear the ferries whistle as they come and go No longer is for me a signal To begin work, or to cease, To get a meal, greet an arrival, Or even pause to rest.

Instead I hear the whistles as the punctuation of the day, Which, like the sonorous striking of the hour, Informs me still, but gently now, That time is passing and there's this and that to do— But the choice is mine, and there is much from which to choose.

And still, I feel compelled to use that time Up to the hilt, rejoicing That the choice is mine!

For how long Lies in God's hands, but in mine Rests the responsibility.

Eleanor Phinney Nantucket, Mass.

From Modern Maturity August-Sept., 1977

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Important Accessions Received by the Nantucket Historical Association during the Past Three Years

IN THE SUMMER Issue of Historic Nantucket an article listing some of the more recently recorded accessions appeared. This has intrigued some of our members who have requested additional listings of other interesting accessions received over the past three years. Realizing how extensive such a compilation would be, and the space necessary, a selection has been made of the items or collections over this period. As a number of the outstanding have been described in previous issues, the new list follows: A diversified group of items came to us in 1975, including a set of dishes from the Allen Coffin family, presented by Mrs. Isabel (Worth) Duffy; an 1845 Nantucket quilt from Mrs. L. H. Taylor; a macrame doll, which has been exhibited all over the country in craft shows, given by its maker, Reginald Reed; a volume on the paintings of' the famous marine artist, J. E. Buttersworth, the gift of Mr. and Mrs. James Brown; three old coins, from Mrs. Clara Block; a medallion portrait of John Jay Cisco, from John Jay Cisco, III; a framed chart of whaleship signals from Mrs. H. Marshall Gardiner; an inlaid wooden plaque of the Old Mill, made by Thomas Ceely, presented by James E. Spear; an oil painting by Gerald Taber of the Nantucket Railroad, as a gift of Henry Willard; a pamphlet on the cruise of the schooner Julius Webb received from the Nantucket Historical Trust; a silver coffee urn which belonged in the Elizabeth Starbuck home, presented by Mrs. H. Crowell Freeman; the printed score of the opera The Pariahs, given by Walter Beinecke, Jr., and the holograph letter to Dr. William Sturgis Bigelow by Theodore Roosevelt, presented by Kermit Roosevelt, Jr. Robert M. Waggaman, whose gifts in the past have included such valuable paintings as the Thomas Birch oil painting of the "Town of Sherborn-1800" and "Grandmother's Garret," by Elizabeth R. Coffin, has continued his interest by presenting an intriguing collection of old Nantucket items, which include an oil painting of a Nantucket fireplace

by James Walter Folger; a number of old books and pamphlets; a collection of Nantucket silver spoons—both tablespoons and teaspoons, mostly by such Nantucket silversmiths as H. A. and E. G. Kelley, James Easton, J. Kelley, Easton & Sanford, and S. Barrett; the Journal of the

IMPORTANT ACCESSIONS

15

Whaleship D e s d e m o n a \ a framed map of Nantucket from De Crevecoeur's "Letters From An American Farmer;" watercolor of the ship Henry, of Nantucket, by Walter J. Brock, with a border of signal flags of Nantucket whaleships, 1840-1850; wooden dumbbells made by W. E. Starbuck; the lithograph of Abram Quary by Bufford; a sperm whale's tooth mounted on whalebone platform—a gift of Joseph Claff to William T. Devlan, April 30, 1891; and eight colored photographs of the Waggaman residence in 'Sconset, both interior and exterior, by H. Marshall Gardiner, of Nantucket.

The Northampton Historical Society has thoughtfully given to our Library the biography of Admiral Sir Isaac Coffin, by Thomas C. Amory, with a number of annotations and clippings. From Paul Blackmur, of Cohasset and Nantucket, has come a small grouping of articles related to the Bunker family of Gay Street, including a photograph of Mr. Blackmur's great-uncle, Lauriston Bunker, who was for nearly half a century Nantucket's Town Clerk and Register of Deeds. Mrs. Royden C. Leonard has presented a series of glass slides of Nantucket scenes used by Mr. Leonard when he gave lectures about Nantucket.

Mrs. Elizabeth De Sieyes, of Sunset Hill, has given a collection of volumes concerned with early explorations, including two of Harris' "Explorers," six volumes of the famous U. S. N. "Wilkes' Expedition" to the Pacific Ocean, a set of Churchill's "Voyages," and the four volumes of the "Memorial History of Boston." These came in a handsome Empire Book Case, which is now located in our Research Room at the Peter Foulger Museum. These were given in memory of Benjamin Karl Sharp.

Among articles of furniture have come a dining room table with leaves, and a walnut love seat, from Mrs. Ellen Selden; a secretary desk from Thomas Phelps; and a carved Chinese sideboard from James M. Andrews.

A model of the original steam engine used for generating the first electric power of Nantucket, made by Leon A. Royal, who was the chief engineer of the Nantucket Electric Company for a half century, has been presented by his sons, Leon M. Royal and the late Walter J. Royal.

Of unusual circumstance was the presentation of six valuable logbooks and journals by Mrs. Ralph Riddell, through her daughter Mrs. Miller Gay,, of Equality, Alabama, who brought them to Nantucket during the summer of 1975. The books contained accounts of eight whaling voyages, including the ships Thames, London and Leviathan, of London, England, and the ships Clarkson, Constitution and Levant of

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HISTORIC NANTUCKET

Nantucket. Old deeds, letters and documents concerning the Riddell Family at the estate "Gull Island," as well as whaling accounts of Captain Charles Gardner, of Nantucket, an ancestor of Ralph Riddell, completed a valuable collection of documents having to do with the history of this Nantucket family.

Closely related to the whaling period in which Nantucket ship­ masters were commanding British whaleships was the original "Sea Letter," presented by Mrs. June Badger, written during the voyage of the whaleship Emily of London, from 1823 to 1825, by Mary Hayden Russell, wife of Captain Laban Russell, both of Nantucket.

Alden R. Swain, of San Mateo, Cal., and his sister, Mrs. Effie Swain Garvin, have given two well preserved journals recording the merchant voyages of four ships — the Cornelia, 1832-1835; the Hope, 1835-1836; the Aurora, Jan. to July, 1849 (Nantucket to San Francisco); and the Oregon, 1850-1851, New York to San Francisco. These have been added to our impressive collection of ships' logbooks and journals.

Two handsome ship models have been presented by Mrs. Aurelia T. Davis, and brought all the way from Florida by automobile by our President, Leroy H. True. These models were made by the late Gordon A. Meader, and are of the New Bedford whaleship Alice Mandell and of H. M. S. Bounty, famous because of the mutiny which eventually took the mutineers and the ship to Pitcairn Island. This Bounty model is probably the most intriguing of all we have on display. To begin with, it was constructed from the original plans of the ship now in the Admiralty Files at the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, England, and it has been closely examined by Nantucket's ship model expert, Charles F. Sayle, who has stated it to be one of the finest he has ever seen. We are grateful to Mrs. Davis, the former Mrs. Meader, for her interest and generosity. Close by is exhibited a display on Captain Mayhew Folger, the man who solved the 20-year-old mystery of what had happened to the Bounty when he stopped at Pitcairn Island in 1808.

Historian Edouard A. Stackpole has given the Association a collection of whaling documents of Nantucket ships; a collection of microfilms of ships' logbooks and journals; three filing cabinets of material related to Maritime History; and research documents connected with his books Whales and Destiny, The Sea Hunters and Life-Saving Nantucket and The Forgotten Man of the Boston Tea Party. He has also donated several volumes on marine history.

IMPORTANT ACCESSIONS

17

Among the smallest items received is a commemorative coin of interest to whaling historians. It comes from the estate of the late W. Ripley Nelson, through the interest of Mrs. Barbara Nelson. It is a unique copper half-penny, designed as a commemorative coin for the British Whale Fishery in 1794. The coin, and a letter explaining how it came to be cast, were found among Mr. Nelson's papers. The letter was originally written by the late Everett U. Crosby, who, with Mr. Nelson, was a strong supporter of this Association. It reads as follows:

"This British Copper halfpenny was in an unimportant collection of coins in my father's estate. Looking it over one day and cleaning and polishing the coin brought out the fact that one side shows the head of Neptune with his Trident and the word halfpenny. On the other side is a Nantucket Whaling scene of men in a whaleboat rowing towards a spouting whale. Standing in the bow is a harpooner ready to dart his harpoon at the whale. Beneath this scene is the inscription: "Whale Fishery 1794" and above it: "Payable at I. Fowler, London".

"Seeking information from my London correspondent I found that in 1794 England was greatly elated in securing the immigration of a number of Nantucket whale fishermen with their families who established this industry in the town of Milford Haven in North Wales. At that time the government did not coin money of such a small denomination and per­ mitted responsible firms to do so and to put it in circulation, as illustrated by this halfpenny.

"This adoption on a copper coin of a Nantucket Whaling scene was of much interest to many Nantucketers, so upon request a partner of mine who was visiting London secured a sufficient supply and I gave one to each member of the Winter Club at their meeting of April 24, 1956.

"This token, as such coinage is called and there were many examples of it at about that time, makes an attractive pocket piece."

A similar Whaling Halfpenny was presented by Robert M. Waggaman, last year, when his gifts included a crude checker board made by Union prisoners at Libby Prison during the Civil War, and a scrimshawed narwhale's tusk.

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HISTORIC NANTUCKET

From Mr. and Mrs. Sydney Small, of Farmer Street, has come a small but valuable collection of papers and business documents once a part of the family of Walter Folger, Jr., and Simeon Folger, together with several old volumes, including The Nautical Almanac of 1835, once belonging to Walter Folger, Jr.; Geographical Exercises, by Col. Joseph C. Hart, with the inscription of presentation by the author to Walter Folger, Jr.; English translation of Virgil's Bucolics and Cicero's First Oration Against Catiline, both by Mary G. Coleman, of Nantucket, in 1858; and a number of other books. The account book of Captain Joseph Wyer was also included.

The new book, The Mystery of John Jackson, 18th Century Silversmith, was presented by its author, Mrs. John R. Merriman, who has also given two of the silver tablespoons made by this 18th century silversmith who worked in Nantucket over a period of years. Mrs. Merriman's carefully researched work is a valuable contribution to Nantucket history.

Louis S. Davidson, who has been a summer resident of Nantucket for over four decades, is well known for his photographic studies of Nantucket people and scenes. During the past three years he has given the Nantucket Historical Association over 1000 of these photographs — a remarkable collection, containing camera portraits of many personalities who were familiar to the Nantucket scene. As a major part of our holdings in the field of photography the Louis S. Davidson collection has become an important asset.

The Preservation Institute of Nantucket, through its Director, Prof.

F. Blair Reeves, has presented another group of Reports by its students.

These contain studies of the Nathaniel Macy House, Three Academy Lane, the Jethro Coffin House, the Cranberry Bog, One Stone Alley, and other studies of Nantucket houses and neighborhoods. These are welcome additions to our historical collections.

Similarly, the University of Massachusetts, Nantucket Program in the Humanities, has presented the final papers of the students who were engaged in the program during the past two years. Included are studies of the Nantucket Schools, the Anti-Slavery Movement, the Society of Friends, the Whaling Industry's Decline, Irish Settlers on Nantucket, etc.

These papers reflect the scope of the work which these students have accomplished during their "Nantucket experience," and show clearly the interest and enthusiasm for the course conducted here on Nantucket. The Peter Foulger Museum and the Association's library have played a major role in this course.

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20

HISTORIC NANTUCKET

Lloyd W. Coleman, of Woodbury, Oregon, has thoughtfully sent us the logbook of the ship Manchester, which sailed from New York under the command of Captain Job Coleman, of Nantucket, on December 5, 1849, and arrived in San Francisco on June 17, 1850. Many Nantucketers made this voyage with Captain Coleman. Such marine journals are in­ valuable.

An old clock which once belonged to the Rev. Fr. Joseph M. Griffin has been given by Col. John F. Denehy. Because of its association with Father Griffin, whose years as the head of the Catholic Church on Nantucket will long be remembered, the clock will have a place among the other exhibits at the Peter Foulger Museum.

Dr. and Mrs. William D. Barcus have made a gift of a striking marine painting by the late Thomas Petersen, of Noank, Conn. It has been titled "On Georges Banks," and shows a fishing schooner of more than half a century ago on a fog-shrouded stretch of the fishing grounds, with a big steamer edging out of the mist.

A framed piece of embroidery bearing the date Nov. 9, 1899, originally owned by the Nevin sisters and found in the "House of Lords" cottage in 'Sconset, has been given by Mrs. Gaius Halsey and Mrs. James Brown, Jr. The piece contains the names of many Nantucket members of the sewing circle of that period.

The gifts which Robert M. Waggaman has presented the Association have been considerably varied over the years. However, in his most recent generous presentations he has continued to show his wide range of in­ terests, and he has given several volumes of 17th century atlases printed in Holland, including the Atlas Major, by Frederick de Witt, Amsterdam, 1642; the Atlas Novis Magnae Britannia, by Janssen, Amsterdam, 1646, and five other handsomely preserved volumes, bound in original covers; two framed maps of North America, dated 1711 and 1755; an atlas for the voyages of Captain James Cook; the 2-volume 2nd edition of Hart's Miriam Coffin; the original London edition (1782) of de Crevecoeur's Letters From An American Farmer', the 3-volume English edition of The Whale or Moby Dick, by Herman Melville, 1851; Skelton's Decorative Printed Maps of the 15th to 18th Centuries, London, 1952; and the logbooks and journals of the following vessels: Whaleship Minerva Smyth, 1848; Whaleship John Jay, 1845; Whaleship Chieftain, Kirk­ caldy, Scotland two voyages, 1841-1842; Whaleship Marcus, 1849-1850, partial log; Whaleship Minerva, partial log from 1825 to 1827; Whaleship Portland, two voyages — 1837-1839, 1834-1835; Whaleship Petrel, 18541857. Also a holograph letter from Captain Edward Phipps from Delagoa

IMPORTANT ACCESSIONS

21

Bay to Rogers, Clark & Co., London, with an account of whaling in this part of the African coast.

While this listing has to do with some of the outstanding recent accessions it must of necessity preclude a complete list because of space limitations. However, the many individual articles are equally ap­ preciated, as they all add to a total which makes for the preservation of Nantucket History, and we append them alphabetically, as follows: Dr. Mark D. Altschule Mr. & Mrs. George Anastos Mr. James M. Andrews Mrs. W. S. Archibald, Jr. Dr. William D. Barcus Mr. William J. Barney Mr. Arthur J. Barrett Mr. Robert Barrett Mr. Walter Barrett Mr. Brewster Beach Mrs. John Beale Mr. Walter Beinecke, Jr. Mr. Eugene Benoit Mrs. Clara Block Mr. Paul Blackman Mr. L. C. Bolton Dr. Alfred Bornemann Miss Martha Bowen Mr. J. Boynton Mr. Schuyler Bradt Mrs. Marshall Brenizer Mrs. June Broger Mr. & Mrs. James Brown, Jr. Col. Lawrence Bunker Mr. Lauriston Bunker (Estate of) Mr. Ernest C. Burdick Mr. Christopher Burnett Mrs. J. Neale Carman Dr. William H. Cassebaum Mr. & Mrs. Hugh R. Chace Mr. John Jay Cisco III Dr. M. D. Cobcroft Mrs. Joseph Cochran Mr. Robert"T. Coffin

Mr. William Coffin Mr. Lloyd W. Coleman Mr. Bernard Colonna Mr. Robert D. Congdon Mr. Alexander M. Craig Mr. Frederick Crockett Sumner A. Dave Associates Mr. Louis S. Davidson Mrs. Amelia T. Davis Mr. Richard deBarros Mrs. Carter De Bold Col. John F. Denehy Mrs. Elizabeth de Sieyes Mr. Marshall du Bock Mrs. Isabel Worth Duffy Mrs. R. C. Dugan Duke's County Historical Society Mr. & Mrs. Jesse Eldridge Mr. & Mrs. Powell Ensign Mr. Walter Weston Folger Mrs. Levin W. Foster Mrs. H. Crowell Freeman Mr. & Mrs. Geoffrey E. Fulton Mrs. Susie Gallagher Mrs. H. Marshall Gardiner Mrs. John J. Gardner Mrs. Effie Swain Garvin Miss Esther Gibbs Mrs. David Gray Mrs. Miller Gray Mrs. Conrad Green Mrs. Harding U. Greene Mrs. Lewis Greenleaf Miss Eunice B. Haden

22

HISTORIC NANTUCKET

Mr. George E. Hall Mrs. Alfred Hall Mrs. Ellen Halsey Mrs. Bradford Hammond Dr. William Hance Prof. Thomas Hefferman Prof. Wilson F. Heflin Dr. David A. Henderson Miss Amy J. Herschmann Mrs. C. W. Hillberg Dr. & Mrs. Oscar Hollander Mrs. Roy E. Horst Adm. George F. Hussey, Jr. Mrs. Louise Hussey Mrs. William A. Jackson Miss Catherine H. Jarvis Mr. George W. Jones Mrs. Emerald Kahler Mrs. Carolyn Lambeth Keith Mr. Leo Kelley Miss Minnie E. Kelley Mrs. Charlotte King Mr. Samuel A. King Mr. Timothy King Mrs. H. H. Kynett Mrs. Arlene E. Kungloff Mr. Robert Leads Mrs. C. F Le Massena Mrs. Roydon C. Leonerd Mr. Morgan Levine Mrs. Mary Lewis Mr. Edgar T. Lindstrom Mr. Asa Cobb Paine Lombard, Jr. Mr. Miller P. Longbotham Mrs. Samuel E. Lunden Mr. Paul Madden Mrs. Earl MacAusland Mr. George H. Mackay (Estate of) Mr. Gene Mahar Massachusetts Steamship Authority Miss Helen Masten Mr. & Mrs. Donald McChesney Mr. Maynard McClellen Mrs. Marjorie E.W. McMaster

Mrs. John Merriman Miss Pamela Mitchell Mr. Robert L. Mitchell Mrs. Henry Montoye Mr. Robert Mooney Mrs. Ethel Morris Mr. James O. Murray Mr. & Mrs. W. Ripley Nelson Mrs. Allen Newhouse Mrs. Allen E. Norcross Northampton Historical Society Mr. Thomas E. Norton Pacific National Bank Mrs. Frank Pattison Mr. Velton Peabody Mr. Ed Piculell Mrs. Albert Pitkin Miss Helen Powell Preservation Institute of Nan­ tucket Mr. Phillip I. Raneca Mrs. Robert Ray Mr. Phillip Read Mr. Reginald Reed Mrs. R. Gordon Reed Mr. & Mrs. Benjamin S. Rich­ mond Mr. Nestor Richard Mr. Kermit Roosevelt, Jr. Mr. Peter Rosen Mr. Leon M. Royal Mrs. Harold Ryder Mrs. Ellen Selden Miss Margaret A. Simmonds Mr. & Mrs. Sydney Small Mr. Thomas N. Spear Mr. Edouard A. Stackpole Mr. William Hadwen Starbuck Mr. Lionel Starr Mr. Arthur Stetson Mr. Alden Swain Mrs. P. Prime Swain Mr. Joseph J. Sylvia Mrs. C. Harold Taylor

IMPORTANT ACCESSIONS Mrs. Mary L.H. Taylor Dr. William E. Taylor Mrs. Henry Terry Mrs. J. Moulton Thomas Mrs. Upton B. Thomas Mr. A. E. Thurber, Jr. Dr. Wesley Tiffney Mrs. Kenneth Trainior Mr. LeRoy H. True Mrs. Emerson Tuttle Miss Louise Ulrich Union Benevolent Society U.S. Navy (Cdr. John Dooley) University of Massachusetts— Boston

23

Mr. Robert M. Waggaman Mrs. Clarence R. Wagner WCVB Channel 5 Miss Gretcheri Weeber Mrs. Kathleen King White Mr. Reed Whitney Mrs. Paul Whitten Mr. G B. Wight Mr. Henry A. Willard II (Nant.

Historic Trust) Mr. Peter Williams Miss Doris E. Winslow Mrs. George Worth

Bequests or gifts to the Nantucket Historical Association are tax deductible. They are greatly needed and appreciated.

PLEASE —

fj

your change of address to save postage and receive your copy. We are charged extra for sent to an incorrect address.

The USS Nantucket Navy and Schoolship Takes Her Place in Our Maritime History by Theodore C. Wyman IT WAS THAT remarkable event of our Bi-Centennial Year — Operation Sail — which gave people occasion to look back to the days of the sailing ships, and find much of interest. It was over fifty years ago that I spent two years on one of these legendary wind ships, and so I decided to write of that ship before even the memory of the craft joins those com­ panions who have already sailed over the horizon on their way to Fiddler's Green.

There have been several ships in my sea career, but the first of them was the USS Nantucket. I was a cadet aboard her from October, 1923, to October, 1925. When I graduated I passed an examination given by the U.S. Steamboat Inspectors, and received a license for third assistant marine engineer, ocean going, unlimited tonnage.

The USS Nantucket was a three-masted craft, barkentine rigged, and with a steam engine. The propeller shaft could be uncoupled while under sail alone. Because she was originally the USS Ranger, a Naval vessel, she had been bark-rigged, and had served at one time on the China station. Of interest to steamboat men is the fact that her engine, consisting of a high pressure and low pressure cylinder, was mounted horizontally, perhaps to lessen the danger from shell fire. She was a coal-burning vessel, with four Scotch boilers, and I can remember shoveling coal on my first voyage across the Equator.

As the USS Ranger, launched in 1876, she was a gun-boat of 12 guns. After 35 years of Naval service she was loaned to the State of Massachusetts to replace the old schoolship Enterprise, and her name changed to Rockport. In February, 1918, her name was again changed and she became the Nantucket, and during World War I she was a gun­ boat operating in the First Naval District, as well as serving as a training ship for U.S. Navy Midshipmen. After the War she resumed her role as a Massachusetts training ship, and during a visit to Nantucket in Sep­ tember, 1919, the Town of Nantucket presented her with a new ship's bell, with the name "Nantucket" engraved thereon.

The Nantucket as a bark. When she was first transferred to the Massachusetts Training School the vessel was unde- her original rig as a bark, having been first commissioned as the USS Rasger.

Photo courtesy of the Peabody Museum, Salem.

26

HISTORIC NANTUCKET

It is sad to recall that the old vessel ended her days rather ingloriously. As a part of her career in World War II she was re-named Bay State, and later the Emery Rice, to become a part of the Merchant Marine Academy at King's Point, Long Island, where she became a museum ship until she was finally sold in 1958 to the Boston Metals Company of Baltimore, Maryland, for scrap.

During the time I was aboard the N a n t u c k e t she spent the winter months at North End Park in Boston with a housing built over her. We lived aboard and classes were held aboard ship. The summer months were spent in a cruise to various parts of the world and she visited the following ports while I was aboard her.

1924

1925

Boston — Left 13 May Washington, D.C. Norfolk, Va. Ponta Delgada, Azores Queenstown, Ireland Falmouth, England Rouen, France (Paris) London, England Hull, England Gibraltar Funchal, Madeira Bermuda Provincetown, Mass.

Boston — Arr. 20 Sept.

Boston — Left 7 May Provincetown, Mass.

Ponta Delgada, Azores Funchal, Madeira St. Vincent, Cape Verde Islands Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Bahia, Brazil Port of Spain, Trinidad Bridgetown, Barbadoes Fort de France, Martinique Fredricksted, St. Croix Hamilton, Bermuda Nantucket, Mass.

Provincetown, Mass.

Boston — Arr. 20 Sept.

The voyages in 1924 and 1925 were what any boy might look forward to, yet might hesitate to take if he knew in advance what that life would be like. There were the times when we had to lay aloft in all kinds of weather to take in or set the sails. Nights with a gale blowing, and rain pouring down, it was supposed to be "one hand for the ship and one hand for yourself', but most of the time two hands were needed to handle the sails.

It was a hard life and at the same time it was a wonderful life as we were back in the days of the old sailing ships.

During those voyages I saw for the first time many new countries and islands. On the voyage from the Cape Verde Islands to Rio, I crossed the Equator and met King Neptune, to become one of his trusted shellbacks.

THE USS NANTUCKET

27

For this reason, and because I had served on square-rigged ships, I was able later to join the "Square-Rigger Club" of San Francisco.

In 1924 we covered 10,964 miles, and in 1925 12,600 miles. Although I do not know how fast we were going when, toward the end of a summer cruise, we had a race with a lighthouse tender, I am sure that we must have been going at around ten knots. (And of course I am sure that we must have won the race). Our Chief Engineer had served aboard that lighthouse tender and was very much interested in the race we were having.

I can remember one more time when we were really moving through the water and I shall include here an entry from the log I kept during the cruise of 1925. Not of any great importance, but it can add to a picture of life aboard a sailing ship.

"Friday, July 24, 1925 The wind still holds good over the starboard quarter and the night is one of the most beautiful I have ever seen. We are just below the Equator enroute from Bahia to Trinidad with all sail set, including the stunsail, and are listed to port as we rush through the water. A cloudless sky is alive with brilliant stars and the Southern Cross is flaming off our port beam. It is cool on deck after the heat of day and a new moon is flooding the sea with light and making the foresails gleam like silver."

Crossing The Equator Because of numerous magnetic Equator surveys she made, Ranger received the reputation as the ship that had crossed the Equator more 1 times than any other then afloat. She must have been an old friend of King Neptune.

The Equator. What a power of suggestion there is in those two words! They bring to mind the proud clippers that in their day went rolling down to Rio and around the Horn to China and India, battered tramps knocking about from port to port, the doldrums and schools of flying fish. They bring, too, the glory of the Southern Cross, whose home is in those latitudes and the traditional observance of "crossing the line".

The custom is when a ship crosses the Equator, for all those who have never crossed the line to be initiated into the "Ancient and Honorable Order of the Deep" by King Neptune and his court.

28

HISTORIC NANTUCKET

June 15, 1925 in latitude 00000 and longitude 27 degrees west we approached the Equator, southward bound from the Cape Verde Islands to Rio de Janeiro. The day was fair and clear with a light breeze that did little to ease the equatorial sun that beat down on us. Large schools of, flying fish, their wings gleaming in the bright sunshine, skimmed over the smooth surface of the sea and an expectant hush hung over the ship.

"Davey Jones" had come aboard the night before to present the Captain with a summons from King Neptune which commanded all hands to appear at his court to be held under the Equator the next day.

Now King Neptune and his royal party of Queen Aphrodite, court pages, doctor, barber, policemen and bears came aboard, a salute of twenty-one guns was fired and the Jolly Roger was unfurled at the mizzen truck. The royal party was received by the Captain on the quarter deck where he turned the command of the ship over to King Neptune and then escorted them to chairs on the bridge which overlooked a tank made from a large canvas awning.

One by one we ascended to a platform that extended out over the tank and there we received a shave with a large wooden razor in the none too gentle hands of the court barber. The shaving cream was a mixture of sulphur, molasses, mustard, flour and water, and was applied with a big paint brush, care being taken that a large portion entered one's mouth and ears. Then came a very bitter pill from the court doctor which had to be chewed, swallowed and washed down with a drink of salt water before a backward dive, forcibly executed, was made into the tank and the welcoming arms of the four bears who finally threw us out on deck after a whole hearted ducking.

We had been gathered to the fold as trusty shellbacks and duly initiated into the solemn mysteries of the Ancient Order of the Deep. We were now full fledged sons of King Neptune and our Neptune diplomas, signed by Neptunus Rex, Lord of the High Seas, certified that we had crossed the Equator and were now good seamen, and commanded all his subjects to pay us due respect wherever we might go.

And now a copy of the wording on my Neptune Diploma.

Domain Of Neptunus Rex To all sailors wherever ye may be, and to all Mermaids, Sea Serpents, Whales, Sharks, Porpoises, Dolphins, Skates, Eels, Suckers, Lobsters, Crabs, Pollywogs and other Living Things of the Sea.

THE USS NANTUCKET

2?

Greeting: Know ye: That on this 15th day of June, 1925 in Latitude 00000 and Longitude 27 degrees W, there appeared within the limit of Our Royal Domain the U.S.S. Nantucket, bound southward for the Equator and South American Ports.

BE IT REMEMBERED that the said Vessel and Officers and Crew thereof, have been inspected and passed on by Ourself and Our Royal Staff. And Be It Known: By all ye Sailors, Marines, Land Lubbers and others who may be honored by his presence that Theodore C. Wyman having been found worthy to be numbered as ONE OF OUR TRUSTY SHELLBACKS has been gathered to our fold and duly initiated into the Solemn Mysteries of The Ancient Order of The Deep.

The Watch On Deck — At Sea. There are many memories of my voyages aboard the N a n t u c k e t , and among the most lasting include my recollections of a regular part of the ship's routine — the watch on deck. Only those who have shared the experience may appreciate it fully. Along the gun deck, from the after hatch to the well forward under the forecastle hatch, swung the ham­ mocks of the cadets. They had a ghostly look in the faint light of the standing lights. The noise on deck sifted below as a confused murmur of familiar sounds. Now and then came a muffled crash as a sea came aboard or surged against the dogged gun ports. Some of the hammocks swayed lightly with each roll of the ship while others in which men were asleep swung in a slower and steadier arc. At times they touched the overhead, so violent was the motion of the ship, yet the sleep of the men remained undisturbed.

On deck the bo'sn's mate clung to the railing at the foot of the bridge ladder as he waited for word from the bridge to turn out the watch below.

It was nearly eleven-thirty and the watch on deck was anxious to be relieved so that it could turn in and get a few hours of sleep. The shaking of the bridge ladder as the orderly on watch started to descend roused the bo'sn's mate and he glanced up to see in the shadowy murk the shoulders and sou'wester of the officer of the watch leaning over the bridge rail.

"Turn out the watch", floated down the command and the bo'sn's mate lurched aft as the tolling of the ship's bell died away before it was scarcely born.

30

HISTORIC NANTUCKET

The gun deck was flooded with a sudden glare of light and the strident cry of turn out the watch, turn out all the port watch roused the sleeping men. Then the bo'sn's mate made his way along the gun deck shaking each hammock to make sure that every man was awake before he returned on deck.

Here and there an arm appeared, then a leg, as blankets were thrown aside and all along the gun deck men were sliding out from their ham­ mocks. They swayed dizzily for a moment as they clung to their ham­ mock lashings while trying to come awake. Then they jambed themselves between bulkheads and lockers or anything that offered some support as they pulled on woolen shirts, pants and sweaters and over them coaxed oilskins and boots until they were practically watertight. Sleep closed in on them instantly as they sprawled out on deck waiting for eight bells to strike, but they were awake and staggering toward the midships ladder at the first shrill note of the bo'sn's pipe as the hoarse bellow of lay aft to muster all the port watch floated down the hatchway.

The wild fury of the wind greeted them as they advanced to the quarter deck alternately trotting down the sloping deck with short, mincing steps and laboring sharply upward as the ship buried her lee rail in the swirling foam. They lined up in some semblance of order and at times the whole line swayed sharply forward, then leaned back until it seemed about to topple over. Two men pitched forward and rolled across the deck to bring up with a crash against the lee bulwarks as the port rail was flung crazily skyward. Then they made their way sheepishly across the rolling deck as the bo'sn's mate passed the word to relieve the wheel, lookout and lifebuoy and for the lifeboat watch to turn in between the after hatch and the mizzen mast.

With one arm flung around a mizzen shroud and the other hand grasping it, the man on lifebuoy watch stood ready to release the lifebuoy hanging over the ship's side in case anyone went overboard. JHle was safe from the dangers of the reeling deck and could enjoy the wild fury of the storm, the rising and falling song of the wind in the rigging and the ifiountainous seas that came rushing up from astern, rising until their curling grey tops seemed about to crash down and bury the ship.

No canvas was spread and the ship was driving before the storm under steam alone. Now and then the wild thrashing of her propeller could be heard as it came out of the water and a man stood ready in the engineroom to slow down the engines when they started to race.

THE USS NANTUCKET

31

On the other side of the deck stood the lifeboat watch ready, at an instant's notice, to turn out the lifeboat crew asleep under a canvas between the after hatch and the mizzen mast, while the officer on duty stood his watch on the bridge behind a weather cloth from where he could see both forward, aft and aloft. The helmsman took no notice of the spray that continually swept over him and was conscious only of the swinging compass card in the glowing interior of the binnacle and of keeping the ship on her course. Safe from the worst of the wind and spray, the watch on deck made themselves as comfortable as possible on the fiddly hatch behind the forward deck house under the bridge. Heat from the fireroom below washed over them in comforting waves and there would be no sail to handle as long as the gale continued. No racing for the topgallant yard where the sail was so much easier to handle than on the topsail yard and no laying out along the yardarms to fist in the iron hard canvas in the reeling, pitching darkness.

Aft on the poop deck, the lifebuoy watch sensed the approach of two bells, one o'clock, and strained forward to hear the ship's bell as the hour was struck. The sound of the bell was whipped away by the gale before it reached him, but he knew the hour had struck as he made out the dim figure making its way aft to read the log. He waited until the ship ceased rolling for a moment before releasing his hold on the shrouds to make a staggering rush forward to report his post and the stern light to the bridge.

Luck was against him as a sea came over the stern and washed him along the deck until he brought up sharply in the scuppers beneath the main mast shrouds.

Later, as the hours slipped by, the man on lifebuoy watch became drowsy, but caught himself in time and released his hold on the shrouds for a moment until the exertion of keeping on his feet brought him fully awake. Then at last the watch was relieved and the men tumbled below to the safe haven of their hammocks and hardly had time to settle themselves before they were asleep. Some time later the sound of hoarse shouts and scuffling feet on deck roused for a moment the man who had been on lifebuoy watch. "The wind must have dropped" he thought. "They are setting the sails."

"MAN OVERBOARD!"

We had slipped our moorings at Rouen, France, and as we threaded our way down the Seine our thoughts turned back to the days just past that had been spent in Paris. No one suspected that within a few brief hours one among us would be gone.

32

HISTORIC NANTUCKET

From noon to early evening the everchanging beauty of the Seine slowly unwound before us. Every turn in the river brought into view a scene more charming than the one preceding as tiny villages or smaller groups of white-fenced cottages slipped by.

At last the river began to widen, and by dusk we had entered the harbor of Le Havre and were once more breasting the green rollers as we set our course across the Channel. It was good to feel the roll of the ship's deck under our feet again after more than a week inland.

It became dark early, for the sky had become overcast. The gentle breeze of early afternoon had strengthened, and the choppy sea that had risen gave promise of a wet crossing to the English coast. There was work to be done, however, and as the murky lights of the harbor began to fade cargo lights were rigged amidships, and the watch on deck began to take in the gangway ladder that was still over the side. A block and tackle had been rigged to the small platform to which the gangway ladder was at­ tached, and on this platform, with a heavy capstan bar in his hands, a member of the crew was endeavoring to work the gangway ladder loose from its moorings. In some unaccountable manner the gangway platform on which the seaman was standing raised up, the iron supports came loose from their sockets, and the seaman was instantly plunged overboard.

As the cry of "Man Overboard" hurtled aft through the sudden hush the man on lifebuoy watch sprang into action and a lifebuoy, its flare casting a lurid glow on the surrounding sea, began to drift astern, while a jangling bell in the engineroom told that the officer on the bridge had responded to the emergency. All hands were piped on deck and the scream of the boat falls tore the air as the whaleboat was lowered away.

As the whaleboat pulled away, everything was made ready aboard to assist the seaman should he be recovered, and to hoist the whaleboat back to its davits. From the bridge a searchlight pointed an inquiring finger hither and yon, but merely succeeded in illuminating the scudding foam of a rising sea. Leadsmen in the chains droned out the harbor depth from time to time as there was danger of going aground. Over the ship hung an air of foreboding, for all hands aboard realized the danger that the seaman was in.

For two hours the fruitless search was continued, but the darkness, the wind and the choppy sea defeated the would be rescuers. Possibly the heavy capstan bar had crippled the seaman as he fell.

THE USS NANTUCKET

33

At last the whaleboat could be seen returning, its bow sending the spray in a far flung arc. After coming alongside the boat falls were made fast, but as the boat was about to be hoisted away it was swept against the ship's side. No one was injured, but the whaleboat had to be repaired later in London.

As nothing more could be done to aid the lost seaman, we got underweigh again. In the minds of all on board, however, there was no longer any room for the pleasant memories of the last few days ashore.

So there are a few things I can remember about the Nantucket from the time I was aboard her, and from the time in 1958, when the Nantucket Historical Association tried to get the ship's bell, to put in one of their museums. I had always wanted to know something about her early history, and now I have been fortunate to receive from Department of the Navy, Naval Historical Center in Washington, two historical summaries of USS Ranger (later Nantucket]. Included in those sum­ maries is complete information as to where and when she was built, her service in various parts of the world, and I shall mention a few things that are of interest to me.

The fourth ship to be named Ranger, she was an iron-hulled steampowered vessel, with a full-rig auxiliary sail, and laid -down in 1873; launched in 1876 by Harlan and Hollingsworth, Wilmington, Del.; and commissioned at League Island Naval Shipyard, Philadelphia, Pa., 27 November, 1876; Comdr. H. D. Manley in command. Complement— 138 men, Guns—12. Displacement—1,020 tons; Length—177'-4"; Beam—32'-0"; Mean draft-12'-9".

After her fitting out, the Ranger was assigned to the Atlantic Station.

In March, 1877 she was assigned to the Asiatic Fleet. She left New York 21 May, 1877, arriving Hong Kong 24 August 1877 via Gibraltar, Suez Canal, and Malacca Straits. Service on the Asiatic Station continued until the Fall of 1879. She arrived at the Mare Island Navy Yard 24 February, 1880.

Converted to a survey vessel and from 1881 to 1889 she was engaged in hydrographic survey work off Mexico, Baja California, Central America, and the northern Pacific, except when protecting American national interests in the politically turbulent Central American nations.

Decommissioned from 14 September 1891 to 26 August 1892 at Mare Island Navy Yard she was assigned to protect American seal fisheries in

34

HISTORIC NANTUCKET

the Bering Sea. On 31 January 1894, she relieved Alliance in protecting American interests in Central America. Service there until placed out of commission 26 November 1895, except for temporary duty in the Bering Sea in May, 1894.

Recommissioned 1 November 1899, she served as a survey ship for two years off Mexico and Baja California, then operated with Wisconsin off Central America. Decommissioned again from 11 June 1903 to 30 March 1905, at Puget Sound Naval shipyard, she left 16 April 1905 for the Asiatic Station. Due to recurring maintenance problems she was decommissioned at Cavite from 21 June, 1905 to 10 August, 1908.

Departing Cavite 16 August, she arrived Boston 12 December via the Suez Canal.

On 26 April 1909, she was loaned to the State of Massachusetts as a school ship to replace Enterprise. Her name was changed to Rockport 30 October, 1917 and then to Nantucket 20 February, 1918. As the Nan­ tucket, she operated as a gun boat in the First Naval District during World War I, as well as a training ship for Navy midshipmen. On 1 July 1921 she was returned to the State of Massachusetts as a schoolship.

On her last Navy assignment, the trip from her China Station to Boston, Admiral - then Lieutenant - Chester W. Nimitz was her navigator. On this trip she covered the route around the Cape of Good Hope.

He was an Admiral and I was a Lieutenant, so it could be said that we had nothing in common, and yet I like to think that at least we had in common the experience of life aboard a square rigged ship. In writing about the Nantucket, I mentioned that men who had graduated from her and served in World War II brought with them a kind of training that was of great value. A kind of training that could be had only aboard a sailing ship. And I imagine the training that Admiral Nimitz had aboard the Nantucket was of value to him even if it was only a small part of all the training he needed to do the work required of him.

And so, after her years of Service, and her participation in both World War I and World War II, as the USS Nantucket she was renamed the Bay State. Early in 1942 she was marked for scrapping, since she was no longer considered efficient for her purpose. At the request, however, of Rear Admiral R. R. McNulty, USMS, former Supervisor of the United

THE USS NANTUCKET

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States Merchant Marine Cadet Corps and an alumnus of the Nantucket, the ship was assigned as a training vessel to the Academy which had been established at Kings Point just six months before. The Bay State left Charlestown Navy Yard under tow 21 July, 1942, arriving Kings Point the next day. On 31 July, 1942 her name was changed for the fourth time and she became the I. V. Emery Rice, to honor Captain Emery Rice who was graduated from the Massachusetts Nautical Training School in 1897, the days of the USS Enterprise.

In the winter of 1943, while on a training mission, the Emery Rice suffered some damage during a hurricane. It was after this incident that the Emery Rice was brought to a berth at Mallory Pier at the King's Point Merchant Marine Academy. It was in February, 1944, that her active career ended, and she settled down as a museum vessel. As has been already stated she was finally abandoned to the wreckers in 1958, sold for $13,600, and towed to the junk-yard at Baltimore.

It can be truly said that under her varied names this vessel had served her country well. Men who had graduated from the Nantucket served in World War II and brought with them a kind of training that was of great value. A kind of training that could be had only aboard a sailing ship. I met several of those men, some of them classmates of mine, while I was serving as a boarding officer for convoys out of Norfolk toward the end of the war, and they were the captains of some of those ships in convoy.

I have learned that the bell, marked Nantucket, is now at the Massachusetts Maritime Academy.

During World War III was First Lieutenant of LST 197 from com­ missioning through the campaigns of Tunisia, Sicily, Salerno, Anzio, and Normandy. In 1974 I returned to the Far Shores for a visit to Nor­ mandy and Anzio and the Military Cemeteries there. I had always hoped that, some day, I could return on what I thought of as my own private pilgrimage and that, while there, I might see the ghost of my old ship off the beaches at Normandy and in the Mediterranean. I did return and I am sure that her ghost was there waiting for me.

But, in 1976, with the Tall Ships passing in review in Boston Harbor, I am sure that the ghost of the old Nantucket was there to revie,w them to make sure that they were all in "Bristol Fashion".

The Massachusetts Training barkentine Nantucket under a press of canvas in a good breeze. Note the cadets in the rigging loosing her topsails on the main and mizzen masts.