Cutting in a Whale at Nantucket April 1,1870

C u t t in g i n a W h a le a t N a n t u c k et April 1, 1870

ON MARCH 31, 1870, a dead right whale was found floating in Nantucket Sound and, later that day, was towed into the harbor. The whaling schooner Abbie Bradford was lying at Commercial Wharf and the whale was brought alongside, a cutting in stage was rigged out, and the process of removing the blubber promptly commenced. Many islanders for the first time had an opportunity to witness what had been described by members of their families who had engaged in this same operation in the far-off Pacific Ocean.