Postal Facilities

28 HISTORIC NANTUCKET time to write another, as we go to Sea tomorrow and our decks are half mast high with casks.

E.

(Addressed to Mr. Samuel Wright, of Saybrook, in Connecticut.

Closing Note-Sept. 25, 1949 - Center Moriches, L.Is. N.Y.

I, Ruth Lewis Porter, second daughter of Gilbert L. Lewis have just copied the above from papers found in my father's possession at the time of his death, in 1942 at Rochester, N.Y. I do not know at what time his copy was made but feel that it must have been done at least twenty-five or six years ago as it was on stationary headed Assembly Chamber, State of New York Albany, at which time he was there.

In reading the letters of Elihu Wright, I am confused about letter #VI. It would seem to me that it should come before letter #1, if it is dated correctly, i.e. Aug. 28, 1822. However the contents of Letter #VI could mean that it was at the start of his second trip, the one on which he was injured.

It leads me to believe that even though he is a bit homesick at leaving his family, he already knows from past experiences of the thrills of the whaling business.

Mail service in the Pacific was somewhat uncertain, as evidenced by the following correspondence between a whaleman and his wife. From the wife: "Dear Ezra, where did you put the axe?"

From the husband (fourteen months later): "Dear Martha, what did you want the axe for?"

From the wife (two years later): "Dear Ezra, never mind about the axe. What did you do with the hammer?"

From The Nantucket Scrap Basket