Nantucket Historical Association Officers and Staff

N A NT UC KE T H I ST O R IC A L A S SOC IA T IO N O FF IC ER S

President: H. Flint Ranney First Vice President: Robert G. Metters Vice President: Robert D. Congdon Secretary: Richard Austin Treasurer: Donald E. Terry

Walter Beinecke Alcon Chadwick

Honorary Vice Presidents Albert G. Brock Mrs. Bernard Grossman

Albert F. Egan, |r. Mrs. R. Arthur Orleans

George W. Jones Presidents Emeritus Leroy H. True Edouard A. Stackpole

STAFF John N. Welch, Administrator Victoria Hawkins, Curator Renny A. Stackpole, Director of Museums Elizabeth Tyrer, Executive Secretary Edouard A. Stackpole, Historian; Director, Peter Foulger Museum Historic Nantucket, Editor, E. A. Stackpole Assistant Editor, Mrs. R. Arthur Orleans Librarian, Mrs. Louise Hussey

Oldest House: Mrs. Margaret Crowell, Mrs. Abram Niles Hadwen House-Satler Memorial: Mrs. Richard Strong, Mrs. Kathleen D. Barcus Whaling Museum: Rev. Frank J. Pattison, Manager; James A. Watts, Alfred N. Orpin, Mr. and Mrs. Edward Dougan, Gerald Ryder Greater Light: Dr. Selina T. Johnson Peter Foulger Museum: Asst. Director, Peter S. MacGlashan; Mrs. Norman A. Barrett, MissMarjorie Burgess, Miss Helen Levins, Alcon Chadwick, Ms. Angelica Dewey, Everett Finlay

1800 House: Ms. Margaret Beale Macy-Christian House: Miss Dorothy Hiller, Mrs. Helen S. Soverino Old Mill: Millers: John A. Stackpole, Thomas Seager, Terry Ellis Fair Street Museum: Mrs. William Witt Lightship "Nantucket": Michael Jones, James Hilditch Archeology Department: Vice-Chairman, Mrs. John D. C. Little Museum Shop: Director, Mrs. Grace Grossman; Manager, Mrs. Maria Waine; Mrs. Rose Stanshigh, Mrs. Anne K. Diamond, Ms. Hazel Korper

Edward B. Anderson John Austin Mrs. Kenneth Baird Mrs. John A. Baldwin Mrs. Marshall Brenizer Hugh R. Chace Mrs. James F. Chase COUNCIL MEMBERS

Mrs. Marsha Fader Mrs. George A. Fowlkes Mrs. H. Crowell Freeman John Gilbert Reginald Levine John D. Miller Mrs. Carl M. Mueller" Philip C. Murray F. Philip Nash, Jr. Mrs. Alan Newhouse Francis W. Pease Charles F. Sayle, Sr. Mrs. Bracebridge Young, Jr.

HISTORIC NANTUCKET

P u b l i s h e d Q u a r t e r l y a n d d e v o t e d t o t h e p r e s e r v a t i o n o f N a n t u c k e t ' s a n t i q u i t y , i t s f a m e d h e r i t a g e a n d i t s i l l u s t r i o u s p a s t a s a w h a l i n g p o r t .

Volume 31 April 1984 No. 4

C O N T E N T S

Nantucket Historical Association Officers and Staff 2

Editorial: Nantucket's April Milestones

Diary of a Nantucket Woman in Wales and Some Other Diaries by Freda James 5

6

The Unusual Career of the Whaleship' 'Hero" of Nantucket 15

Cape and Islands Association of Historical Organizations to Meet on Nantucket 18

Alexander Coffin, "Remarks on the Asylum, Quaise", 1841 by Edgar L. McCormick

Nantucket

by Horace A. Carter

A Modern Trying Out Rendering Pilot Whale Blubber in 1983 by Wesley N. Tiffney, Jr.

Address Changes/Bequests 19

26

27

30

Historic Nantucket (USPS 246460)is published quarterly at Nantucket, Massachusetts by the Nantucket Historical Association. It is sent to Association members and extra copies may be purchased for $3 00 each. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to: Nantucket Historical Association, Box 1016, Nantucket Ma 02554. Membership dues are —Annual-active $7.50; Sustaining $25.00; Life —one payment $100.00; Husband and Wife $150.00. 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.