by Edouara A. Stackpole

The Romantic Whaleman — Artist, Joseph Ray Logbook Keeper on the Ship Edward Cary

by Edouard A. Stackpole

THE LOGBOOK OF a whaleship, that becomes the official record of the voyage, is usually kept by the first mate, and turned over to the ship's owners on return to port. These are the authentic accounts of the long passage to the whaling grounds, of the areas where the whales were taken, the ports visited for supplies, and other incidents in the long months at sea, including the adventures of the crew and officers. They are the priceless records which provide the whaling historian with the facts, and are, of a rule, terse and prosaic.

Whenever a separate journal is found, a personal account, kept by an individual, either an officer or foremast hand, it adds the extra information which completes the story of the voyage. These journals are the exception to the rule of logbook keeping and generally provide fascinating reading. One such a private journal is among the treasures in the Nantucket Historical Association's library and is an invaluable possession. It was written and illustrated by Joseph Edward Ray, 21-year-old crew member on board the whaleship Edward Cary, during the years 1854-1858, a Nantucket whaler under the command of Captain Perry Winslow and one of the ships owned by the firm of Charles & Henry Coffin.

The voyage of the E d w a r d C a r y , as revealed by Joseph E. Ray in his journal has the unusual feature of having drawings in color by the talented young man, as these illustrations reveal incidents which help dramatize the voyage. As an example, in listing the names of officers and crew the artist has used an elaborate design as a head-piece on the top of the page, with an eagle holding a banner which identifies the ship's members by name and place of residence when they sign on. Ten of the crew were Portuguese from the Azores, with men from Fall River, Buffalo, Boston, Scoharie, and Nantucket. The officers were all from Nantucket. Joseph E. Ray was recorded as boatsteerer, (a harpooner), usually a post of importance for an experienced hand.

One of the unusual facts concerning this voyage was that Captain Perry Winslow had taken his wife and two of their children on board — a son, John M. Winslow, and a daughter Sarah Bunker Winslow. Another fact of interest is that the Edward Cary, upon reaching the South Atlantic, did not go around Cape Horn but sailed for the Cape of Good Hope, thence to the Indian Ocean and the Pacific.

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HISTORIC NANTUCKET

Joseph E. Ray's journal is not only an accurate, day-by-day record of that four-year voyage, but with the colored drawings dramatizes to a marked degree some of the outstanding incidents. His firm clear hand writing brings us a fascinating combination of his private thoughts, and some of his shipmates', reflections on home and loved ones, romantic interludes ashore, and the routines of shipboard life. He tells of the ships sighted and spoken (contact long enough for a "gam"), whales chased and whales taken, South Sea Islands visited, and storms weathered.

One of young Ray's word pictures, as graphic as his watercolors, is a description of a tropical storm. He wrote: "It was the most awful tempest I ever knew since going to sea. The wind blew tremendously from the east-southeast, with the rain in torrents - the night so dark as to render it impossible to see the hand before the face, save when the blue lightning flashed, lighting up the sea for miles around. The dreadful thunder rolled and sent chills to the stoutest heart. All hands were visibly impressed with feelings of awe, for surely it was the voice of God."

The whaleman journalist mentions dreams of home, and often writes the names of the girls he knew at home, sometimes in the margins of his Journal. During a stop at Raratonga Island, he states: "Old Brown and I are up to our necks in oranges." One may appreciate the description of enjoying fresh fruit after months at sea and a diet of salt beef.

On the occasion of meeting another Nantucket whaleship, the Potomac, "on the line," (the equator), it was learned that this ship's master, Captain Enoch Ackley, had died and was buried at sea, and Captain Oliver Swain had taken command.

On July 4, 1855, the ship's company duly observed the birthday of the nation by: "firing guns, Crackers, Torpedoes, Pistols and all kinds of things to make noise." While visiting that favorite anchorage in the "Bay of Islands," New Zealand, they met a dozen whaleships, among them the Planter, Monticello, Ganges, and Mohawk of Nantucket. The rescue of young Samuel Christian, a fellow-islander, after falling overboard at night; the occasion when the flying jib-boom gave way, carrying away headstays and the fore-topgallant mast was duly reported, and when the ship sailed slowly past a desolate island on the equator, which a homesick mariner had dubbed "New Nantucket," the journalist stated the names had been so bestowed by "a few chuckleheads."

"THAR BLO-O-OS!" George Grant Gives The Time-Honored Whaling Call.

In 1927 George Grant, among the last of the Nantucket men to "go whaling", posed for Austin Strong on the cross-trees of a mast at Old North Wharf, where he demonstrated a look-out giving the "cry" which announced the sighting of a whale.

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HISTORIC NANTUCKET

One of the memorable days was a planned meeting of three Nantucket whaleships off French Rock on Christmas Day, 1855 - the Ganges, under Captain John Nicholson, the Mohawk, under Captain Charles Grant, and the Edward Cary, under Captain Perry Winslow. The occasion was unique as on all these Nantucket vessels the ship masters had their wives, and some of their children on board. A Christmas dinner of roast pig and South Sea island fruits were enjoyed.

However the E d w a r d C a r y did not enjoy a highly successful voyage, but had a wide range of voyaging from the Atlantic to the Indian Ocean, thence to the central Pacific Ocean. The many whaleships she met indicate the numbers from many ports then engaged in the whale fishery. While working off Lord the crew, on a Sunday, were sent ashore for wood, and Ray confided to his journal: "Six days shalt thee labour, and on the seventh break thy back!"

The ship E d w a r d C a r y had an honorable career as a whaler out of Nantucket from 1841, when she was built, until 1858, when she was sold, and was owned by three whaling firms on the Island. After twentyseven years she was sold at San Franscisco, and resumed her whaling experience out of that city. In 1865 she was among the whaleships capt u r ed a n d b u r n e d b y t h e C o n f ed er ate r a id er S h e n a n d o a h .

An intriguing episode in the life at sea of Joseph Ray took place in 1857 while the ship was visiting Norfolk Island, the home of some of the descendants of the famous Bounty mutiny survivors, who had been transported from Pitcairn Island to a new home at Norfolk. While ashore during the ship's visit, Ray met and promptly fell in love with Miss Anna McCoy of the Pitcairn group. Upon the inevitable parting, when the Edward Cary sailed, he wrote a few lines of verse to her, some of which are as follows:

Dear Anna, now farewell, Since fate compels us thus to part May God protect thee from life's ills, And guard the tablets of thy heart.

But the ship never returned to Norfolk on this voyage, and she returned to Nantucket, where she arrived six months later, on August 8,1858. It is entirely probable that he intended to return to Norfolk, as he shipped out on another whaleship a few weeks after his return to Nantucket.

The preservation of this remarkable journal is also a grim reminder of the sequel to the adventures of the talented journalist.