Proceedings of the Nantucket Historical Association: 1951 Annual Meeting

PROCEEDINGS OF THE

NANTUCKET HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION

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INDEX Annual Meeting of the Association

PAGE 7

Report of the Secretary — Eger

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Report of the Treasurer — Worth

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Report of the President — Stackpole

15

"Salvaging the Sugar Bark 'Mentor'" — Stackpole

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"Melville and Nantucket" — Heflin

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List of Members

31

1951 1

PROCEEDINGS OF THE

NANTUCKET HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION oooooo

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ANNUAL MEETING

1951

MEMBERSHIP You are cordially invited to become a member of the NANTUCKET HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION. Our membership classes are: Life Membership, $15.00; Sustaining Membership, $5.00; Annual Membership, $1.00 annually. An initiation fee of $1.00 is charged for each new active membership.

THE NANTUCKET HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION is an organization dedicated to the preservation of the island's famed heritage—its illustrious past as a whaling port. Due to Nantucket's importance in American whaling, its history is a vital chapter in the great maritime history of this nation.

There is no place in America quite like old Nantucket Town—the birthplace of American deep-sea whaling.

Your support of our Association enables us to preserve this great whaling tradition. It allows us to carry on the work of maintaining our exhibits—the Whaling Museum, the Fair Street Museum, the Oldest House, the Old Mill, and the Old J ail and House of Correction and Industry.

Please send checks to Mrs. Elizabeth B. Worth, Treasurer, 10A India street, Nantucket, Mass.

O F F I C E R S Nantucket Historical Association

1951—1952 President Edouard A. Stackpole Vice Presidents Mrs. Walton H. Adams Everett U. Crosby Miss Grace Brown Gardner

Dr. William E. Gardner Bassett Jones Burnham N. Dell Secretary

Mrs. Oscar B. Eger Treasurer Mrs. Elizabeth B. Worth Councillors Term Expires

1952 1952 1953 1953 1954 1954 1955 1955

Albert E. Marshall John H. Robinson Miss Helen Winslow Howard U. Chase Henry B. Coleman Robert M. Waggaman Mrs. Stacy Knopf W. Ripley Nelson Life Councillor Edward F. Sanderson Auditors Miss Cora Stevens

Robert D. Congdon Nominating Committee

Mrs. Lewis Edgarton, Chairman

Annual Meeting.

The fifty-seventh annual meeting of the Nantucket Historical Association was held on Tuesday afternoon, July 31, 1951, at the Friends Meeting House, Fair Street. The meeting was opened at 3:00 o'clock by the presiding officer, President Edouard A. Stackpole.

First in the order of business was the report of the Secretary, Mrs. Oscar B. Eger. In her record of the year's events, Mrs. Eger reported that the Council of the Association had held its regular monthly meetings throughout the period from September to July, and that the business of directing the affairs of the Association had been faithfully performed at these meetings.

Mrs. Eger listed the various classes of membership and reported that the total number of members of the Association was 586. This is a decrease from previous years. Of the present total, 126 are Life Members, 11 are Sustaining Members and 449 are Annual Members.

The report of the Treasurer, Mrs. Elizabeth B. Worth, was then given.

In her statement, Mrs. Worth noted that the past season has been one of the best which the Association has enjoyed in recent years. The Whaling Museum, with a total of 16,260 admissions, had its banner year, and the Oldest House, with a total of 4,588 admissions, had its most prosperous season to date. Fair Street Museum also had a good season, with 4,295 admissions. The Old Mill had 1,083 visitors and the Old Jail had an admission total of 1,035. **

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Everett U. Crosby, who with Mrs. Nancy Adams is co-chairman of our Fair Street Museum, gave a resume of recent improvements in arrangement of exhibits there. A considerable alteration has been made in the exhibits in the basement, where the acquisition of the old "'Sconset No. 1" hand-pumper, and other articles, made re-arrangement imperative. The old portraits now have printed cards which identify them immediately to the visitor.

Mr. Crosby then described the re-publication of the Fair Street Museum catalogue, originally issued several years ago but the supply long since ex­ hausted. This catalogue not only gives detailed descriptions of some of the outstanding exhibits at the Museum—such as Indian artifacts, old silver, portraits and maps—but has an interesting guide for the enjoyment of the children, as well as a description of the Walter Folger, Jr., Alcove and the Friends Meeting House. Included are pictures of the other buildings of our Association. Such a pamphlet is of considerable value to the visitor coming to the Museum for the first time and has the added value of serving as a guide for other visits as well as an interesting memento of Nantucket. ** ** ** ** ** Dr. William E. Gardner, one of our Vice Presidents and author of the Nantucket books "Three Bricks and Three Brothers" and "The Coffin Saga", gave an account of the recent arrangement of the shell exhibit. He told of the collection of Benjamin A. Blundon, who in 1886 became the first Weather Observer of the U. S. Bureau in Nantucket, and who secured many shells

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from the mariners frequenting the Pacific Club, who upon learning of his interest in the subject, presented him with shells which they had brought from the Pacific Islands. This collection, preserved in the Blundon family, was recently presented the Association by his son, Preston Blundon, of Hyattsville, Maryland. . ^ r, The shells have been arranged and classified by Mrs. Edward Mott Davis, Curator of the Beal-Maltbie Shell Museum, Rollins College, Winter Park, Florida. Mrs. Davis, who came to the island from her summer home on the Cape to be the house guest of Mrs. Samuel Snelling, very generously gave of her time and knowledge in arranging the exhibit. Among the shel s are the Chambered Nautilus, made famous by Oliver Wendell Holmes, the Paper Nautilus, the Pearly Oyster and other interesting and beautiful shells. ** ** ** ** ** Howard Barber, the new Chairman of the Old Mill Committee, gave a comprehensive account of the work done this year at the Mill. Two vanes, which had been demolished by last year's gales, had to be replaced, and reshingling has been necessary on the east and south sides. Mr. Barber spoke of plans for preserving the heavy mast, and described the work of replacing the worn photographs and drawings which are hung in the Mill as well as various other features of the ancient structure. **

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In his annual report, President Stackpole recounted some of the details connected with the outstanding accessions during the year. Through the in­ terest of Chief Archibald Cartwright, of the Nantucket Fire Department, the old 'Sconset hand-pumper has been presented the Association and placed beside "Cataract No. 6" in the basement. A complete file of the little publi­ cation known as the "'Sconset Pump" has been presented by Mrs. Alice Well­ ington Lyman. The file includes all weekly issues from J uly through Septem­ ber, 1888, and the names of the summer 'Sconseters as well as villagers are all listed, together with accounts of parties, baseball games and other inter­ esting village events.

Last fall, Miss Helen Cartwright McCleary presented the Association with a large number of family heirlooms and other articles, including Nan­ tucket books, china, furniture, etc. It is Miss McCleary's wish that when the proposed Folger Memorial is constructed (under the will of the late Ad­ miral William Mayhew Folger), a "Barnard Corner" be instituted with these articles as a nucleus.

Other accessions mentioned were a collection of buttons from Herbert Crocker, of Nantucket; a quilt made of wool sheared from island sheep, from the Annie Barker Folger family, donated by Miss Julia Farrington; and a card advertising the Nantucket Central Railroad's schedule for 1904, donated by the Maria Mitchell Association through Mrs. Alice Shurrocks. ** ** ** ** ** Next in the order of business was the report of the Nominating Com­ mittee, Mrs. Lewis S. Edgarton, as chairman, reporting as follows: Officers of the Nantucket Historical Association for 1951-52.

President—Edouard A. Stackpole.

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Vice Presidents—Mrs. Walton H. Adams, Everett U. Crosby, Miss Grace Brown Gardner, Dr. William E. Gardner, Burnham N. Dell, Bassett Jones.

Secretary—Mrs. Oscar B. Eger.

Treasurer—Mrs. Elizabeth Worth.

Councillors (for three years)—Mrs. Stacy Knopf, W. Ripley Nelson (to 1955) ; Henry B. Coleman, Robert M. Waggaman (to 1954) ; Miss Helen Winslow, Howard U. Chase (to 1953) ; Albert E. Marshall, John H. Robinson (to 1952).

Life Councillor—Edward F. Sanderson.

Auditors—Miss Cora Stevens and Robert D. Congdon. **

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Announcement was made of the forthcoming "Melville Memorial," an event to be held on the afternoon of Wednesday, Aug. 15, at the Unitarian Church. The speaker of the afternoon: Prof. Wilson L. Heflin, and his topic, "Melville and Nantucket". Mrs. Eleanor Melville Metcalf, of Cambridge, and Mrs. Abell W. Osborne, of Edgartown, have been invited to join in the ob­ servance of the 100th anniversary of "Moby-Dick" and in tribute to Melville. **

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On behalf of the Association, the President welcomed to the meeting William H. Tripp, Curator of New Bedford's Whaling Museum, and a valued member of the Nantucket Historical Association. Mr. Tripp responded with greetings from his "home port" and wished the "Melville Afternoon" good luck. He spoke highly of the speaker for the occasion—Prof. Wilson L. Heflin.

Next to be introduced was a native daughter of Nantucket—Mrs. Florence Bennett Anderson, of Walla Walla, Washington—who has made such contributions to the island's history as the writing of "Through the Hause-Hole," the biography of her great-grandfather, Captain Seth Pinkham, and "A Grandfather for Benjamin Franklin," a valuable study of the island's early settlers.

Mrs. Anderson arose to acknowledge the warm greeting of the gathering, and expressed her deep pleasure in again attending a meeting of "the his­ torical." **

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The speaker of the afternoon was the Association's President, whose topic was entitled "The Globe Mutiny." During research for his book "Mutiny at Midnight," and in the years since the publication of that book founded on this whaleship tragedy, the speaker told of his investigations into source materials in an effort to get a more complete picture of the mutiny.

"History and tradition," he read in part from his preliminary statement, "whether of ancient or modern times, are subjects which require a much dif­ ferent handling from mathematics or other of the exact sciences. The element of probability often proves a troublesome test of fact, but, if the test is pa­ tiently conducted, it often brings into clearer focus the many bits of evidence which make up the historical record. ... Human nature is the priceless ingredient which must be applied against the evidence of the facts."

The whaleship Globe, of Nantucket, under Captain Thomas Worth, sailed from Edgartown on Dec. 15, 1822, and a little more than a year later was

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the scene of the most bloody mutiny ever to take place on a whaleship from any country. Led by the boatsteerer (harpooner) Samuel Comstock, four mutineers killed Capt. Worth and the three officers while the ship was cruising at night 500 miles south of the Hawaiian Islands, in company with the New Bedford whaler Lyra. Comstock steered the ship off into the night after the murder of the officers, and laid a course which ultimately brought the Globe to the Mulgrave Islands, southernmost of the Marshall chain. It was Samuel Comstock's intention to make himself king of these South Sea Islands, but his fellow conspirators in the mutiny turned against him and killed him. That same night, late in February, 1825, five of the Globe's crew, led by Gilbert Smith, another boatsteerer, cut the ship's cables and escaped with her. For 110 days they sailed the Globe east and south, until they sighted the coast of South America and managed to work the ship safely into the harbor of Val­ paraiso. Here the Globe was taken over by Michael Hogan, American Consul, and subsequently placed under the command of Capt. Thomas King, who took her back to Nantucket late that same year (1824).

Meanwhile, back on the westernmost island in the Mulgrave group, the marooned whalemen soon fell victim to a sudden attack by the natives in which all but two of the white men were killed. These two were the youths Cyrus Hussey, of Nantucket, and Thomas Lay, of New London, Conn.

Upon the receipt of petitions from Nantucket, the U.S. government finally took action—but it was a year after the mutiny occurred that Commodore Isaac Hull, of the South American station, received orders to search for the Globe's marooned crew. Hull dispatched the topsail schooner Dolphin, under command of Capt. Jack Percival. The Dolphin sailed from Chorilos, Peru, on August 18, 1825, and after a cruise which took her to the Galapagos, Marque­ sas, and Kingsmills, the schooner arrived at the Mulgraves on Nov. 19, 1825.

A launch was employed in the search of the islands by way of the lagoon, and with Lieut. Hiram Paulding in command the launch-crew eventually rescued both Hussey and Lay, who told the story of the massacre of their shipmates which made them the sole survivors of the Globe's marooned crew.

In the summer of 1940, the great-granddaughter of Lieut. Paulding visit­ ed Nantucket and Mr. Stackpole told of introducing her to Mrs. Lawrence Caldwell, great-grandaughter of Cyrus Hussey, in the little house on Pleasant street where Cyrus Hussey was born in 1807.

Besides the narrative of their experiences written by Hussey and Lay in 1828, there was another version of the mutiny written by William Comstock, elder brother of Samuel, in 1840, and in 1831 the "Cruise of the Dolphin" was written by Lieut. Paulding. All these were on exhibition during the afternoon of our Annual Meeting.

The speaker also showed photostat copies of depositions taken by Consul Hogan at Valparaiso in June, 1824, upon the arrival of the Globe, at that port. One of these depositions was printed in the Hussey and Lay narrative but the others were recently uncovered in the Library of Congress. These were the depositions of Anthony Hanson, the Cape Cod Indian, the Kidder brothers, Stephen and Peter, Joseph Thomas, who was an accessory before the mutiny but did not take any part in the murders, (he was afterwards

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acquitted by a Boston court), and George Comstock, the younger brother of Samuel who was only 16 years old at the time of the mutiny.

It was in connection with George Comstock that the speaker told of the most recent acquisition in the original material used in research. This was a manuscript written by George Comstock about the Globe mutiny, and al­ though incomplete, is of inestimable value in determining the facts. This valuable manuscript was presented to the Whaling Museum late in July by Mrs. Helen Coffin Buchanan, of "Sunny Run," Westporf, Conn., and is a gift from Mrs. Buchanan, Sherwood Coffin and Willets Coffin, the great-great­ grandchildren of Christopher Mitchell, of Nantucket, owner of the Globe.

The speaker closed his talk with a reading of the poem "The Young Mutineer," which originally appeared in the columns of the Nantucket Inquirer. He felt it was not the least bit of evidence used in determining the "probabilities" which he had utilized in the book "Mutiny at Midnight"—a Actionized version of the mutiny. There were many tragedies resulting from the actual mutiny on board the Globe in the dark of that mid-Pacific night, and the subsequent lives of the survivors and the families of the victims make a thought-provoking sequel to the "plain unvarnished tale" of the happenings on the Nantucket whaleship Globe.

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Secretary's Report.

Mr. President, Members and Friends of the Nantucket Historical Association: If I may be permitted to quote Mr. Henry K. Bush Brown, well-known Washington sculptor find author, who loved Nantucket, and once said, "Nan­ tucket has its greatest attraction for worthwhile people, because of the fact that here they feel the quality of spiritual stabilization." Somehow, to me, the term spiritual stabilization seems particularly fitting in today's world of turmoil, strife and unsettled times. Therefore in accordance with our presi­ dent, and in behalf of the council of the Nantucket Historical Association, may I extend greetings and welcome to all of you "worthwhile people", assembled here today in this historical Friends Meeting House, in observance of our association's 57th annual meeting.

Our treasurer has been busy with our financial records, and our com­ mittee chairmen have directed the program of the year's work on which they will report to you later. Our membership list holds fairly steady and stands thus, at the close of the fiscal year, May 31, 1951: Life Members Sustaining ...

Annual

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Total Members

586

126 449

In connection with the above, I am pleased to inform you that it was gratifying to receive only a few copies of the annual proceedings returned this year due to incorrect addresses. Your treasurer and secretary appreciate the courtesy and kindness of members in keeping us advised concerning changes of addresses, and urge that you continue to do so, that our mailing lists may be correct as well as complete.

Our council during the past year has held its regular meetings for the consideration of detailed matters pertaining to our work, but that requires no special mention here. Nine meetings for necessary business were held, namely on September 11, October 17, November 21, and December 19, in 1950, and January 16, February 19, April 17, May 15 and June 19, 1951. As is customary, with your permission, I will dispense with the summary of details relative to the business of the year.

The greatness of a community may oft times be measured by its pros­ perity, but there are other kinds of greatness. One among them being the efforts of the pioneer spirit which furnishes the motive power, in an attempt to preserve our precious heritage of the past. And so, on this, our 57th birth­ day, we press onward in the interest of the history of Nantucket.

Respectfully submitted, CATHERINE RAY EGER, Secretary.

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Treasurer's Report oooooo JUNE 1, 1950 — MAY 31, 1951 Cash on hand June 1, 1950

148.48

RECEIPTS Annual Memberships

466.00

Life Memberships

120.00

Donations

73 QQ

Interest and Dividends Emerson Drug Co. U.S. Savings Bond Ella M. Starbuck Fund

3.75 125.00 313.64 442.39

From General Account Nan. Institution for Savings

893.29

Museum Accounts: Whaling Museum 16,260 admissions Sales Fair Street Museum 4295 admissions Sales Portledge Fund

4065.00 246.81 4311.81 1073.75 23.75 10.00 1107.50

Oldest House 4588 admissions Old Jail 1035 admissions Sales

1147.00 258.75 .70 259.45

Old Mill 1083 admissions

270.75 7,096.51 1,388.90

Admission Taxes

10,480.09 10,628.57

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DISBURSEMENTS General Account—Salaries Postage, printing, supplies

450.00 985.53

Insurance

1,435.53 700.73

To General Account Nan. Institution for Savings To Life Membership Account Nan. Inst, for Savings

1,500.00 120.00

Museum Accounts Whaling Museum Fair Street Museum Oldest House Old Jail Old Mill

2,783.35 1,037.90 694.00 235.74 437.35

Admission Taxes

5,188.34 1,387.30 10,331.90

Cash on hand, May 31, 1951

296.67 10.628.57

ASSETS Land and Buildings

$31,500.00

Collections in all Museums

10,000.00

Stocks and Bonds

5,307.50

Nantucket Institution for Savings: Ella M. Starbuck Fund Permanent Fund (Life Memberships) William Swift Fund Mary Eliza Macy Fund Susan E. Brock Fund General Account

3,000.00 2,377.97 5,100.50 592.09 1,020.10 4,279.79 16,370.45

Cash on hand Pacific National Bank

296.67

Respectfully submitted, ELIZABETH B. WORTH, Treasurer Audited by Cora Stevens, Robert D. Congdon.

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Report of The President.

Members and Friends of the Nantucket Historical Association:

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It is again a privilege to report to you on the activities of your Associa­ tion's officers over the past year and to record the progress made. The im­ portant factors of rising costs and prospective scarcities of materials has made it necessary to anticipate necessary repairs, and the Council has voted to have the roof of the Whaling Museum re-covered with "fire-proof," socalled, shingles. This involves a considerable expenditure, but the delay in going forward with the work would be taking an unnecessary risk. The pres­ ent roof covering of the Museum is the same slate shingles which were placed on the old structure one hundred and four years ago. During the pas­ sage of the years, the nail holes have become enlarged so that, when the winter winds blow, the shingles work up and down, allowing wide openings for the rain to leak into the building. Furthermore, whenever a slate breaks off, the carpenter must work over the roof, thus further loosening others of the slates. The water leakage not only rots the roof-boards but, in getting into the struts and beams, seriously weakens the entire structure. Two years ago, one of the main cross beams had to be spliced, the end having become rotted from water damage. Similar repair and serious trouble can be averted through the re-shingling process.

The buildings of the Association are in good condition. Last year's work on the Oldest House has solved many of the perplexing problems of main­ taining this valued ancient house as an historical relic. It might be well to mention that the past season set a new mark in attendance for our Oldest House—a total attendance of 4,588. Miss Ethel Clark, the custodian, has reason to be proud of this record. To John H. Robinson, Chairman of the Oldest House committee, go the thanks of the Association for his careful overseeing of the necessary repairs, both inside and out, and his interest in this important exhibit.

Here, at our Fair Street Museum, co-chairmen Mrs. Nancy Adams and Everett U. Crosby have been busy with necessary re-arrangements, especi­ ally "below decks" in the basement. Here, the acquisition of the old 'Sconset "hand-pumper" fire engine, and other items, has made it necessary to move everything so that exhibits may be shown to better advantage. Also, here in the basement, the collection «f shells has been arranged by Mrs. Edward Mott Davis, of Winter Park, Florida, and Bass River, Mass., an expert conchologist at Rollins College. Dr. Gardner will tell you more about this later in the afternoon. Upstairs, the portraits have been the recipients of nameplates, which makes them not only readily identified but gives them a new air of dignity.

Mr. Crosby, co-chairman, will tell you of the re-issue of the popular little booklet—"A Souvenir Guide to the Fair Street Museum." This includes details on the Indian artifact collections, the old silver, maps and portraits, as well as supplying a most interesting guide to children and describing the famed "Walter Folger, Jr." alcove. This catalogue-guide is an excellent one

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and is of considerable help to the visitor. Copies are to be distributed to you here in attendance at this meeting, with the compliments of the Pair Street Museum committee, composed of Mrs. Adams, Mr. Crosby and Dr. Gardner. « Our Old Mill has had some further repairs. The shingling of the side-walls last year and the replacing of two of the window sills has been succeeded by the rebuilding of vanes damaged by storms early last fall. The Association welcomes Howard Barber as the new chairman of the Old Mill committee.

Mr. Barber was called to his post in June but, despite the short notice before the advent of summer, got the new vanes in position and had the interior of the mill cleaned in a remarkably short space of time. He will tell us some­ thing about this work in a few minutes.

It is a curious fact that the Old Nantucket Jail, off Vestal street, last season had almost as many visitors as the Old Mill recorded. Due to the fact that the Jail is more or less "off the beaten track," it is hardly expected to attract as many visitors as the other exhibits, but its attendance is holding up well, and the new "stocks" in the yard has been an added feature.

Burnham N. Dell, of our Council, continues as chairman of the Committee on the Old Jail. It may be noted here that a booklet, outlining the history and giving some of the interesting anecdotes of the "Old Gaol", is on sale at the Jail and at other of the Association's buildings.

Breaking attendance records has become a habit with the Association's famed Whaling Museum, and the total of 16,260 admissions last year has es­ tablished a new "high water mark." The chairman of the Whaling Museum Committee is Howard U. Chase, assisted by Dr. William E. Gardner and your president. The renovation of the Library has proven very popular, as it not only presents a much better appearance but provides much needed room and is more convenient in the over-all arrangement of the Museum. Our impressive Museum continues to attract many people year after year, who avail themselves of the opportunity to show their friends one of Nantucket's outstanding assets.

There have been a number of interesting accessions this year. During the spring, through the interest of Fire Chief Archibald Cartwright, the Association acquired the last of the hand-pumper fire engines to be used by the Nantucket Fire Department—the "Siasconset No. 1." This piece of fire fighting equipment, stationed in the village, was last used during the "Phil­ lips' Block" fire in 'Sconset in October, 1924. The pumper was first taken out to the village in July, 1900, but its original construction date, and its previous history in town has been lost. Now it stands beside the old "Cataract No. 6," the oldest of the island's fire-fighting equipment, in the basement of our Fair Street Museum.

At a special meeting of the Council last fall Miss Helen Cartwright McCleary presented the Association with an imposing list of articles owned by herself and her Nantucket ancestors. These items, which include books, furniture, china, portraits, and other items, were given the Association by Miss McCleary with the intent that they be used as an exhibit as a "Barnard Corner" in the forthcoming "Folger Memorial." This proposed building is provided for under the will of Admiral William Mayhew Folger, whose trust 16

estate reverts to the Association upon the death of a surviving heir. This structure is planned for the corner lot at the junction of Broad and North Water streets. Admiral Foiger stipulated that it be of brick and of the same architectural design as the Coffin School.

Mrs. Alice Wellington Lyman, a grand-daughter of Nantucket's illustri­ ous William R. Easton, has presented the Association with one of the few complete copies of "The 'Sconset Pump" and "Town Crier", a weekly periodical which appeared from The Inquirer and Mirror Press in 1888, with Roland Bunker Hussey and Gustave Kobbe as the editors. The papers have been tastefully bound and include issues from July through September, 1888.

Those 'Sconseters whose parents and grandparents enjoyed life in the village sixty-five years ago will find much of interest in these little newspapers. Nov only are the names of the cottagers listed, with families and children, but there are accounts of village happenings, baseball games, "pump square gos­ sip," and so on. There is also a complete story on the dedication of the Wauwinet Chapel.

In my talk later in the afternoon there will be reference made to a val­ uable donation to the Association by Mrs. Helen Coffin Buchanan, of Westport, Connecticut. This is in the form of a partial account 'of the "Globe Mutiny",

by George Comstock, one of the survivors and the younger brother of Samuel Comstock, the chief mutineer. This is an original manuscript and provides a valuable link in the chain of material dealing with the mutiny. A type­ written transcript of the Comstock narrative, as made a number of years ago by Mrs. Buchanan's father, and some additional data by him, complete an interesting and valued gift. A special exhibit on the "Globe Mutiny" was on display at the Whaling Museum. This included the first edition of the narrative by Hussey and Lay, the two survivors of the group left on the island when the ship escaped, the "Life of Samuel Comstock, the Terrible Whaleman," by his brother William Comstock; "The Cruise of the Dolphin,"

by Lieut, (later Admiral) Hiram Paulding, in command of the naval launch from the topsail schooner which rescued Hussey and Lay, and "Mutiny at Midnight," the Actionized version of the mutiny which your President wrote in 1939.

Miss Louise W. Brooks, of Milk street, Nantucket, donated some valu­ able pieces of whalemen's "scrimshaw" which have been added to our fine collection at the Whaling Museum.

On the evening of March 4, 1951, in the library of the Maria Mitchell Association on Vestal street, a group of islanders and friends met with the Council of the Nantucket Historical Association for the second "Winter Gam." Howard Barber was chairman of the evening, and the capacity crowd which characterized the first "Gam" in 1943, when Dr. Will Gardner was chairman, again characterized the second such meeting. For nearly three hours the folks on hand participated in reminiscing—recalling old events, bits of family history and kindred experiences—to the delight of all concerned. Memories of Petticoat Row and Hannah Sheffield provided much humor; recollections of Surfside, Tuckernuck, the horse-cars, high tides, school days, ship-wrecks and boating exploits, all combined to make it a memorable evening for all.

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During the early spring, Miss Grace Brown Gardner, one of our Vice Presidents, received from her friend Miss Louise Hosmer, a former Nantucketer who has resided in Los Angeles, Cal., for many years, four very interesting letters which add a foot-note to a tragic page in island history.

The letters were written in German and came from the mother and brother of the second mate (the only man to reach shore) and the brother of Capt.

Herting of the German ship Newton, lost with all hands off the south shore of Nantucket on Christmas morning, 1865. The letters were written to Fred­ erick Sanford, the Nantucket man who took charge of the burial of the unfortunate mariners and arranged for the sending of their rings, watches, and other valuables found, back to their native homes. Also included in the gift of Miss Hosmer are translations of the letters as well as a document by which the island coroner, George Brown, released the personal valuables of dead men into the keeping of the ship's agent. These letters are now in our Fair Street rooms.

Other accessions include an old wool blanket, presented by Miss Julia Farrington, which came from the Annie Barker Folger family, and is made of wool from Nantucket sheep; a button collection from Herbert Crocker; forty-six lantern slides presented by Louis Davidson, made from his own excellent photographs; charts and prints by Dr. William E. Gardner, from his own collection; a ship-master's telescope, which once belonged to Matthew Crosby, given by A. Morris Crosby, of Brookline, a direct descendant of this Nantucket ship-owner; log-books from Mrs. Thurlow Weed Barnes, of Al­ bany, N. Y., and Nantucket, including those of the Margaret Scott, and the Horatio, of New Bedford, the latter ship under command of Capt. Charles Grant, of Nantucket. A steel filing cabinet was given the Whaling Museum library by Richard Lederer, of Polpis and New York, and is greatly appreci­ ated, as it is a much-needed piece of office equipment.

As your President, it gives me great pleasure to report that in April of this year a Guggenheim Fellowship was awarded me for research in whal­ ing in preparation for a book on the discoveries and explorations of the New England Whalemen. Through this fellowship I hope to write a book which will bring into a clearer perspective the contributions made by the whale­ men to the knowledge in history and geography of the times in which they lived.

To the Councillors of our Association I extend grateful appreciation for their careful supervision and direction of the activities and enterprise of the Association. They have met at least once a month during the year, with the exception of July and August, and have continued their keen inter­ est in the welfare and continued success of our Association.

Respectfully submitted, EDOUARD A. STACKPOLE, President.

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Salvaging The Sugar Bark "Mentor".

By EDOUARD A. STACKPOLE. On a stormy April morning, fifty-eight years ago, just after the sun had brought its first rays out of the sea, the big Norwegian bark Mentor, bound for Boston, struck heavily in the shoal water some fifteen miles east of Nantucket. After a hasty survey of the situation, the bark's master ordered his crew of eleven men and two mates to lower away the long-boat and "abandon ship." White water was breaking all around the craft but the crew was able to get the long-boat free and clear the bark's quarter. The Mentor's inner jib, foresail and spanker were still set, and she was laboring ominously as her crew abandoned her.

The ship-wrecked mariners sighted Great Round Shoal lightship, some six miles away, and set a course for her. A few hours later, they reached the lightship and were taken safely aboard. In the mean-time the Mentor was fast aground on "Rose & Crown Shoal." She was heavily laden with 550 tons of sugar in boxes which had been put aboard at Cienfuegos, Cuba, con­ signed to Nash, Spaulding & Company in Boston. Her passage from Cuba up the coast had been uneventful, and she had put in at the Delaware Break­ water, from which anchorage she had laid a course to Boston. A succession of strong easterlies had driven her off her course and she was in the dread Nantucket shoals before her master realized her position.

On the following morning (Monday), the fishing schooner Wide-Awake sailed by the lightship and was hailed. The ship-wrecked Norwegians were taken aboard the schooner and taken into Vineyard Haven. The Wide-Awake then returned to the vicinity and began a search for the wrecked bark. No sign of the Mentor could be seen, and it was conjectured that she had broken up and rolled over in the two-day easterly storm.

News of the disaster came to Nantucket by telegraph from Vineyard Haven.

It was Monday, April 24, 1893, and the life-saving stations and lighthouse keepers were asked to keep a look-out for any trace of the big bark. It was not then realized that the Mentor was a derelict. Some time after she was abandoned, the big bark had worked free of the shoals and, with the tide carrying her to the southwest, and her sails alternately catching and spilling the wind, she made an erratic course. Several watchers from shore, especially at 'Sconset, had sighted the craft's sails but did not realize they were ob­ serving an abandoned vessel.

On Tuesday morning, word came to town that a vessel had been sighted some ten miles south of the life-saving station at Surfside. Immediately, a gang of men from the wharves got together, and organized a crew to man the big "Underwriter's boat", housed in town. With William Smith driving the horses hauling the gear, the men and the boat were driven over to Surfside, where they launched through the surf.

The crew of the boat was made up of the following islanders: James A. Holmes, George A. Veeder, James Kiernan, James H. Luce, John P. Taber, 19

James M. Ramsdell, Joseph P. Gardner, Leander Small, Asa W. Small, Nelson Clark, Arthur Folg'er, Charles G. Coffin, Arthur C. Manter and George W. Burgess.

In the meantime, the Surfside life-saving station crew had launched the big surfboat and, enlisting the aid of James H. Wood and John R. Sylvia— two dory fishermen who were off the beach in their anchored dory, fishing— set off in the wake of the crew from town. The race was now on in earnest.

After a pull of a few miles off-shore, the Mentor could be clearly seen. The bark was sailing very slowly to the westward, with her light sails drawing in the breeze and the tide adding considerably to her head-way.

The two crews had to pull steadily during the next two hours, although they were not gaining perceptibly on the derelict. However, they knew that the tide was due to turn around 2:00 o'clock that afternoon and gambled on this fact to gain the bark's side. Fortunately, the wind did not increase. At 2:15 o'clock it was clearly apparent that they were gaining and this inspired them to stronger effort. An hour later they were pulling up alongside the Mentor. Jim Ramsdell and Arthur Folger scrambled aboard and were soon followed by the rest of the crew.

A few minutes later the life-saving station boat drew up to the bark and hailed their fellow-islanders. After the formality of declining aid from the station crew, the boarders watched the surfboat put about and head back to Surfside. The two boats had rowed approximately 18 miles.

The last the Surfside crew saw of the Mentor, she was headed southwest, with her crew of Nantucket salvors getting sail on her. The vessel was leak­ ing somewhat but was easily freed by manning the pumps.

Another full day elapsed before the fate of the Mentor was definitely established. Tugs, which had been sent out to look for the derelict, had failed to sight her and, to add to the mystery of the whole affair, a heavy fog had settled over the waters in this area.

Finally, on Thursday morning, the telegraph brought the welcome news that the Nantucket crew had salvaged the Mentor. They had sailed her to a point just off Block Island, where they were spoken by a tug. It being foggy, the islanders struck a bargain with the tug's skipper and were towed to Vineyard Haven, where they arrived at 1:30 that morning.

After getting in touch with the consignees and the insurance agents, the islanders remained aboard the craft until she was towed to Boston. Here, the salvors impounded the Mentor for $40,000. The tug-boat concern also put in a claim, but the Nantucketers, led by James Kiernan, had the tug skipper's signed agreement to take the bark in tow from Block Island to Vineyard Haven for $200. This contract was recognized by the Courts, and the Nantucket men were awarded salvage fees in the amount of $14,000. The cargo of the Mentor was valued at $70,000.

It was a very successful enterprise for the Nantucket men. After all the expenses had been accounted for, the salvors received $750.00 each for their efforts. A share was given William H. H. Smith, who had charge of the Underwriters' boat and who carted the boat to Surfside for them. **

**

>;« :J:

20

The only islander living today who took part in the salvaging of the "sugar bark" is George W. Burgess, Sr., of the Nesbitt Inn, Broad street.

In recounting his experiences at that time, Mr. Burgess said in part: "I was down on South Wharf with some of the others when the news came that a ship was sighted from the south tower, bearing about ten miles south and east of Surfside. We all felt sure she must be the missing bark, but of course we couldn't tell for certain. Jim Holmes got us together and we got the Underwriters' boat out, and, with Bill Smith driving the team, the rig started for Surfside.

"When we got there we could see the station-boat under Capt. Clisby just pulling away. We launched our boat in a jiffy and started out on the race. We were pretty confident as we were all used to rowing and had a good crew. It wasn't long before we caught up with them—soon we had passed and were drawing away. It was a long row but we figured the tide would be slack about noon and kept on. Fortunately, the wind fell off and the bark soon lost head-way. I remember how we kept watching her decks as we drew up to her—but there was no sign of life aboard.

"As we drew up alongside, Joe Gardner, who had the bow oar, sang out: 'Ahoy! Is there anyone on board this craft?' Of course, there was no answer.

She was abandoned all right.

"Cap'n Jim Holmes took charge of things when we got aboard, just as he had in the boat, being the agent for the Underwriters. We tried the bark's pumps and soon had most of the water out of her, which was surprisingly little.

"Luckily, we had three boatmen on our crew who had been in squareriggers—Jim Luce, Charlie Coffin and Jim Kiernan. It came on to breeze up heavily from the north and we proceeded to get sail on her and steered for Block Island. We intended to get into Newport—but the wind fell off soon after we sighted Block Island light that night. Then the fog came in thick and we anchored her for the night.

"When the tug hailed us, we were as surprised as she was, and we invited her skipper on board. There was an agreement signed in our cabin, wherein the tug skipper agreed to tow us into Vineyard Haven for $200.

"I stayed on board the Mentor with most of the others until we arrived in Boston next day. We hired a well-known Boston marine lawyer to take our case and guaranteed him a $1000. After the usual preliminaries, the Court allowed our salvage claims and we divided the money into 16 equal shares—Bill Smith got one share as he was the Underwriters' man who al­ ways hauled the big boat.

"What did I do with the money? Well, I was only a young fellow then and the $750 I received seemed like a lot of money. But I was wise because I bought a house with it—a house on Pearl street which was my home for years. But, in looking back, that was quite a job and considering all the chances we took, well worth the money."

21

Melville and Nantucket.

BY WILSON L. HEFLIN, U.S. NAVAL ACADEMY, ANNAPOLIS

Delivered at The Melville Observance held at Unitarian Church, Aug. 15, 1951 Herman Melville's first and perhaps his only visit to Nantucket Island was made in 1852, almost a year after he finished the writing of Moby-Dick.

We know far too little about this visit, but at least we can sketch it in its broad outlines.

In June, 1852, Judge Lemuel Shaw of Boston, Melville's father-in-law, wrote his son that he was planning to hold court in Nantucket, and, he added, "Herman has promised to go with me".

On July 6, Judge Shaw, Melville, and a lawyer friend, John H. Clifford, took the steamer Massachusetts at New Bedford. They reached Nantucket about sunset, too late for the Judge to open court. On the following morning the legal business was soon dispatched, and the visitors dined with a friend of Judge Shaw. (We don't know precisely who the friend was, but he may well have been Thomas Macy, nephew of the historian of Nantucket, Obed Macy, and in 1852 a prominent owner of whale ships.) In company with their host, the visitors rode out to Siasconset and to various parts of the island. That evening they passed—to use Judge Shaw's words—"with Mr. Mitchell the astronomer, & his celebrated daughter, the discoverer of comets."

Next day, July 8, Melville and Judge Shaw made various visits. Among others Melville met Captain George Pollard, Jr., who nearly thirty-two years before had been in command of the ship Essex when she was designedly rammed and destroyed by a sperm whale. In notes which he set down later in his copy of Owen Chase's Narrative of the Most Extraordinary and Dis­ tressing Shipwreck of the Whale Ship Essex of Nantucket Melville spoke of exchanging words with Captain Pollard. "To the islanders he was a nobody" —Melville wrote—"but to me, the most impressive man, the wholly unassum­ ing even humble—that I ever encountered." So strong were Melville's recol­ lections of Captain Pollard that years later, in his long narrative poem Clarel, he wrote of the old mariner.

On July 9 the visitors took leave of Nantucket. Melville carried with him a gift from Thomas Macy—the History of Nantucket by Obed Macy, a book with which Melville was already intensely acquainted.

Writing his son about their trip, Judge Shaw stated: "Melville expressed himself extremely well pleased with the excursion. He saw many things & met with many people, whom he was extremely glad to see."

Although Melville's brief acquaintance with Nantucket Island came too late to exert any influence upon his writing of Moby-Dick, there was in 18501851 ample reason for his having his protagonist Ishmael sail out of this port and in an old Nantucket whaler. On the creative level there was, first of all, the artistic appropriateness of such a choice. To Ishmael "there was a fine, boisterous something about that famous old island which amazingly pleased" him. Despite the commercial ascendancy of rival ports, Nantucket 22

symbolized to Melville and his contemporaries (as it does to us today) the ancient traditions of whaling—the romance, the excitement, the dangerous life of mariners who went to sea in search of leviathan.

But beyond his compliance with the dictates of artistic propriety, there were other good reasons for Melville's having Ishmael sign on for a whaling voyage—"Where else but from Nantucket . . .?" When he came to write Moby-Dick, Melville could not have forgotten that his paternal grandfather, though an "off-islander", had modestly contributed to the making of Nan­ tucket history. Melville had rich memories, too, from his whaling years in the Pacific Ocean, of Nantucket shipmates, of Nantucket craft with which he met at sea, and of a Nantucket ship in which he made his final cruise in search of the great sperm whale. Finally, he had at his writing desk Nantucket books from which he could borrow facts and ideas for his narrative.

Old Major Thomas Melville, the "Last Leaf" of Oliver Wendell Holmes' poem, resisted the fickle changes of fashion in a way that would have inspired Nantucket admiration. When Melville knew this grandfather and visited in his home, the Major, long the naval officer of the port of Boston, still wore knee britches and silk stockings. In his earlier days, Major Melville had been one of the "Indians" of the Boston Tea Party who boarded in 1775 the Nantucket ships Dartmouth, Beaver, and Eleanor, craft which carried whale oil to London but returned with a cargo of tea. During the Revolutionary War, Major Melville had been in command of an American detachment sent to Nantucket island to watch the movements of British men-of-war.

Unlike Ishmael, of Moby-Dick, Herman Melville made his first whaling voyage in a new ship, the Acushnet of Fairhaven, which sailed on January 3, 1841. Even so Melville had opportunities during the maiden voyage of this whaler to become acquainted with Nantucket men and Nantucket lore. The master of the Acushnet, whom Melville does not seem to have liked at all, was Captain Valentine Pease, Jr. Captain Pease hailed from Edgartown, but he was Nantucket born. Frederick Raymond, the first mate, was born and raised on Nantucket, and John Hall, a tall Englishman who may have been in charge of Melville's larboard watch aboard the ship, had by 1840 become naturalized and gave Nantucket as his residence. Hall had made two previous voyages in the Charles Carroll under famous Captain Owen Chase.

Outward bound in the Acushnet, Melville tells us, he first learned about the Essex disaster of 1820. He asked Second Mate John Hall questions about this famous event, but it was evidently not until some months later that Melville's curiosity was satisfied.

The first gam of the Acushnet of which positive record has been found was with the Lima of Nantucket, Captain Obed Luce, and the occasion was on July 23, 1841. (We may read of that gam and others in the logbook of the Lima at your Whaling Museum.) The Acushnet and the Lima met again at sea on the Off-Shore Ground on August 16, 1841, and for three days, mostly in the evenings, the crews of these two whalers occupied themselves with the amenities of gamming.

It was during such an extended gam in 1841 as that with the Lima that Melville met in the forecastle a young son of Captain Owen Chase and 23

borrowed from him a copy of the authentic narrative by his father, who in 1820 had been the first mate of the Essex. Melville recalled some ten years later that reading "this wondrous story upon the landless sea, & close to the latitude of the shipwreck had a very surprising effect" upon him. The "fine lad of sixteen or thereabouts" who introduced Melville to the book which later inspired the dramatic conclusion of Moby-Dick must have been William Henry Chase, who was born to Owen and Mary Jane Chase in 1824 and was in 1855 the mate of a whaler—but what ship he belonged to in 1841 is unfortunately not ascertainable.

There were other Nantucket whalers which Melville saw in the Pacific during his voyage in the Acushnet: the Henry Astor, Captain Seth Pinkham; the Phenix, Captain Josiah Hamblen; the Richard Mitchell, Captain William H. Gardner; the Columbus, Captain William Bunker Gardner; the Congress, Captain John Pitman; the Ganges, Captain George Pitman; the Enterprise, Captain George Cannon; the Ontario, Captain Stephen Gibbs; and the Potomac, Captain Isaac Hussey. The list would be considerably larger, I imagine, if we knew the full story of Melville's first whaling voyage. It is significant that of the ships spoken or gammed with by the Pequod of MobyDick every one of the American whalers hailed from Nantucket.

A good deal of the information that has turned up concerning Melville's whaling career is found in logbooks and other documents of some of the Nantucket ships just mentioned. The log of the Columbus, for example, a valuable document owned by Miss Grace Brown Gardner, gives a colorful account of the anchorage at Chatham Island and of the whalemen capturing giant tortoises. It illuminates considerably Melville's first visit to the Galapagos Islands. The papers of Captain Seth Pinkham (owned by Mrs. Florence Bennett Anderson) throw new light on the activities of an Irish crimp on the Island of Nukahiva who makes his appearance in Melville's first book, Typee. This Irishman, Jimmy Fitz, was in the habit of luring whalemen off their ships, of hiding them on the island until their ships sailed, and then, when they tired of Polynesian life, of getting them employment on other whalers. Jimmy Fitz got Melville's fellow deserter Toby Greene a berth on the London Packet of Fairhaven, and he may have been far more intimately connected with Melville's desertion from the Acushnet than has previously been suspected.

Any newly discovered logbook of a ship which sailed from Nantucket between 1838 and 1842 might well add new and valuable facts to our knowl­ edge of Melville's career as a whale-killer.

Tuesday, April 5, 1842, should have been a memorable day of Melville's whaling career, if he knew its significance. The Acushnet, cruising just south of the equator this day, passed within two miles of a spot of ocean most famous in the annals of the fishery.

Three thousand fathoms deep in latitude 40' South, 119° West longitude lay the broken, rotten hull of the Essex of Nantucket, destroyed twenty-one and one-half years before by a whale.

When Melville was writing Moby-Dick, Judge Lemuel Shaw gave him in April, 1851, a copy of Owen Chase's Narrative. Under the heading "What I know of Owen Chace, &c" Melville wrote in this volume a series of notes, among them the following: 24

"Somewhere about the latter part of A.D. 1841, in this same ship the Acushnet, we spoke the Charles Carroll of Nantucket, & Owen Chace was the captain, & so it came to pass that I saw him. He was a large, powerful, well-made man; rather tall; to all appearances something past forty-five or so, with a handsome face for a Yankee, & expressive of great uprightness & calm unostentatious courage. His whole appearance impressed me pleasureably. He was the most prepossessing-looking whalehunter I think I ever saw.

"Being a mere foremast-hand I had no opportunity of conversing with Owen (tho' he was on board our ship for two hours at a time) nor have I ever seen him since."

These notes, important for their relevance to Melville's writing of Moby-Dick, constitute also a significant commentary upon the fallibility of his memory. Melville's first whaler may well have gammed with the Charles Carroll, but it is improbable that she did so in 1841. During that year the Nantucket ship seems always to have been at a very considerable distance from the Acushnet.

The possibilities for a gam having occurred in 1842 are better. On February 2, 1842 (the day before the Acushnet left the Galapagos Islands and sailed to the west), the Charles Carroll departed from Tahiti, shaping her course to the eastward for the Galapagos Islands. She was spoken at sea on March 26 about 570 miles northeast of the Acushnet's position on that date. The chances are fair, therefore, that some time in 1842 between early February and the middle of March the track of Melville's ship crossed that of the Charles Carroll and the two whalers had a gam.

But "the most prepossessing-looking whalehunter" Melville ever saw was clearly not Captain Owen Chase. That famous mariner had led the Charles Carroll on two highly successful voyages, but after he returned in her to Nantucket on February 14, 1840, he found in his home a domestic problem sufficiently disturbing to keep him from returning to the sea. Shortly before Captain Chase brought his marital grievances before a court of law, the Charles Carroll under a new master, Captain Thomas S. Andrews, departed May 29, 1840, on a third whaling voyage. At Nantucket on July 7 of that year Judge Lemuel Shaw granted to Owen Chase a divorce from Eunice Chadwick Chase on the charge of adultery. On September 13, 1840, Owen Chase was married to his fourth wife, Susan Coffin Gwinn, widow of James Gwinn, Jr. This event occurred at Nantucket fifteen days before the Charles Carroll, under command of Captain Andrews, arrived miles away at Rio de Janeiro.

If Captain Chase was obviously not the master of the Charles Carroll in 1841 and 1842 and could not have been seen as such by Melville on the whaling grounds, was it Captain Thomas S. Andrews who was "the most prepossessing-looking whalehunter" who boarded the Acushnet? Except for one notable discrepancy, Melville's word picture of Owen Chase might ap­ propriately have been a description of Captain Andrews—certainly a hand­ some, manly mariner, according to his portrait in your Whaling Museum.

The whaling master Melville remembered was "to all appearances something past forty-five or so." But Captain Andrews was, during this voyage in the

25

Charles Carroll, a youthful commander, only about six years older than Melville.

After serving eighteen months aboard the Acushnet, Melville jumped ship at Nukahiva in the Marquesas Islands on July 9, 1842. For a month he was footloose on the island, and he may have spent part of his time, as he tells us in Typee, with a savage tribe of Polynesians.

The facts of his second voyage in the barque Lucy Ann of Sydney make an interesting story, but it has no discoverable relevance to Nantucket.

Suffice it to say that after the captain of this whaler became ill and was taken ashore at Tahiti, Melville joined ten men of the craft who refused to perform any further duty aboard the Lucy Ann. The revolters were placed in the native prison and there Herman Melville remained, at least until October 19, 1842. Some time after that date he and three fellow revolters escaped from the crude calaboose. About the first of November he was at the nearby island of Eimeo. At anchor in Taloo Bay he saw a fine-looking Nantucket whaler, flying two warm scarlet pennants joined at their bases.

Until recent years it was supposed that the final phase of Melville's whaling career was little more than an inconsequential island passage one to three months in length. Now we know that Melville actively participated in a whaling cruise six months in duration, that his ship was a Nantucket whaler and she took 150 barrels of sperm oil while he was aboard. The ship was the Charles and Henry, owned by Charles G. and Henry Coffin, and her master was Captain John Brown Coleman, Jr. Just before Melville signed on at Eimeo, Captain Coleman wrote a vigorous, detailed letter to the owners of the Charles and Henry: Eimeo, Nov. 2, 1842 "I arrived here a few days ago with only 350 bbls of Oil after an eight months cruise, we saw whales fourteen times the cruise on the off shore ground and line and only got seven which made 140 bbls, whales have been very wild that I have seen and seems almost impos­ sible to get nigh them though I can assure you that I have not got the best whalemen in the world, my boat steerers have missed two hundred and fifty hbls and then had another Hundred gone off care­ lessly, one boat steerer that I shipt at Paita when I got round I put ashore at Tumbeze a good for nothing fellow, another Geo. Jordan that came from home ran away and I was not sorry he had missed several times he steered the waist boat and between the head and stern of her they drove off two or three Hundred bbls, I am surprised that Capt Joy should recommend such men for Officers to you, it is a poor place round here to get good officers they should be shipped at home, we have seen whales twenty-two times this voyage and they have been very wild I suppose because there have been so many ships to the Eastwd of this Island spoke and heard of fifty sail since May between the Long, of 120 and 130 W it is impossible for whales to be tame when there is so many ships, I think if I had gone to Japan three seasons I should have done better than I shall do but according to your particular request I did not but I think I shall go next season, I believe if I ever come round here again I shall 26

sail without orders if possible I think it a poor plan, if I may be allowed to think any thing about it, I should now go to the group but I think the chance slim, there is so many ships gone that way the fact is I do not know where the best plan is these hard times, there has been many whales seen round these Islands and should I see any I think I shall stop and cruise for them, it is most likely I shall make a long voyage the ship is good and I have plenty of Provisions for four years and then I think it will be time to head towards home, the Copper has just begun to break on the ships bottom I think it has wore well for I have not been still much since I have been round here, I have discharged one boat steerer here that I shipt at Paita and am going to ship another tomorrow, and two men have run away but I believe the natives have taken them today, they do not allow men to stop here, so soon pick them up when they do run, recruits are scarce here now, I cannot get any Potatoes or yams I think I must touch at some of the Islands and get some if I can . . . . . . There is three men here that run from the John Adams that I shall have to ship but they ask great lays ... the natives dont seem to go from here much John B Coleman This letter — unfortunately the only one which has turned up so far concerning the 1840 - 1845 voyage of the Charles and Henry — tells us a good deal about that voyage and her captain. What most interests the Melville student is Captain Coleman's statement that he was about to ship a new boatsteerer. Could the whaleman in question have been Herman Melville? In writing his English publisher, Richard Bentley, in 1850, Melville described Moby-Dick as "a romance of adventure, founded upon certain wild legends of the Southern Sperm Whale Fisheries, and illustrated by the author's own personal experience, of two years & more, as a harpooner." The last statement is considerably exaggerated. We know that Melville served as a green hand in the ship Acushnet for eighteen months, and as an ordinary seaman for a little more than a month in the barque Lucy Ann of Sydney.

If he ever stood in the bow of a whaleboat, braced his leg against the clumsy cleat, and darted an iron into a sperm whale, he must have done so as a boatsteerer of the Charles and Henry of Nantucket and during a six months' cruise of that ship.

We know far more about Captain Coleman and about the ship Charles and Henry than we do concerning Melville's last whaling cruise. Thanks to the researches of Mr. Stackpole, we know that Captain Coleman was born November 12, 1800, at Halifax, Nova Scotia, of Quaker parents who had migrated from Nantucket in 1785. By 1825 young Coleman had returned to your island, had become an American citizen, and sailed in a Nantucket whaler. In an "Abstract of the Registry of American Seamen in the District of Nantucket" he was described on July 18, 1825, as being twenty-four years old, 5 feet 8% inches tall (about Melville's height), and dark complexioned.

The three whaling voyages John B. Coleman, Jr., made as master were in three different ships, all owned by Charles G. and Henry Coffin. In 1832 he became captain of the new ship Zenas Coffin. From a logbook of the 27

1832 - 1835 voyage of that ship, kept by Frederick H. Taylor, Mr. Stackpole's great-grandfather, we can make some generalizations about her captain.

First of all, Captain Coleman, at least during this voyage, was a "fighting captain" — one who lowered and commanded the starboard boat in a whale hunt. He does not seem to have given chase every time whales were raised, but his boat took six of the 61 whales captured during the voyage and was responsible for the stowing down of 250 barrels of sperm oil. Captain Coleman seems to have been a gregarious fellow. Almost every time the Zenas Coffin spoke a rival whaler in the Pacific, the ships stopped to have a gam. It seems worth remarking that only three men deserted during the voyage; that there is no evidence of friction between officers and men, and only two instances of grumbling in Mate Taylor's logbook. One reason for the fact that the Zenas Coffin must have been a "happy ship" this voyage was that Captain Coleman followed a liberal practice in giving liberty to his men in recruiting ports. On whaling grounds Captain Coleman was never so eager to kill whales as to forget the welfare of his men. The following two entries from the Zenas Coffin log are revealing: November 11, 1832 "We saw the same school of whales coming to the Leward we got our dinners and lowred 4 boats and chased them. . . ." July 30, 1833 ". . . got our dinners and lowred again." During this voyage Captain Coleman raised more whales from the mast head than any other member of ship's company.

Captain Coleman's second command was aboard the new ship Catawba.

Five letters from that voyage have been found (they are owned by Miss Elsie Carlisle) and they give us further insights into the character of Melville's third whaling master. He appears in these letters to have been a forthright, manly mariner. He speaks directly of his disappointment that the Catawba leaked after she left port and that she was not as trim a ship as the Zenas Coffin. He objects to having sailed from home in the middle of January "which I believe I shall not do again unless I am pushed for a lively hood." He evaluates the officers under his command: "I am afraid you have paid dear for Mr. Pollard He may be a good whaleman but he is a poor everything else." Of a third mate named Haskill whom he shipped in the Pacific and believed to be a smart young man from Nantucket, Captain Coleman wrote later: "I have discharged . . . Mr. Haskill ... he has been very little service to me this season and I believe I may say the most sleepy head I ever saw since I have been master, he has shipt to the Chas Drew as seaman so you may judge from that the ambition he has to get ahead. . . ."

During this voyage in the Catawba, Captain Coleman was responsible for the rescue of thirty-eight men, women and children from a burning ship, the James Calvin of London. One final statement from the Catawba letters seems worth quoting: "I struck a large whale last Sunday and lost him with two lines six Irons boat and everything belonging to her except the Crew, hard luck, dont tell Susan.- Susan was Captain Coleman's wife, a daughter of William B. and Deborah Coffin.

Of all the captains who make their appearance in Melville's books, Cap­ tain Coleman is the only one for whom he has a good word to say. It is not difficult to understand why.

28

The 1840 - 1845 voyage of the Charles and Henry was her third whaling voyage. She was ten years old when Melville joined her. The contract for her construction at Hanover in 1832 states: ". . . JB & E Barstow do agree to build a first rate ship (Equal if not Better than the ship ZC [Zenas Coffin]) with the following alteration said ship to be 105 feet on deck 26 feet 9 or 10 Inches wide 18 feet hold with 3 Inch plank under the wales with 3 thick streeks inside the floor timber heads 4 Inches thick with a 3 Inch plank each side of them with dagger knees in the hold like the ZC and stantion[s] of white oak clear of sap to be finished off in a workman like manner on consider­ ation of which Chs G & H Coffin agree to pay the said Barstows the sum of $38 per ton . . ." The Charles and Henry had a burthen of 336 54-95 tons.

Captain George F. Joy took the Charles and Henry on her first two voyages and may have been originally intended as her skipper again in late 1840. But for some reason the command was given to Captain Coleman in December and he was stuck, as he later complained, with officers picked for the voyage by Captain Joy. Melville's cruise in the Charles and Henry must, unfortunately, be all too briefly told, because we know very little about what happened. As Melville tells us in the final pages of Omoo, his second book, he found in Taloo Bay on the island of Eimeo, a whaler which he called the Leviathan. She was a luckless ship in the whale fishery, just as was the Charles and Henry. (In fact, of all the Nantucket ships which sailed to the Pacific in the year 1840, the Charles and Henry made the poorest voyage, bringing home only 689 barrels of sperm oil and 19 barrels of whale oil at the end of fifty months of sailing.) Melville boarded this whaler and after tasting her beef and talking to her captain, engaged to ship for the cruise. The Charles and Henry touched at Tahiti on November 7, 1842, and then again went whaling. Just where she went we don't know in any detail. She seems to have sailed east at least as far as the island of Mas Afuera, near which she was sighted in late January, 1843. By February 9 she had captured fifty additional barrels of sperm oil and was cruising on the equator near 113° West longitude.

Her luck seems to have changed somewhat for the better. When she reached the roadstead of Lahaina on the island of Maui on April 26, 1843, she had taken 150 barrels of sperm oil for the cruise. Herman Melville's agreement with the ship was up when she made Lahaina, and he did not go with the Charles and Henry on her next cruise to the coast of Japan. What his reasons were for stopping at the Hawaiian Islands we can only guess.

Perhaps he saw no further economic gain in working for a ship so beset by bad luck. He may have had visions of high adventure in the Hawaiian islands such as he experienced at Nukahiva and Tahiti. Or Captain Coleman may have chosen not to renew his contract. At any rate, Melville was honorably discharged from the Charles and Henry about May 3, 1843, and his whaling years ended then and there. Ahead of him was a trip to Honolulu, employment as a clerk in that town, and finally a fourteen months' cruise as an ordinary seaman in the Navy.

How fine it would be if by some lucky chance the log of the Charles and Henry for this voyage should be discovered. (Dr. Boyd has recently found the log of the 1836 - 1840 voyage of the ship.) And how priceless would 29

be the letter from Lahaina that Captain Coleman wrote to Charles G. and Henry Coffin — if that most pertinent document should turn up. It should contain Captain Coleman's remarks concerning the cruise, and perhaps his views on Herman Melville as a whaleman. These priceless documents would greatly illuminate much of Melville's writing — parts of Omoo, Mardi, and "The Encantadas." When they are found — and I fervently hope they soon shall be — we shall know the true relevance of Melville's voyage in a Nan­ tucket ship to his greatest book, Moby-Dick.

Sometime in June one hundred years ago, Herman Melville, at once a farmer and a man of letters, wrote to his friend Nathaniel Howthorne.

Although he was weary from work in the fields and had four blisters on his writing hand, his letter was in a spirit of high exultation. Concerning Moby-Dick, Melville said "he's in his flurry", and he spoke of going to New York to slave on the book while it was "driving through the press". He gave his opinion of many subjects: truth, fame, democracy, the curse of having to write books which would bring remuneration. He spoke, too, of the afterworld, of sitting down in Paradise with Nathaniel Hawthorne for a celestial companion, and of pleasantly discoursing on all the manifold things which so distress mortal beings.

If Herman Melville, from his vantage point in the skies, should look down upon the troubled world which he left almost sixty years ago, I believe he would find deep satisfaction in knowing that Nantucket Island had set a day apart in his honor.

30

List of Members oooooc LIFE MEMBERS Adams, Mrs. Nancy S., 17 Fair St., Nantucket.

Amrein, Joseph, 622 Avenue C, Brooklyn, N. Y. Anderson, Lee, 16 The Green, Woodstock, Vt. Anderson, Mrs. Lee, 16 The Green, Woodstock, Vt. Baillie, Mrs. William, 3 Quaker Road, Nantucket Ballantine, Mrs. John H., 610 Park Avenue, New York 21, N. Y. Barnard, Prof. Charles, 130 East 30tTa St., New York, N. Y. Barrett, William Wilson, East Orange, N. J. Beebe, Miss Alice G., 1S1 Appleton St., Arlington Heights, Mass.

Blackburn, Miss Elizabeth, Orange St., Nantucket.

Blackshaw, Mrs. M. Turner, 3 Chestnut St., Nantucket.

Blackshaw, Kenneth T., 3 Chestnut St., Nantucket.

Blossom, Philip Moss, 2422 E. Washington St., Pasadena, California Boyd, Dr. Walter Willard, River Road at Wilson Lane, Bethesda, Md. Boynton, Frederick P., 204 Sheridan Road N., Highland Park, 111.

Brewer, Mrs. William A., 728 Fairfield Road, Burlingame, Calif.

Brink, Folger, 821 McGilvra Bid., Seattle, Washington Bruen, Edward F. L., Box 366, Nantucket.

Burt, Wellington R., White Gates, R. 3, Battle Creek, Mich.

Burt, Mrs. Wellington R., White Gates, R. 3, Battle Creek, Mich.

Capp, Sebh Bunker, Box 2054, Philadelphia, Penn.

Carlisle, G. Lister, Jr., 18 Orange St., Nantucket.

Clapp, Mrs. George A., 26 Abbott Road, Wellesley Hills, Mass.

Clements, MacMillan, Shimimo, Nantucket.

Colket, Charles Howard, T Bar T Ranch, Sheridan, Wyoming Colket, G. Crawford, T Bar T Ranch, Sheridan, Wyoming Colket, Tristram Coffin, 2d, T Bar T Ranch, Sheridan, Wyoming Colket, Mrs. Tristram Coffin, 2d, T Bar T Ranch, Sheridan, Wyoming Colket, Tristram C., 3rd, Brynwood Apartments, Wynnewood, Penn.

Crane, Mrs. Herbert, Home for Incurables, 750 High Street, Newark, N. J. Davis, Charles H., 18 Old Slip, New York, N. Y. Davis, Mrs. Underwood, 100 Common St., Belmomit, Mass.

Dickinson, Walter F., Wheatley Cross Roads, Wheaitley, L. I., N. Y. Erickson, Arioelh Wantworth, Greystone House, Swampscott, Mass.

Erickson, Ariooh Wentworth, Jr., Greystone House, Swampscott, Mass.

Erickson, Mrs. Cecile Macy, Greystone House, Swaimpscott.

Erickson, Josiah Macy, Greystone House, Swampscott.

Ernst, Mrs. Morris L., 46 West 11th St., New York, N. Y. Ernst, Morris L., 46 West 11th St., New York, N. Y. 31

Fitzgerald, Miss Elizabeth Coffin, 3 Charter St., Nantucket.

Folger, Miss Edith V., 1 Vestal St., Nantucket.

Folger, Walter Weston, 205 Island Ave., Chattanooga, Tenn.

Forbes, Miss Mary B., Milton, Mass.

Ford, Mrs. Horatio, 1424 Richmond Road, Cleveland 24, Ohio Ford, James B., 1790 Broadway, New York, N. Y. Francis, Mrs. Edgar S., Durham, Conn.

Freeman, Miss Pauline S. B., Nantucket.

Frothinigfham, Miss Ellen F., 9 Exeter St., Boston, Mass.

Gardiner, Mrs. H. Marshall, Academy Lane, Nantucket Gardner, Arthur, 52 Jefferson Avenue, Short Hills, N. J. Gray, David, Jr., Box 726, Santa Barbara, Calif.

Gray, Mrs. David, Jr., Box 726, Santa Barbara, Calif.

Greene, Howard, Christiana, Del. Griek, Mrs. Albert, 36i West Bedford St., New Bedford, Mass.

Gries, Mrs. Ethel Goff, 2803 18th St., NW, Washington, D. C. Gwynn, Mrs. Mary, 228 South 22d St., Philadelphia, Penn.

Hackenberg, Frederick, 143 North Front St., Milton, Penn.

Hamilton, Mrs. Dora M. P., 3319 North Adams St., Tacoma, Wash.

Hill, Frederick P., 'Sconset, Mass.

Hill, Murray Gardner, Laguna Beach, Calif.

Hilts, Erwin R., Greemer Hill Road, Greenwich, Conn.

Hinohiman, Miss Anne, Plumstead, Washington, Conn.

Hinchman, Miss Margaretta, Plumstead, Washington, Conn.

Humphrey, Mrs. Nancy D., Nantucket.

Hutaff, Mrs. Elkins, 15 India Street, Nantucket.

Jannotta, Mrs. Stella S., 6314 Lakewood Ave., Chicago, 111.

Jenkins, Lawrence W., Peabody Museum, Salem, Mass.

Johnson, Mrs. Linsly, Nantucket.

Johnson, Mrs. Stanley E., Bath, N. H. Jones, Bassett, Polpis, Nantucket.

Kenney, Miss Lillian.

Kimball, Charles P., Rochester, N. Y. King, Samuel G., 367-369 Atlantic Ave., Boston, Mass.

Larkin, Mrs. Harry H., c|o Larkin Co., Buffalo, N. Y. Lederer, Richard M., Polpis, Nantucket Lederer, Mrs. Richard M., Polpis, Nantucket Lyman, Mrs. Harrison F., 15 Lawson Road, Winchester, Mass.

Lyon, Mrs. Elias J., Pleasant St., Nantucket.

MacDonald, Miss Elizabeth H., Hotel Margaret, Columbia Hgts., Brooklyn.

Mackie, Mrs. David, 128 East 39th St., New York, N. Y. Macy, Arthur W., 325 Campbell Ave., Indianapolis, Ind. Macy, Miss Mary H., 365 West End Ave., New York, N. Y. Macy, Nelson, 44i Pearl St., New York, N. Y. Mason, Miss Edith S., 8036 Watkins Drive, St. Louis, Mo. McCleary, Miss Helen C., 1090 Beacon Street, Brookline 46, Mass.

McGill, Mrs. J. Nota, 36 Rue Desaix, Paris, France.

32

Miller, Mrs. Roland G., 50 Marshall St, Brookline, Mass.

Morse, Mrs. Elizabeth W., Nantucket.

Mussett, Miss Frances, Cornwall, N. Y. Nye, Mrs. Kyle, 915 Los Ariboles Road, Albuquerque, N. M. O'Gorman, Miss Ella Foy, 1706 Menlo Ave., Los Angeles, Calif.

Oliver, Norris S., 26 Washington St., East Orange, N. J. Otis, Charles, 67 Pearl St., New York, N. Y. Parks, Major General F. L., Quarters 27A, Fort Myer, Ya. Parks, Mrs. F. L., Quarters 27A, Fort Myer, Va. Parks, Basil Manly, Quarters 27A, Fort Myer, Va. Parks, Miss Edwyna Anne, Quarters 27A, Fort Myer, Va. Parks, Floyde L., Jr., Quarters 27A, Fort Myer, Va. Parks, William Robinson, Quarters 27A, Fort Myer, Va. Praeger, Col. Louis J., Box 981, Falls Church, Va. Praeger, Mrs. Louis J., Box 981, Falls Church, Va. Rakestraw, Mrs. Edward R., Rose Lane, Haverford, Penn.

Robinson, Mrs. William A., Cornwall, N. Y. Rooney, Mrs. L. Francis, 426 North 16th St., Muskogee, Okla.

Roys, Miss Margaret, "The Spice Box," Woodbury, Conn.

Runk, B. F. Dewees, "Hollymeade" Box 1728, Univ. Sta., Charlottesville, Va. Sand, Henry A. L., 27 West 44th St., New York, N. Y. Sayle, Charles F., 63 Union Street, Nantucket.

Sayle, Mrs. Charles F., 63 Union St., Nantucket Seeler, Edgar V., Jr., 4 Berkeley Place, Cambridge, Mass.

Seeler, Mrs. Edgar V., Jr., 4 Berkeley Place, Cambridge, Mass.

Sharp, B. Karl, 49 West Castle Place, New Rochelle, N. Y. Stanford, Alfred B., 383 East 68th St., New York, N. Y. Starbuck, George Franklin, Waltfnaim, Mass.

Starbuck, John A., University Club, Los Angeles, Calif.

Stig, Carl, Liberty St., Nantucket.

Swain, Clayton E., Marlboro Road, Delmar, N. Y. Swain, Robert Edward, 321 Elmora Ave., Elizabeth, N. J. Symonds, Warren L., Isle La Motte, Vt. Tripp, William H., 165 Newton St., New Bedford, Mass.

Tucker, Albert M., Overlook Drive, Greenwich, Conn.

Wallace, Mrs. William, 72 Main St., Nantucket.

Webster, Mrs. Fred H., Yarmouth by the Sea, Maine.

Wellington, Alfred Easton, 390 Meridan St., E. Boston, Mass.

Wihitehouse, Mrs. Mary A., 887 Georgia Ave., Winter Park, Fla. Wilson, Miss Anne, Nantucket.

Winslow, Miss Helen, Sunset Hill, Nantucket.

Worth, Miss Sarah Macy, 93 Hillside Ave., Tenafly, N. J. Wyman, Theodore C., 26 Hancock St., Boston, Mass.

33

Coffin, Isa L. E., 44i2i Morgan Ave., N., Minneapolis, Minn.

Coffin, Mrs. Kenneth, Siasconset, Nantucket.

Coffin, Miss Valina M., 376 Broadiway, Newport, R. I. Coghill, Mrs. Virginia L., Quidnet, Nantucket Cole, Mrs. S. V., 527 Chase Ave., Winter Park, Fla. Colt, Mrs. James D., 27 Suffolk Road, Chestnut Hill, Mass.

Congdon, Mrs. Charles E., Orange St., Nantucket.

Congdon, Frank E., 31 Liberty St., Nantucket.

Congdon, Miss Josephine, School St., Nantucket.

Congdon, Robert D., 5 Orange St., Nantucket.

Congdon, Mrs. Robert D., 5 Orange St., Nantucket.

Cook, Mrs. R. H., 75 Washington Ave., Northampton, Mass.

Coolidge, Mrs. Ruth D., 7 Hastings Lane, West Medford, Mass.

Coppinger, Joseph P., 361 E. 163rd St., Bronx 56, N. Y., N. Y. Covello, Mrs. Frank, 82 Walbridge Road, West Hartford, Conn.

Crichton, Mrs. Powell, 14y2 Orange St., Nantucket.

Crocker, Miss Alice, 354 Washington Street, Braintree, Mass.

Crocker, Mrs. Susan F., 70 Orange Street, Nantucket Crosby, Arthur, 7301 Huron Lane, Mount Airy, Philadelphia, Penn.

Crosby, Mrs. Arthur, 7301 Huron Lane, Philadelphia, Penn.

Crosby, Everett U., Orange St., Nantucket.

Crosby, Mrs. Everett U., Orange St., Nantucket.

Cummings, Mrs. Lawrence B., Nantucket.

Davis, Miss Elizabeth, 1108 Putnam Ave., Plaintfield, N. J. Deeley, Mrs. Robert, Easy Street, Nantucket Defriez, Mrs. Thaddeus, 7 Garden Terrace, Cambridge 38, Mass.

Dennison, Mrs. C. M., Hinckley Lane, Nantucket.

Denton, Mrs. Eugene W., 113 9th St., Garden City, N. Y. Ditmars, Mrs. Mary, Main St., Nantucket.

Donnell, Mrs. Clara G., No. Liberty St., Nantucket.

Dorsett, E. Lee, M. D., 227 S Maple Ave., Webster Groves 19, Mo. Drake, Mrs. Thomas E., 702 Pennstone Road, Bryn Mawr, Penn.

Drake, Thomas E., 702 Pennstone Road, Bryn Mawr, Penn.

Durant, Mrs. George, Ridgefield, Conn.

Durant, Miss Joan, Ridgefield, Conn.

Dunnels, George, Main St., Brewster, Mass.

Dwight, Miss Margarethe L., 109 Benefit St., Providence, R. I. Dyer, Mrs. George L., Milk St., Nantucket.

Dyer, Lewis A., 104 High St., Newburyport, Mass.

Edgarton, Lewis S., 52 Centre St., Nantucket.

Edgarton, Mrs. Lewis S., 52 Centre St., Nantucket.

Eger, Oscar, Quaker Road, Nantucket.

Eger, Mrs. Oscar, Quaker Road, Nantucket.

Elder, Robert D., Orange St., Nantucket.

Elder, Mrs. Robert D., Orange St., Nantucket.

Ellinger, Mrs. Edgar, 180 West 58th St., New York, N. Y. Ellinger, Edgar, 180 West 58th St., New York, N. Y. 36

Emmons, Claude C., Ruxton 4, Maryland.

Everett, Miss Lydia C., 57 Parker St., Newton Centre, Mass.

Farnsworth, Mrs. E. E., 42 Clark Ave., Cornwall on Hudson, N. Y. Fay, Sidney B., 194 Brattle Street, Cambridge 38, Mass.

Figures, Mrs. Norman G., 1301 Amelia St., New Orleans, La. Findley, Paul B., 463 West St., New York, N. Y. Fine, Jacob, M. D., 330 Brookline Ave., Boston, Mass.

Fisher, Miss Lila C., Quidnet, Nantucket.

Folger, Herbert Warren, 1723 Radcliffe Road, Dayton, Ohio.

Folger, Mantaigue F., 1301 Amelia St., New Orleans, La. Folger, Oliver, 21 E. Magnolia Ave., Maywood, N. J. Folger, Miss Theresa Gordon, 1723 Radcliffe Road, Dayton, Ohio Folger, Miss Ruth Angell, Cape Vincent, N. Y. Foster, Mrs. Henry C., 248 S. Prospect St., Hagerstown, Md. Foye, Mrs. Bernice Winslow, 39 Liberty Street, Nantucket Francis, Lewis W., 1 Pierrepont Street, Brooklyn 2, N. Y. Francis, Mrs. Lewis W., 1 Pierrepont Street, Brooklyn 2, N. Y. Frazier, Robert H., 313 W. Washington St., Greensboro, N. C. Fuller, Mrs. Fred V., 12 Milk St., Nantucket.

Fulton, Miss Elizabeth, 12 Orange St., Nantucket.

Gale, Mrs. Frank H., 1168 Lowell Road, Schenectady, N. Y. Gardiner, Miss Geraldine, Academy Lane, Nantucket Gardiner, Raynor M., Needham, Mass.

Gardiner, Mrs. Raynor M., Needham.

Gardner, Miss Grace B., 33 Milk St., Nantucket.

Gardner, Miss Julia M., 232 Bedford Road, Pleasantville, N. Y. Gardner, Rev. Win. E., Orange St., Nantucket.

Gardner, Mrs. W. E., Orange St., Nantucket.

Giibbs, Stephen, North Water St., Nantucket.

Giffin, Norman, Easton St., Nantucket.

Gill, George M. L., 187 Sherwood Place, Englewood, N .J. Gill, Mrs. George M. L., 187 Sherwood Place, Englewood, N. J. Gill, Flhilip Lee, 187 Sherwood Place, Englewood, N. J. Gill, Mrs. Philip Lee, 187 Sherwood Place, Englewood, N. J. Glass, Mrs. Edgar T., 58 Orange St., Nantucket.

Gouin, Gwendolyn, Siasconset, Nantucket.

Gouin, Mrs. Mary L., Siasconset, Nantucket.

Gouin, Capt. M. E. A., Siasconset, Nantucket.

Grannis, Chandler B., 46D Brookdale Gardens, Bloomfield, N. J. Grauel, John S., 1A Wachusett Street, Worcester, Mass.

Graves, Mrs. Lloyd O., 2122 Hamlin St., Seattle, Wash.

Greene, David J., 47 Broad St., Milford, Conn.

Greene, Mrs. David J., 47 Broad St., Milford, Conn.

Greene, Norman J., Berwyn, Pa. Guba, E. F., University of Massachusetts, Waltham 54, Mass.

Guibord, Mrs. E. Melissa, 27 Liberty St., Nantucket.

Hailes, Mrs. Charlotte, 3 Academy Lane, Nantucket.

37

Halbaclh, Mrs. E. K„ Short Hills. N. J. Harris, Mrs. Edward, 1171 Clover Road, Rochester, N. Y. Harrison, Mrs. Agnes W., South Road, Holden, Mass.

Harwood, Mrs. Douglas, 206 Burns Street, Forest Hills, L. I., N. Y. Harwood, Miss Margaret, Vestal St., Nantucket, Mass.

Hatch, Miss Hannah G., 37 Union St., Nantucket.

Hayworth, Horace Starbuck, Box 1550, High Point, N. C. Hazeltine, Frank A., 614 Haverhill St., Lawrence, Mass.

Healey, Mrs. Isabel H. (W.R.), 88 Hillcrest Parkway, Winchester, Mass.

Heins, Mrs. W. H., 42 India Street, Nantucket.

Heard, Mrs. Reginald E., 223 Goodwin Ave., Ridgewood, N. J. Henry, Mrs. Frank F., 1230 Delaware Ave., Buffalo, N. Y. Henry, Lewis C., 26 Washington St., East Orange, N. J. Hobbs, Franklin W., 78 Chaumcy St., Boston, Mass.

Hoffmeier, Miss Helen, 240 South Prospect St., Hagerstown, Md. Holden, Mrs. Harry H., Siasconset, Nantucket.

Hollister, Miss Harriett, 616 Huyler St., Teterboro, N. J. Hough, Henry B., Edgartown, Mass.

Houghton, Miss Dorothy, 501 West 120th St., New York 27, N. Y. Houghton, Mrs. F. Y., 912 Fifth Avenue., New York City, Nk Y. Hoyle, Alexander E., 248 Boylston St., Boston, Mass.

Hubbard, Mrs. Thomas F., 317 Woodlawn Road, Roland Park, Baltimore, Md. Hubbard, Thomas F., 317 Woodlawn Road, Roland Park, Baltimore, Md. Hubbard, Thomas M., 831 N. Augusta Ave., Baltimore 29, Md. Hunter, C. C., 38 Gregory Blvd., East Norwalk, Conn.

Hurst, Carl E., 40 Broad St., Boston, Mass.

Hussey, Peter M., 17 West Chester St., Nantucket.

Hussey, Mrs. Peter M., 17 W. Chester St., Nantucket, Mass.

Hutton, Florence Edgar, Nantucket Jelleme, Lewis B., 156 Main Street, Nantucket Jelleme, Mrs. Lewis B., 156 Main Street, Nantucket Jelleme, Mrs. T. J., 3 Bate St., Dedham, Mass.

Jenney, Mrs. Edgar W., 5 Arlington St., Boston, Mass.

Jernegan, Miss Elsie, 12 Orange St., Nantucket.

Jewell, Miss Anne E., 91-37 116th St., Richmond Hill, N. Y. Johnson, Rev. Bradford, 12 Pine St., Nantucket Kaufman, Simon, Gay St., Nantucket.

Keally, Mrs. Mildred T., 131 East 66th St., New York, New York.

Keller, Miss Beatrice, 45 Bowden Street, Maplewood, N. J. Kelley, Mrs. Eliza M., 71 Division St., Newport, R. I. Kerins, Mrs. John, Brookfield, Conn.

Kidde, Miss Elsa, 66 Gates Ave., Montclair, N. J. Kimiball, Mrs. A. Wilson, Nantucket.

King, Clarence, Silvermine Road, New Canaan, Conn.

King, Mrs. Clarence, Silvermine Road, New Canaan, Conn.

King, Joseph, Hussey St., Nantucket.

King, Mrs. Joseph, Hussey St., Nantucket.

38

Knauss, Mrs. Miriam, 211 Poplar Street, Allentown, Penn.

Lane, Miss Hazel Gardner, 226 Pine St., Holyoke, Mass.

Lapham, Mrs. E. C., 136 E. Mulberry, San Antonio, Texas Lathrop, Churchill P., 6 Valley Road, Hanover, N. H. Legg, Mrs. Seddon W., Orange St., Nantucket.

Lemair, Alan L., 243 Riverside Drive, New York, N. Y. Lemair, Mrs. Alan L., 243 Riverside Drive, New York, N. Y. Lewis, Frank E., M. D., Gardner St., Nantucket.

Lewis, Mrs. Frank E., Gardner St., Nantucket.

Littler, Mrs. William, 27 Griggs Lane, Milton, Mass.

Locke, John G., 1969 Alameda Terrace, San Diego, Calif.

Loepsinger, Albert J., 20 Abbotsford Court, Providence, R. I. Loring, Mrs. Marcia G., 22 Cliff Road, Nantucket Mack, Miss Doris M., 1 Plumb Lane, Nantucket.

MacKay, Mrs. W. E., 8 Cliff Road, Nantucket.

MacKie, MTS. Arthur H., 375 Mt. Prospect St., Newark, N. J. Macy, Miss Madeleine W., 616 W. 116th St., New York, N. Y. Maloney, Paul R., 31 Taylor Ave., Atlantic City, N. J. Manville, C. Rollin Jr., Harbor View Rd., Punta Gorda, Fla. Marshall, Albert E., 730 Elim Grove Ave., Providence 6, R. I. Marshall, Mrs. Albert E., 730 Elm Grove Ave., Providence 6, R. I. Marshall, Mrs. Carl B., 42 Mt. Vernon St., Boston, Mass.

Marshall, Thomas W., 1707 Holly St., NW, Washington 12, D. C. Marshall, Mrs. Thomas W., 1707 Holly St., NW, Washington 12, D. C. Marshall, Whitfield H., 1707 Holly St., NW, Washington 12, D. C. Martin, Shelton E., Peapack, N. J. Martyne, Charles W., 82 Pierrepont St., Brooklyn, N. Y. Mather, William L., Gardner St., Nantucket.

Mather, Mrs. William L., Gardner St., Nantucket.

McCormick-Goodhart, L., "Bellapair" RFD 1, Box 186, Alexandria, Va. McKean, Capt. John, 82 Bayview Avenue, Great Neck, L. I., N. Y. McKee, Miss Janet, 10 Wright Place, Tenafly, N. J. Menges, Ernest H., M. D., 81 Main St., Nantucket.

Menges, Mrs. Ernest II., 8i Main St., Nantucket.

Menges, Miss Elizabeth, 81 Main St., Nantucket.

Merchant, Mareius, Dr., 390 Main St., Warren, R. I. Meyer, Mrs. F. F„ 460 Scotland Road, South Orange, N. J. Milliken, Mrs. Mary C., 303 County St., New Bedford, Mass.

Mills, Mrs. Edward, Quanato Terrace, Nantucket.

Mills, Mrs. Buell P., 17 Arnold Place, Rochester, N. Y. Minshall, Robert, 1170 Fifth Ave., New York 29, N. Y. Mitchell, Miss Florence, 33 Water St., Medford, Mass.

Mitchell, Miss Josephine L., 33 Water St., Medford, Mass.

Mitchell, Leeds, Polpis Road, Nantucket.

Mitchell, Richard, 808 Cypress St., Greensboro, N. C. Mix, Adeline H., Stratford Library, Stratford, Conn.

Mock, Mrs. Thomas, 314 W. Hermosa Drive, San Antonio, Texas 39

Strong, Mrs. Austin, 125 E. 63rd St., New York, N. Y. Sutton, Miss Ruth H., Commercial Wharf, Nantucket.

Swain, Mrs. David W., 191 Sound View Ave., White Plains, N. Y. Swain, Frank K., Fonthill, Doylestown, Pa. Swain, Matthew, 2491 No. 50th St., Philadelphia, Pa. Sykes, Mrs. Rosamund, Pine St., Nantucket.

Taber, Mrs. G. H., 4114 Bigelow Blvd, Pittsburgh, Penn.

Taylor, Frank C., 190 Kempton St., New Bedford, Mass.

Taylor, Mrs. Frank C., 190 Kempton St., New Bedford, Mass.

Terwilliger, Charles 0., Jr., Terwilliger, Mrs. Charles 0.

Thomas, Mrs. Catherine, 5 Forest St., Newton Highlands, Mass.

Thomas, Elliot, 5 Forest St., Newton Highlands, Mass.

Thomas, Mrs. Florence C., Chester St., Nantucket.

Thurston, Mrs. Leo, Liberty St., Nantucket.

Tice, Edward, 65 Orange St., Nantucket.

Todd, Mrs. Mitchell, Easton St., Nantucket.

Torjesen, Miss Elizabeth F., 4 Bretton Road, Scarsdale, N. Y. Torr, Miss Florence, 1080 Walnut St., Newton Highlands, Mass.

Torr, Miss Mercedes, 1080 Walnut St., Newton Highlands, Mass.

True, Leroy H., India Street, Nantucket True, Mrs. Leroy H., India Street, Nantucket Turner, Gordon Baker, Chestnut St., Nantucket.

Turner, Mrs. Harry, Chestnut St., Nantucket.

Tuttle, Mrs. H. E., 27i Park St., New Haven, Conn.

Urann, Mrs. Carl, Raven Brook, Fuller St., Wareham, Mass.

Van Tuyl, Mrs. William R., 220 Fifth Ave., Leavenworth, Kansas.

Van Wyck, Edmund, R. F. D., Poughkeepsie, N. Y. Varin, Charles T., 9708 97th Street, Ozone Park, N. Y. Varney, Mrs. Theodore, Nantucket.

Waine, William, 51 Fair St., Nantucket.

Waine, Mrs. William, 51 Fair St., Nantucket.

Walker, Miss Mary Elizabeth, Milk St., Nantucket.

Walling, Mrs. Georgie L., Rose Lane, Nantucket.

Walsh, Mrs. William J., 199 North Broadway, North Tarrytown, N. Y. Watkins, Mrs. A E., 242 Sycamore St., Waverly 79, Mass.

Webster, Franklin Folger, 131 E a-leer oft Road, Westfield, N. J. Weeks, Miss Mabel, 39 Claremont Ave., New York, N. Y. Wescott, Dr. O. D., Nantucket.

West, Mrs. Ralph, 271 Grays Lane, Haverford, Penn.

Whitlaw, Ralph, Accomac, Va. Whitman, H. G., 27 Harbor St., Clinton, Mass.

Whitman, Miss Marjorie E., 27 Harbor St., Clinton, Mass.

Whitney, Henry L., 676 Brush Hill Road, Milton, Mass.

Whitney, Mrs. Henry L., 676 Brush Hill Road, Milton, Mass.

Whittemore, Mrs. Jennie B., 96 Cedar St., Fitchburg, Mass.

Wilbur, Miss Fannie B., 375 Lloyd Ave., Providence, R. I. 42

Wildman, Mrs. Maud B., Woodbridge, Conn.

Willaid, Mrs. Helen Parker, 2425 Wyoming Ave., Washington, D. C. Willauer, Mrs. Whiting, Westcliff, Nantucket Willet, Miss Ann Lee, Meetinghouse Road, Ambler, Pa. Willet, Mrs. Henry Lee, Meetinghouse Rd., Ambler, Pa. Willey, Leonard T., 32 North Street, Augustine Blvd., St. Augustine, Florida Williams, Miss Harriett C., 70 Orange St., Nantucket.

Williams, Philip A., Jr., Westmoreland Ave., Springfield, Mass.

Williams, Mrs. R. F., 218 In wood Avenue, Upper Montclair, N. J. Williams, R. F., 218 In wood Ave., Upper Montclair, N. J. Wilson, E. H., 181 Stanibery Ave., Columbus, Ohio.

Wilson, Mrs. E. H., 181 Stanibery Ave., Columbus, Ohio.

Winn, Arthur L., The Northfield, E. Northfield, Mass.

Winne, Mrs. Harry A., Nott Road, Rexford, N. Y. Winslow, Mrs. Addison, Nantucket.

Winslow, Mrs. Helena G., Sunset Hill, Nantucket.

Wolf, Miss Elizabeth, 235 West 108th St., New York, N. Y. Wood, Miss Margaret H., P. 0. Box 247, Wilmington, N. C. Worth, Mrs. Elizabeth B,, 10A India Street, Nantucket Wright, Harrison, 236 Grandview Blvd., Tuckahoe, N. Y. Wright, Miss Helen, 551 South Hill Ave., Pasadena, Calif.

Jaeger, Clement L., Box 277, New Bedford, Mass.

Zabriskie, F. C., 344 Prospect Ave., Hackensack, N. J.

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