Historic Nantucket, April 1961, Vol. 8 No. 4

Historic Nantucket

Photo

by

Bill

Haddon

CENTRE STREET, NANTUCKET, 1961 The "Napoleon" Willow, left foreground—See Page 48

APRIL, 1961

Published Quarterly by

NANTUCKET HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION NANTUCKET, MASSACHUSETTS

NANTUCKET HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION OFFICERS President, George W. Jones.

Vice-Presidents, Miss Grace Brown Gardner, Burnham N. Dell, Stokeley W. Morgan, W. Ripley Nelson, Albert Egan, Jr., Mrs. William Mather.

Secretary-Treasurer, Miss Ethel Anderson.

Auditor, Ormonde F. Ingall.

Councillors, George W. Jones, Chairman; Richard J. Porter, Oswell J. Small, term expires 1961; Robert C. Caldwell, Alma P. Robbins, term expires 1962; Mrs. Joseph King, Mr. Herbert I. Terry, term expires 1963; Mrs. Francis W. Pease, Mr. H. Errol Coffin, term expires 1964.

Publicity Committee, W. Ripley Nelson, Chairman.

Honorary Curator, Mrs. Nancy S. Adams.

Curator, Mrs. William Mather.

Finance Committee, Stokley W. Morgan, Chairman.

Editor, Historic Nantucket, Miss Alma Robbins; Mrs. Margaret Fawcett Barnes, Mrs. R. A. Orleans, Assistant Editors.

Exhibits' Publications Committee. Burnham N. Dell, Chairman; Mrs. John Bartlett.

Chairmen of Exhibits, Fair Street Museum, Mrs. William Mather; Whaling Museum, W. Ripley Nelson; Oldest House, Mrs. Francis W. Pease; Old Mill, Robert Caldwell; Old Jail, Oswell Small; 1800 House, Mrs. Joseph King.

HISTORIC NANTUCKET Published quarterly and devoted to the preservation of Nantucket's antiquity, its famed heritage and its illustrious past as a whaling port.

VOLUME 8

APRIL 1961

No. 4

CONTENTS Nantucket Historical Association Officers

42

Special Exhibit; The Allan Forbes' Collection of Whaling Prints, by Mr. George W. Jones, President of the Nantucket Historical Association

45

The Civil War Centennial

46

The Napoleon Willows

48

The Gam

50

Whaling and Nantucket—The Decline, by H. Flint Ranney 56 Recent Events

68

Alexander D. Bunker — First Keeper of Sankaty Light .... 69 The Diary of William C. Folger, edited by Nancy S. Adams 70 Legacies and Bequests

75

The West Parlor, 1800 House, 1961

76

Historic Nantucket is published quarterly at Nantucket, Massachusetts, by the Nantucket Historical Association. It is sent to Association Members. Extra copeis $.50 each.

Membership dues are — Annual-Active $2.00; Sustaining $10.00 ; Life—one payment $50.00.

Entered as Second Class Matter, July, 1953, at the Post Office, Nantucket, Massachusetts.

Copyright, 1961, Nantucket Historical Association.

Communications pertaining to the Publication should be addressed to the Editor, Historic Nantucket, Nantucket Historical Association, Nantucket, Massachusetts.

Whaling Prints (These prints may be seen in the Nantucket Historical Association's Whaling Museum)

Sperm Whaling- No. 1 — The Chase From Drawings by A. Van Best & R. S. Gifford Corrected by Benj. Russell, Esq., New Bedford 1859

Sperm Whaling No. 11 — The Capture

These pictures used through courtesy of the Inquirer and Mirror Publishing Company, Inc., Nantucket, Mass.

also pictures on pages 48, 49, and 51.

45

The Allan Forbes Collection of Whaling Prints A Special Exhibit Sponsored, by the Nantucket Historical Association

Probably the best collection of whaling pictures and prints ever made was the result of the efforts of Mr. Allan Forbes, Sr., of Boston, over a considerable portion of his life. The prints and ,<5cted from all over the world, and it is to be our pictures were privilege this ner, to be enabled to view a selected number from this collection, here on Nantucket.

In all, the collection numbers some fifteen hundred items, and a selected group of these, in round numbers one hundred and eighty, will be on exhibit at the Coffin School during the months of July and August.

It is planned to have a chronological arrangement of prints that the history of the whaling industry from earliest times may be depicted. Many of the pictures date back to the early Dutch and English whaling efforts.

The collection was willed to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology for exhibition in their Francis Russell Hart Nautical Museum by the late Mr. Allan Forbes, Sr., and it is through their generosity in agreeing to the loan that this unique display becomes possible.

Mr. Allan Forbes, Jr., has been most helpful in the selection, and will assist in the arrangement of these valuable prints and pictures.

The friendly cooperation of the Coffin School Trustees in permitting us the use of the attractive and historic Coffin School building has aided in furnishing a convenient location within walk­ ing distance of any part of town.

Our manual training instructor, Patrick Paradis, is giv­ ing time and thought to the preparation of the hall.

To cover the quite considerable expense it will be necessary to charge an admission fee but this will be kept on a comparable basis to our other exhibit admission prices and we believe will be very nominal for such a fine exhibit.

George W. Jones, President

The Civil War Centennial

This Memorial to one of Nantucket's Civil War Heroes may be found in the Prospect Hill Cem­ etery. Charles C. Macy died at Andersonville Prison Sept. 1864.

47

The Civil War Centennial In December, 1960, President Eisenhower issued a proclama­ tion urging the nation to participate in the centennial of "America's most tragic experience," which "like most truly great tragedies . . . carries with it an enduring lesson and a profound inspiration."

National observances began on Sunday, January 8, 1961, looking back to January 9, 1861, when the northern ship, Star of the West, was fired on, and will continue until "Appomattox" ends the centennial in April, 1965.

Nantucket has many "long" memories of the Civil War. Here, following, is one report which brings it vividly to mind: Probably many who read this will remember Arthur H. Gardner. For many years he was the editor of the Nantucket Journal. He represented Nantucket in the Legislature for several years, and held many town offices. At the time of his death he was President of the Nantucket Historical Association On his tenth birthday, August 4, 1864, he started a diary which was continued at intervals to 1867. During this year, which commemorates the one hundredth anniversary of the Civil War, the notes of a small Nantucket boy during the last years of the war may be of interest, brief and laconic as they are.

1864 Sept. 3. taken.

We have just received news that Atlanta is

1864 Nov. 9. We had a bonfire and fired guns on account of the election of Abraham Lincoln.

1864 Nov. 11. Several houses were illuminated, fireworks sent up, one cannon fired once, and a torch light company numbering 150 marched through the streets.

1864 Dec. 25. News came that Savannah was taken.

1865 April 15. News came that President Lincoln was shot last evening and died this morning.

48

The "Napoleon Willows"

The three Napoleon Willows, Centre Street, 1868

September 8, 1838 the whaleship Napoleon set out from Nan­ tucket with Capt. William Plaskett in command, and on her voyage she put in to St. Helena. Henry Plaskett Clapp had shipped as cooper on this voyage and when the crew was given a holiday at St. Helena they wandered about until they found Napoleon's grave.

Henry Clapp cut three slips from the willow at the head of the grave. These he planted in a small box and nursed them until all three became "trees". When the ship rounded Brant Point Sept. 13, 1842, he had three willows to present to his mother. The three trees were set out on Centre street between Broad and Chestnut on the east side of the street, and thrived until one succumbed to a heavy blow in the late 1890's. In 1898 the second was blown down, and in 1918 the 3rd was cut down. The story should end here!

But that is by no means the end of the tale. One Napoleon Willow still stands on Center street! The last to be cut in 1918, sprouted and has grown until it again sheds its shade on Centre street not far from the corner of Broad street. It is growing a little old and gnarled but stands sturdy as can be seen in the picture, (cover picture) A twig, blown from the Centre street willow in 1958, is now growing near the Frog Pond in Boston's Public Gardens.

THE NAPOLEON WILLOWS

49

The story has other ramifications —when the second willow blew over in 1898 the trunk was cut up and thrown into the "fill" on Easy street where the tide played over it.

Even this salt wa­ ter submersion did ., , not finish the Na7 Easy Street with Napoleon Willow m center — 1934. , „ poleon willow tor it sprouted and grew, was a picturesque landmark on Easy street until 1935! Two are gone but the descendant of one Napoleon Willow brought from St. Helena in 1842 still stands.

Photo by Bill Haddon

Napoleon Willow, Centre Street, Nantucket, 1961

50

The Gam On Friday evening, February 24, at seven thirty in the evening a capacity audience gathered at the Nantucket Maria Mitchell library, on Vestal street, to participate in the Twelfth Annual Gam of the Nantucket Historical Association.

Mr. Jones, president of the Association, presided and assisting him at the speaker's table were, Mrs. Nancy S. Adams, past presi­ dent, now honorary curator of the Association; Mrs. Rozelle Jones; Mr. Herbert Terry, who presided over the tape recorder; Dr. Will Gardner, Nantucket's eminent historian; and Miss Grace Brown Gardner, distinguished citizen and collector of an invaluable com­ pilation of Nantucket fact and folklore, past and present. Besides these guest speakers there were many others to whom Nantucket's past is an open book, an exciting chapter, not only to them, but to all who hear and learn of the earlier days.

The special topic for the Gam was "Your Neighborhood", as it was and is, and many of the speakers placed not only people but interesting activity of the earlier days into the area which they knew.

Dr. Gardner led the reminiscent accounts by starting with Orange street in 1884 when he was twelve years old. The Watch Tower was a focal point then as now; in the whaling days the peek holes at the top of the Tower were for placing telescopes the better to sight the ships which were constantly coming and going to and from the Island.

Orange street in those days was a lively neighborhood, lined with captains' homes, hotels, and a not to be forgotten ice cream parlor belonging to Mrs. Winslow and presided over by a stuffed owl. The Sherburne House, which had rooms for 25c per night, except the front rooms which were 35c; the American House, the Veranda House, were all there in a row. Captain Morselander, Dr. Gardner's uncle; Dr. Benjamin Sharp; Louisa Baker, Sarah Barnard, who was Librarian at the Atheneum for many years, all had homes on Orange street. Three different Captains occupied the home which is now Dr. Gardner's. Altogether Orange street was a street of Nantucket's famous, world traveled citizens, who have made a lasting mark for themselves, and Nantucket, in far places.

Dr. Gardner mentioned the touching story of George Tracy who died during the "War" (1862) in Mobile, Alabama, of yellow fever. He was a single young man who had left the Island in his

THE GAM

51

early prime. In the not too distant past, a fine appearing man and woman came from the South to visit and place flowers on the memorial to George Tracy!

Mrs. Julia Urann came from her home in Middleboro to par­ ticipate in the Gam as her early memories are of Nantucket and 'Sconset. The fountain square on lower Main Street (Nantucket) is named for her father, Max Wagner. She., too, was familiar with Mrs. Winslow's ice cream parlor, as well as the 'Sconset pump where all buckets of drinking water were obtained and which was locked when there were cases of typhoid fever! The lamp lighters went about with ladders each night to light the four lamps on the posts, (kerosene, in her day). She mentioned the exciting time when the engineer of the railroad (which ran just below their house) got rattled and ran the engine off the track into a house.

'Sconset at the turn of the century had its distinguished citizens, one she recalled especially as she was studying Sanskrit in India; Miss Clancy returned to regale them with Indian lore and lan­ guage. Mrs. Urann told, too, of the long-boat on the beach with Captains and crews rescued from wrecks.

Miss Grace Brown Gardner brought with her a chapter from the book she had written in secret seme years ago and had never

This is the "Big Shop" after the south side was converted into a house, and before it was moved to its present location, 1848

52

HISTORIC NANTUCKET

before produced for anyone to see or read! It is an autobiographical story of Nantucket's earlier days and the chapter which Miss Gardner read was entitled "Neighbors" and gave, in detail and interesting anecdote, the story of the area surrounding her home on Milk Street; the house which was built by her great-grandfather and has been occupied by generations of the family ever since. The land across Quaker Road was also the property of her ancestors who had had the "Big Shop" on that section of the lot near the Quaker Cemetery. The Proceedings of the Nantucket His­ torical Association, 1916, has an article about the "Big Shop" by Miss Gardner's father, Mr. Arthur H. Gardner, which makes fascinating reading. In the Big Shop whale boats were built, ca­ lashes repaired, cabinet work done, and coffins made, the latter for a child for $1.00, $3.00 for adults, and it was "always a rendez­ vous for men in the western part of town, particularly evenings.

Its frequenters represented all shades of political and religious belief and non-belief, and all believed in free speech and plenty of it. . . ." to quote Mr. Gardner. During the "sheep war" and the anti-slavery conventions the Big Shop was also a center for all major meetings, besides being used for the regular work as mentioned above, and also a storage place for the sacks of wool after shearings!

Miss Gardner as a child played with the jail-keeper's children and one of her vivid memories was being invited to have supper and the prisoner was brought in to sit at the table for the meal with the family! Miss Gardner stated that the seasons and dates had disappeared from her mind but the kindness of neighbors and good times remained with her. She spoke of the blind couple who had never seen one another; Mr. Chase, the husband did the household chores while his wife, who had been Ann Morselander, a teacher in her Mission school on Orange Street for many years! read Braille and studied. They were devout Baptists and as a child Miss Gardner piloted them to church frequently. The chil­ dren of the neighborhood were cautioned never to leave plav things on the street or sidewalk lest one of the couple fall over them.

Miss Gardner mentioned each house on the streets and spoke briefly of the families with vivid and delightful memories of each. Stephen Gibbs who drove the Quaker hearse, Katherine and Henry Roberts whose dog carried packages; Lydia and Myria Worth who had a clock with a ship which sailed; Mr. and Mrs. David Paddock who lived on Prospect Street. The front of their house was always closed and they were "painfully neat." Mr,

THE GAM

53

Gibson, a teamster who cared for his aged mother who was confined with a broken hip; The Allen sisters, Miss Mary and Miss Kate; the Holmes house on what is now Mt. Vernon Street, was then "the Lane" where there was always beautiful flowers. Dur­ ing the years the Big Shop was divided into two parts, one a house the other still a shop, and moved to its present location directly opposite Miss Gardner's home on the corner of Milk Street and Quaker Road. It is now the home of a local lawyer, Mr. James Gftdden, but in Miss Gardner's childhood days it was the scene of many and varied activities.

Mr. Norman Giffin, whose home was on Hussey Street, which was, in the early days, unpaved, was the location of the home of "Old Mr. Swain" who always watched in the Tower at night; and Dr. Coleman's barn where the boys gathered to play and get into trouble, once climbing to the ridge pole and had to be helped down. The children always played in the school yard of the old high school on Academy Hill and in back of the old school was a barn where pigs were kept which on warm spring days was not always pleasant. They often, as children, ran up Breakneck Alley, which has now the more respectable name of Sunset Pass.

Mrs. Nancy Adams spoke of the nine different neighborhoods she had lived in from childhood to present time — the forty-six years in her home on Fair Street. In the early days Ned Fitz­ gerald's Rum shop was across the street and on the next corner the Women's Christian Temperance Union. There were the pumps on several corners where you could stop for a dipper of water; there was Hepsie Hussey's school on Charter Street, Grave stones in front of the shop on Martin's Lane; Ships Inn was the home of Charles Starbuck and the area across the lane was his barn and cow yard! Going to her Grandpa Grant's house on Orange Street she had to take care not to lose her rubbers in the mud (now Dr. Barton's home and office).

Mrs. Zetta Smith Boyer, who as a child lived on Federal Street not far from the Sanford House. There were ten children in her family. Her father operated the stable, renting horses and carriages to the tourists who wished to drive about the Island.

She had pleasant memories of the delightful people, Mr. and Mrs. Sanford, who had beautiful gardens, a large barn in the area at the corner of Broad and Centre Street, a carriage house on North Water Street, and a barn where pigs and cows were kept on the corner of S. Water and Broad Streets, opposite the Whaling Museum. Mrs. Fisher's boarding house was on N. Water

54

HISTORIC NANTUCKET

Street also; and Mr. Hosier's shop on Broad Street where they could buy slippery elm bark, lozengers, and colt's foot candy.

The Congdon Home was then the present Royal Manor, and across Chestnut Street were orchards where there were apples and pears.

They could all run to the Atheneum on Saturday nights and go directly home again after taking a book, since "father owned a share." Dr. Will Gardner recalled being weighed in Mr. Hosier's store when he was four years old. The weight was marked on the soles of his shoes and Mr. Hosier said, "Now, boy, walk home on your heels!"

There were many fine horses on the Island in those days and many were the hours spent riding about in the carriages with the fringe on top over the rut roads and across the moors; gone is the leisurely pace, but the Nantucket Historical Associa­ tion does own one of the carriages!

Mr. Jones spoke of his grandfather who lived in this Federal Street area at the time of the Great Fire, 1846, and had trouble collecting his insurance as the company said his house was blown up instead of being burned — however, he was able to prove that it was on fire before being blown up!

Dr. Gardner interposed a fascinating little incident at this point: one day when Mr. Austin Strong was walking along Union Street near Stone Alley he stopped to converse with a man who was sitting on the front steps of one of the houses there. The town clock struck twelve and the man jumped up quickly, "I have to go in now, my dinner is on the table," he said. Whereupon Mr. Strong hinted that it could wait a moment or two. "Oh, no," said the man, "my wife and I haven't spoken for seventeen years. She puts the food on the table, if I don't eat it now she'll take it away and I'll have no dinner!" But Mr. Strong never did learn who the man was. Perhaps someone knows?

Mr. Bartlett, ".June" Bartlett, spoke of the many times he had walked from town to their home on Hummock Pond Road and the frequent stops they made on the way. The Monument store where they bought penny candy; the Lisha Pope Fearing Gardner's poet's corner at the corner of the Cemetery, (Joy St. and Mt. Vernon St.) where there were all sorts of hand carved objects and always something "doing"; there were some places where they ran by fast; there were the big barns on the farms where Husking Bees (with many a red ear), and Barn Dances took place.

THE GAM

55

Mrs. Rozelle Coleman Jones (she was Dr. Coleman's daugh­ ter) lived in the big house at the corner of Centre and Hussey Street where the Giffin children played in the big barn; and she told of the Centre Street neighborhood as it was in the early part of the century, then Petticoat Row. The Union Store, the Oriental store, the Ice Cream Parlor, Mrs. Sheffield's variety shop, at the corner of India Street, Mrs. Maria T. Swain on the opposite cor­ ner who went down stairs at night holding a candle to put coal on the fire. The shoe store where the lady with the black apron fitted the shoes; A. L. B. Fisher's Antique Shop, and the Fire House (at the corner of Quince Street) No. 1; there was a hat shop, a rug store, The Quaker Meeting House, (the dining room of Bayberry Inn) and much going on all of the time. The Steam Engines coming from the fire house to have practice runs; the Congdon Home where there was a fascinating music box; run away horses; clop, clop, of carriage horses always turning into Hussey Street. The Coleman girls had a large tent in the yard at the side of the house (this was the location of Kezia Coffin Fanning's Town House in 1775) and this was a source of neigh­ borhood entertainment all summer. The street lights were on from 4 o'clock to eleven in those days, and not at all on moonlight nights! But that was sufficient for no young people were allowed out after that later hour; there was no "riding around"!

Mr. Clinton Andrews spoke of making the last trip on the train from 'Sconset; and he told the interesting episode of his great-grandfather's blacksmith shop which was on the little way from North Wharf along the dock. He kept spars for the whaling vessels in the shop and when the fire was close they threw every­ thing from the shop into the water. The shop did burn but was immediately built up after the fire, his tools salvaged from the water.

Mrs. Amey, Miss Gladys Wood, Mr. George Burgess, and Mr. Nelson all contributed anecdotes of the earlier days of 'Sconset and Nantucket. The evening ended with many enthusiastic com­ ments from the audience, and a firm conviction on the part of all that the Gam is a must.

56

Whaling and Nantucket -- The Decline The Civil War, Petition to Congress, and The Camels *BY H. FLINT RANNEY (Excerpts from a History Thesis, Dartmouth College, 195G)

There were a number of reasons for the decline in whaling. . . . After the beginning of the Civil War, Nantucket was afforded the opportunity to display her patriotism to the union as she had never been before. During previous wars she had tried to remain at least officially neutral so that she might maintain her life's blood, the whale fishery; but by 1860's, whaling was practically finished for her, and she was no longer "in imminent danger of total destruction." Consequently, she outdid herself by sending to the Union Army 213 men, to the Navy 126 men; the Island received the public praise of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts for exceeding her quota by fifty-six men. However far whaling might have declined by that time, the loss of these additional men, constituting about a twentieth of the Island's population, acted as one of the final blows to the industry. . . . Although it has been stated that one single cause cannot be set forth as the main reason for the decline in Nantucket whaling, it is possible to isolate one factor which stands above the others as being extremely important. That factor is Nantucket Bar. The existence of a sandbar across the mouth of Nantucket Haiboi was no secret to the Islanders, since its presence was plainly maiked by the light green appearance of the water over the shoal as well as the excess of breakers in the area while a heavy sea was running. Extending out from the shoreline of the Island on nearly all sides is an irregular series of sandbars, being part of a pattern which is common to Nantucket Sound and its approaches and which makes navigation of the area hazardous; the sandbar which was of concern to early Nantucketers extends, to this day, across the entire north face of the Island Through­ out most of the history of whaling, the bar was covered by six or eight feet of water at mean low water, and this figure remains fairly accurate today.

In 1751, Peleg Folger kept a journal while he was aboard the sloop Grampus, and it is interesting to note his entry of 15 May of that year:

WHALING ON NANTUCKET — THE DECLINE

57

"This day we fell in with the South Shoal & made our dear Island of Nantucket and Thro Gods mercy got round the Point in the afternoon. So we turn'd it up to the Bar by the Sun 2 hours high. In the night we got over the Bar—Laus Deo." . . . Around 1800 the whalers were reaching upwards of 200 tons and were thus likely to ground on the Bar even at high water; the Nantucketers began to adopt the expedient of "lightering" in order to keep the whalers coming to their doorsteps. . . . Small sailing ciafts went out to meet the whalers, oil and other cargo items were transferred from the larger vessels, until the ship was high enough in the water to sail over the treacherous area, having been lightered. This proved to be both dangerous and expensive, . . . with loss of casks of whale oil.

Aftei a number of plans had been proposed and discussed by interested Nantucketers through the years, a concrete pro­ posal was made at town meeting in 1803. The idea called for the petitioning of the Congress of the United States to dredge a channel out through the Harbor and across the Bar to deep water.

A committee of two, Isaac Coffin and Gideon Gardner, was ap­ pointed to bear the petition at the least possible expense to the town, to Congress. . . .

During the summer of 1803 a survey was made by Samuel Cox and John Foster Williams, on orders from the Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. Another committee, appointed by the town to assist the surveyors, decided that the best solution to the problem would be to construct wooden piers by driving pilings into the sandy bottom eight or ten feet apart and joining them by planking, the piers to run in straight lines out from either side of the harbor to the outer bar. It was supposed that the scour­ ing action of the tides, directed by the piers, would dig the channel through the bar without additional human effort. The engineers' estimate of the digging of the channel alone was $30,000, and Cox and Williams suggested that Nantucketers urge the channel plan on Congress. There was a great hassle among the townspeople over the wooden pier idea, which was eventually rejected, and the committee requested that Congress authorize proceeding on the engineers' channel. At the next session of Congress the plan was rejected and the whole matter rested. In 1825, Thomas Folger and several other Islanders were sent by the town to Wash­ ington to ask Congress for aid, but there w^ere no results of these ventures. At least not in the way of relief for the Island.

60

HISTORIC NANTUCKET

to a low level in the water; they were then arranged on each side of a heavily-loaded ship and drawn tightly together around the ship by means of heavy chains passing under the ship's hull. As the sea water was pumped out of the camels, they rose up to a higher level, raising the ship between them, and when fully emptied the camels and the ship were towed across the bar easily and safely because of the lesser draft.

First used in Holland as early as 1688, the camels were in­ vented by one M. M. Bakker, who named them for their great strength. The Dutch used them to carry large ships over the Pampas, which was a passage between two sandbanks in the Zyder Zee, opposite the mouth of the River Y, and about six miles from the city of Amsterdam. The Russians adopted the idea and used camels for carrying ships over the shoals at Neva; some of their devices were as long as 217 feet and as wide as 36 feet. Appar­ ently the use of camels in Holland, Russia, and also in Venifce, was both successful and profitable.

The Nantucket Inquirer agitated editorially and at length about the possibility of the Dutch camels being put to work ferrying ships across the bar, in both directions, in January, 1823, but no one seemed to be interested.

The invention of Nantucket's marine camels came about in 1842, during the early months of the year; they were the product of the genius of Mr. Peter F. Ewer, father of the Reverend Dr. F. C. Ewer, of New York. Although Ewer designed the only pair of camels ever to appear at Nantucket, they were built by John G. Thurber, during the summer of 1842; by early August they were floating awkwardly on top of the water by Straight Wharf, looking most unique.

Built separately, as might be two sections of a floating dry dock, each camel was 135 feet long, twenty-nine feet wide at the bottom and twenty feet wide on the main deck. From deck to keel was a "depth" of nineteen feet, and the draft of each, when light or empty, was two feet ten inches. Both camels had a second deck which divided them into two horizontal sections; the lower one was known as the "hold," the upper section being called the " 'tween decks." The hold itself was divided into two lengthwise sections, each of which contained six watertight compartments — thus there were twelve compartments in the hold. The between decks was not divided longitudinally but was divided athwartships into ten watertight compartments. A raceway was constructed along the fore-and-aft length of the inner bottom of each camel,

WHALING ON NANTUCKET — THE DECLINE

:S"

'

;

—.—__

—

•

61

•

• "V

:

NftMTUCKaT

jVURiNE.

CfthftElS

_

1.1 ff«At Vlaw, itois-t l": to* Lk

iCaia : l',10'

HP8 sA/i<.

'

• ' ;j'-f; : ' ' "" ' > :?f ii'l '

62

HISTORIC NANTUCKET

being four feet wide and one and one-half feet high; its purpose was to allow sea water to enter the camel by turning valves and gates, one for each watertight compartment, and a master valve for the raceway, the operators were able to flood any particular compartment or all. When completely filled the camels each held 12,000 barrels of water, but it was seldom necessary to sink them entirely except for the largest ships.

The camels were constructed with the outboard side as a flat, vertical plane, except the curve of the hull toward the bow, but the broad sides were concave in order to fit snugly around a ship's hull, as the diagram shows. With a ship between them, the camels were "hove taut" by fifteen chains, ten of which were one and three-eighths inches in diameter, the other five being one and one-half inches. They all passed obliquely down through the hull of one camel, under the keel of the ship, and obliquely through the hull of the other camel, and their total weight ca­ pacity was 800 tons. Thirty steam windlasses were operated to haul the chains tight and thus pull the camels together or against the ship.

The next step was to pump the water out of the flooded camels. The sixteen-inch cylinder, six-horsepower, doubleacting steam pumps were activated to discharge the sea from the com­ partment at a rate of thirty barrels per minute. It required a 200ton load to sink the camels, when empty, by one foot; so a 400-ton ship in the camels had a total draft of four feet and ten inches, being the sum of two feet for the 400 tons plus two feet and ten inches, which was the natural draft of the camels. This constituted a draft which was virtually assured of a trouble-free passage over the bar.

Each camel had its own steam room, in which was produced a commodity necessary for the operation of the windlasses, the pumps, and the engine for driving the propulsion mechanism; the camels were individually self-propelled and had rudders for steerage. Navigation of such unwieldly vessels, at a probable top speed of two knots, must have been just a bit clumsy. When a ship was spotted, from any number of "Walks," as approaching the outer bar, the operators of the camels lighted the fires, which con­ sumed fuel oil, cast off from the wharf and steamed out to meet her. Usually this navigation was undertaken with the two camels joined by heavy lines or their chains, since it was far simpler to go together than separately. Only after arriving at the ship did they

WHALING ON NANTUCKET — THE DECLINE

63

separate to perform the interesting operation of "lightering" an entire, loaded ship over the bar.

Mr. Ewer's progressive invention drew many laughs from Islanders during the summer of 1842, and it was with reluctance that C. Mitchell & Co., owners of the ship Phebe, 379 tons, sub­ mitted their vessel to the Camel Company's mercy on August 22, in the first trial of the invention. To the great delight of many of the townspeople, the annoyance of the owners, and the chagrin of Peter Ewer, one of the planks in one camel burst under the pressure of the water as it was being sunk prior to receiving the Phebe; water poured into the steam room, quenching the fires, and postponing the operation. The next afternoon in another at­ tempt to carry the Phebe, some orders were mistaken, the wrong valves were opened, and one camel heeled over so far the ship was endangered — a second failure on Ewer's record.

Somewhat discouraged the camel company decided to try once more on the following Sunday, August 28. The Phebe was actually bundled into the camels and the pumping-out process begun when chains began to snap under the great weight of the ship. Ewer had not yet received the proper chains from the manufacturer and had had to borrow assorted lengths and sizes from ships about the wharves in order to test the camels; these proved unequal to the task at hand, and before anything could be done, the last chains let go with a cannon-like roar, and the Phebe splashed into the water between the camels, damaging her copper work slightly.

The owners took their ship back to the wharf for repairs, and on September 19, 1842, the Phebe sailed out of Nantucket and across the bar at high tide, alone.

Believing that Ewer's scheme was really worthless, Charles G. and Henry Coffin submitted their 318-ton, Constitution, under Captain Obed Bunker, to the camels on September 23, 1842. In a highly successful operation, the ship was camelled over the bar and deposited safely in Nantucket Sound in forty-five minutes, "to the delight of Mr. Ewer and his friends." The fifteenth of October, 1842, was marked by the arrival of David Joy's Peru, a 257-ton whaler under Captain Joshua Coffin, which had left Nantucket in 1839 and returning with 1,340 barrels of sperm oil. The camels steamed out to meet her at the outer bar, picked her up on their "back," and the entire assemblage was towed back across the bar and into the harbor by the steamer Massachusetts, amidst much firing of guns, ringing of bells, and general gaiety on the part of the Islanders watching. Ewer had become a popular man.

64

HISTORIC NANTUCKET

. . . After he had become proficient at the actual operation of the camels, John H. Pease, their captain, was able to perform the various operations as follows: fifty-six minutes for the sinking of the camels and the preparations to receive the ship; forty-five minutes to haul the chains taut; fifty minutes to pump the camels free of sea water; slightly over an hour to tow the rig over the bar in either direction, this factor being dependent considerably upon the tides; fifty minutes to sink the camels enough to allow the vessel to sail freely away. The entire process thus lasted about four hours and a half — certainly less than the time that the lightering of the vessels in piecemeal fashion involved.

In 1843, of a total of thirty-three ships arriving at or depart­ ing from Nantucket bar, fourteen were camelled across, and in 1844, eleven out of thirty-four were camelled. During these two years, business was retarded by the fact that repairs were often necessary to iron out bugs in the functioning of the camels; but by 1845 all was well, as the company carried forty-five ships over the bar out of fifty-seven arrivals and departures. Three ships were camelled during the twenty-four-hour period of December 8-9, 1845.

Not a single ship was seriously damaged during any camelling operation, although there were some slight mishaps. The Phebe's story has been related. In 1845, the Ohio, on May 3, and the Amer­ ican, on July 10, were grounded on the bar while in the camels due to an extremely low tide. ... On December 23, 1845, the Enter­ prise was delayed for some six hours due to an accident to one of her between-deck scuttles — probably where she was scraped by a camel coming alongside.

Were the camels a means for the ship owners to save money?

According to the Camel Company's figures each ship using the devices could save between $150 and $200 by not having to unload or fit out at Edgartown; this meant a round-trip saving of some $300 to an owner whose ship could fit out at, sail from, and return to Nantucket. In a chart of estimated costs, published August 15, 1842, the company stated that the outbound costs for a ship of 3501/2 tons, including lightering, pilot, towage, wharfage, and extra insurance fees, at Edgartown amounted to $437.50; while inbound costs at the same port, higher because of the necessity to lighter in the casks of oil, totalled $560.54. This added up to $998.04 for a round-trip operation from Edgartown. The com-

WHALING ON NANTUCKET — THE DECLINE

65

pany pointed out that outbound costs at Nantucket, using the camels, were only $260.30, being the sum of the $50. fee for the steamboat and the sixty cent-per-ton charge for camelling. In­ bound fees were reckoned at $433.26, because of the extra weight of the oil aboard, and total costs, at Nantucket, were thus $693.56, a saving over Edgartown of $304.48, or a "balance in favor of the camel", as the company's estimate stated.

An estimate of expenses and earnings was published by the company on the same day. It listed, under expense column, the yearly salary of the foreman and engineer as $500, the first year's wharfage fee as $100, yearly repairs at $200, $150 for fuel oil, $500 for the Agent's yearly salary, $400 for insurance premiums (figured at two per cent on a value of $20,000), and $500 for "incidental expenses". Included on this side was an item as fol­ lows: "20 days' labor, for 1 day in fixing shores and bilgeblocks under ships, and say we have 20 ships in and 20 out, making 40 days labor for 20 men—800 days' labor at $1.25 per day . . . " The total here was $1000, and all of the expenses amounted to $3,350.00.

Under the earnings column appeared only two items. These were the carrying of twenty ships out over the bar, at a rate of sixty-cents-per-ton for 350(4 ton ships or $210.80 per ship, at $4,206.00, and the carrying of twenty ships inbound, at an average rate of seventeen cents per barrel for 2254(4 barrels of oil, for $7,665.30. This average was taken for the five-year period of 1837-42, from actual lightering accounts for 18(4 ships per year returning to Nantucket. The "Total Yearly Earnings of the Camels" were rated at $11,871.30, which was expected to mean a yield of thirty-two and three-quarters per cent for the investors of the company, who had put up $26,000 for the construction of the two camels.

It is difficult to say why the experiment of the camels failed at Nantucket. Certainly the expense of operation, though con­ siderable for the company in the way of repairs and upkeep, could not have been the deciding factor; an owner was able to save money by using the camels and shipping directly out of Nan­ tucket rather than going through Edgartown or elsewhere—at least, so said the Camel Company. It may be that the fees actually charged by the company were higher than these estimates of 1842—and the owners dropped the idea as too expensive. We do

66

HISTORIC NANTUCKET

not know, because history does not tell. In his biography of Joseph Starbuck, Dr. Will Gardner depicts the old whale merchant as saying, "Over fifty Nantucket people put their money into that crazy idea! . . . You can't have mechanical things here on Nantucket. You're too far away from the mainland .. . Nature made the Bar . . . (Lighter­ ing was good work, and it used a lot of sloops and men and it kept the money in Nantucket pockets . . .

The Camels didn't amount to a 'Hannah Cook'! Nan­ tucket men lost more than fifty thousand dollars."

Probably the most important reason for the failure of the camels to restore or at least maintain Nantucket as a great whaling port was the fact that they came too late. Whaling was already dying, though slowly in those days of the early 1840's. After 1845, the banner year for the camels in which thirty ships sailed and twenty-seven arrived, the death of whaling was in sight.

The last ship recorded to have been camelled over the Bar was the Martha, a 273-ton vessel arriving from the Pacific Ocean on June 8, 1,849. Thereafter the camels rested awhile at the wharf and were eventually hauled up on South Beach of the Harbor to be broken up and rot away.

In the New York Tribune of November 12, 1853, it was postulated that "perhaps if the number of ships coming into (Nantucket) had been sufficient to keep (the camels) constantly employed, as in some of the ports of Holland, they might have proved a successful undertaking" . . . But they were not success­ ful and they fell apart, as did, a few years later, the whaling industry of Nantucket. The only remnant of the camels today is a model of them in the Nantucket Whaling Museum.

WHALING ON NANTUCKET — THE DECLINE

67

Bibliography Logbook of the Whaler Enterprise, 1842-1844.

Bedford, Mass.

Free Public Library, New

Hussey and Robinson, Nantucket Whalers, Nantucket, 1876.

Macy, Obed, History of Nantucket, Boston, Mass., 1835 Macy, Obed, History of Nantucket, Mansfield, Mass., 1880 The New York Tribune, November 12, 1853 Ricketson, Daniel, The History of New Bedford, New Bedford, 1858 Starbuck, Alexander, The History of American Whale Fishery, Washington, 1876 Chamberlain, Samuel, Nantucket, New York, 1939 Chatterton, E. Keble, Whalers and Whaling, Philadelphia, 1926 Crosby, Everett U., Nantucket in Print, Nantucket, 1946 Douglas-Lithgow, R. D., Nantucket, A History, New York, 1914 Early, Eleanor, An Island Patchwork, Boston, 1941 Farnham, Joseph E. C., Brief Historical Data and. Memories of My Boyhood Days in Nantucket, Providence, R. I., 1923 Federal Writers' Project, Whaling Masters, New Bedford, 1938 Folger, Eva C., The Glacier's Gift, New Haven, Conn., 1911 Gardner, Will, Three Bricks and Three Brothers, Cambridge, Mass., 1945 The New York Times, March 13, 1938 Pease, Zephaniah W., Life in Netv Bedford, New Bedford, 1925 Reynolds Printing Company, History of New Bedford Whaling, New Bedford, Mass., 1945 Editor's note:—The author has, since early childhood, been a summer resident of Nantucket. Excerpts from this History Thesis which he wrote while a student at Dartmouth College, 1956, may be read, also, in the April 1959, issue of Historic Nantucket. Mr. Ranney now makes his home in Los Angeles, California.

68

Recent Events

• ;

|| |1 1

Ill y|

v

Phote by Gordon Turner

This attractive Fireman with the No. 8 on his hat was given to the Nantucket Historical Association by Mrs. Lincoln J. Ceely. Mr. Ceely purchased this charm­ ing little statue many years ago at a Nantucket Auction.

It is about three feet tall, the blouse is red and trous­ ers blue, the horn is gold.

This is a plaster statue, was probably a decorative possession of fire company No. 8. In 1860 their house was on Center street near the North side of Main street, and they had an ac­ tive social organization, held meetings in the brick building at the northeast corner of Federal and Main streets. No. 8 engine was the "Fountain", and "No. 8 Headquarters" was in carved letters over the door.

(From Joseph E. O. Farnham's "Memories of My Childhood Days on Nan­ tucket".)

The little man with No. 8 will be a fine addition for the Hose House on Gardner Street.

RECENT EVENTS

69

The ' American Heritage", February 1961, has an article by Marshall B. Davidson entitled, "Penn's City: American Athens," in which he quotes Benjamin Franklin as liking to explain that his keel had been laid in Nantucket but he had been launched in Boston. *

*

*

*

*

The Bulletin of the Underhill Society of America, Inc., published in February, 1961, has an appreciation of the article by Mr. Henry C. Forman, entitled, "Vanished 'Sconset Houses", which mentions Mr. F. E. Underhill, (who was one of 'Sconset's first citizens for many years), and was published in the January, 1959, issue of Historic Nantucket. *

*

*

*

*

"San Francisco: The Grand Manner," by Stephen Birming­ ham, appears in the April, 1961 "Holiday" magazine and quotes Mrs. Robert Watt Miller (a Folger) as saying, "My father's family came from Nantucket. They were all Pirates but as far as I know none of them were jail birds—quite".

Think of that good and noble Peter Folger the first, who grandfathered Benjamin Franklin, wrote "A Looking Glass for the Times , that outstanding rhymed discussion of republicanism, and suffered ignoble incarceration all for the cause of Democratic principles of government, making this small Island a testing ground for Freedom long before the "Tea Party" unloaded Mr. Rotch's ships in Boston Harbor! *

*

^

^

^

ALEXANDER D. BUNKER August 17, 1860 The Inquirer and Mirror published the fol­ lowing report: Captain Alexander D. Bunker has resigned the charge of the Light House at Sancoty Head, the resignation to take effect September 30th, 1860. For the past eleven years Captain Bunker has performed the arduous duties of the station, in a man­ ner highly satisfactory to the Light House Department, and his name has ever been associated with those important qualities faithfulness, neatness and frugality. . . . " The Proceedings of the Nantucket Historical Association, 1950, published an article entitled "The Saga of Sankaty" which by error names another as the first keeper of Sankaty Light, and again the error was repeated on the cover of the October, 1959, issue of Historic Nantucket.

70

Diary of William C. Folger EDITED BY NANCY S. ADAMS (Continued from January, 1961 issue of Historic Nantucket)

February 1836 Saturday 6—I have kept two weeks and five I have given tolerably good satisfaction. I received the Nan­ tucket Inquirer & read the Barnstable paper & cipher evenings.

I was visited this afternoon by Samuel E. Gillman & I bought of him "Arnot's Elements of Physics" for $3.25c in 2 vols, on act. I borrowed Colburn's Algebra of said Gilman—gave Gillman a fine penknife.

Feb. 7—I wrote today to father and Eliza Bailey.

Feb. 8—Paid 30c postage on my 2 letters at post office.

Feb. 14—I wrote to uncle Walter Folger and Asa G. Bunker today.

I received one day last week a letter from father.

Feb. 27—I wrote letters this evening to send to father by Ansel Lothrop, father to Sally Nye Holbrook my landlady.

I have kept school five weeks and talk of quitting next week I have had 50 scholars sometimes but generally from 38 to 45. I visited this afternoon the school in the next district taught by S. E. Gillman who has so far recovered as to have taught it for about 3 weeks. He closed his school this afternoon. Mrs. Holbrook split a bone in her ankle this forenoon which laid her up.

March 1836 March 3—Samuel W. Holbrook & I began this evening to prepare for making out the school bill as I concluded to close the school this week as many of the larger scholars have quitted to go to sea & I thought that the interest in the school was in a great measure gone for the remaining large scholars & I have got the agents approbation for this measure — Samuel W. Holbrook paid me thirty-three dollars being for teaching for six weeks at 22 dollars per month.

March 4—1 gave this afternoon to the scholars their bills. I had a visit from Mary Lothrop sister of my landlady. She came to visit the school. She had taught some of the scholars last summer.

The school has been visited by Deacon Josiah Whitman & Elisha G. Perry before. They were the Chairman and Secretary of the School com.

March 5—The school was visited by Samuel W. Holbrook this forenoon who came to receive from the scholars the amt. of their

DIARY OF WILLIAM C. FOLGER

71

bills. I closed the school and bid the scholars farewell. I gave Deacon Whitman a Sperm candle & part of another. Paid him 45c for Adams New Arthmetick which I got of him some time ago.

I gave S. W. Holbrook my landlord a jack knife, penknife, two sperm candles and Adams Latin Grammar & and some quills. S. W. Holbrook gave me a kerseymere vest & 10 cents. I went with him to back shore of ocean side of Wellfleet this afternoon. I went to Squire Whitman's and got my certificate signed by him & by E. G. Perry the chairman of the school committee.

March 6—Attended the Congregationalist Church.

March 7—I paid S. W. Holbrook for making my surtout & trim­ mings, 7.50 for a pair of pantaloons—6.25 & he gave me a receipt.

The cost of making the surtout was 4.50cts.

March 7—I left Wellfleet for Truro & Province-town having first put up my things in my trunk & left that in charge of S. W. Hol­ brook to send to Yarmouth by Post rider. Left Wellfleet ti before eleven A.M. passed near Pamet harbor & and along the west side of Truro through the villages & arrived at Province-town just before dark went to Thomas Lothrop's Hotel.

March 8—I went after breakfast with Thomas Lothrop Esq. Post-Master to view the candle factory belonging to Matthew Cobb & others. It was built by John Coleman of Nantucket & Obed Wyer of Nantucket has worked there for 10 or 11 years past.

I afterwards visited different parts of the town, particularly one of the hills where the U.S. fortifications are to be erected. Bt 1 cents worth of Snuff. After dinner I paid T. Lothrop 1 dollar for my 3 meals and lodging & started afoot at one P.M. for Wellfleet and arrived at Samuel W. Holbrooks after seven P.M. March 9—I received by mail 6 Nantucket Inquirers, postage 6 cents, a letter from father & a letter from Samuel Coleman of Boston concerning Tanners Universal Atlas postage 32c.

March 9—1 paid Winslow the Post Rider 1.12V2c for taking my trunk and two surtouts to Benj. Matthews post office in Yarmouth & took receipt. I paid Reverend Stephen Bailey & lady a visit this forenoon & was very hospitably entertained. I took leave of my kind friends S. W. Holbrook & lady & family & started about one o'clock for Major Knowle's in Orleans, in passing through Eastham I went and viewed the ground where the Methodist camp meeting was held in 1833. I arrived at Major Knowles just after dark.

March 10 Put 25 cents into the Missionary box Paid 62i/>c for 2 meals & lodging and started at y2 past nine for Hyannis via

72

HISTORIC NANTUCKET

Brewster. Gave 25c in Brewster for a poor lame man. Bot 3c w biscuit at Brewster Mills store arrived in Hyannis about five o'clock.

March 11—Went to Barnstable, subscribed for the Barnstable Journal and paid 1 dollar for 6 months and took receipt. Bot American Almanack for 75c.

March 12—Asa Bliss went to Yarmouth Post-office & got my trunk for me. Cr. one dollar toward the five he owed me.

March 14—I went to Barnstabel and left my watch with Deacon Munroe to be fitted & he let me have one to wear in mean time.

Visited Horatio Underwood Walked to North Dennis to house of Capt. Obed Howes where I lodged.

March 15—After breakfast I paid the landlord 25c and left for Brewster Where I arrived after eleven a.m. I went to Rev. S. Williams Church to attend the School Convention Was invited to go home by Rev. Enoch Pratt & accepted his invitation Attended in afternoon the funeral of Timothy B. Conant & in evening Meeting of convention.

March 16—Attended again today and this evening convention.

March 17—I left Rev. E. Pratt about 5 p.m. with Horatio Under­ wood for Yarmouth where we left the wagon and walked from thense to Barnstable. I arrived at Hyannis about half past 9 P.M. March 19—I went over to Barnstable and got several articles our folks wanted. I bot of H. Underwood History of Plymouth for 1 dollar & introduction to National Reader for 31 cents. Gave Thomas Cobb the int. to National Reader.

March 21—I attended in afternoon & evening a protracted meeting of the methodish in a school house in Hyannis village.

March 22—I wrote to D.B. of Providence enclosing one Post-worth 85c & 5 dols. cash sent it by mail this forenoon A Deep Snow has fallen this afternoon and evening. Rev. Daniel Chessman has paid me 5.75c for 6 gals, of fall or young winter Sperm oil.

Father gave me when I arrived from Wellfleet 6.36 cents for winter oil he had sold for me. I have since received 45c for 3 pints of said oil (Winter).

March 23—1 paid G.B. Newman 1 dollar for Handle and Hayden's Collection of Music which he got of H. Underwood for me I gave Deacon Munroe 2.75c for what he did to my watch & for ribbon for chain & Dr. J. Hill paid me 33c for hand to the watch which he broke Munroe cleaned and did other work on her Father has pd me balance for oil I let him have Red. letter from Providence contain— Father got Jonathan Hallet's horse and

DIARY OF WILLIAM C. FOLGER

73

took my trunk down to Brewster wharf also my two half barrels to Schn Dolphin to send to Nantucket.

March 30—I went with father to Hyannis Port and became acquainted with Jordan Singing master, went to his school this evening.

March 31—Jordan came to father's house and gave me instruc­ tions in singing I had taken a lesson on 3rd day of Dr. Hill and D. Chessman I bot for 75c the collection of Psalms & Hymns used in the Baptist Church in Hyannis.

April 1836 April 2—I paid Prince Hinckley for making me a pair of shoes 2.00 dollars. David Hinckley Jr. .OG1/^ for Blk — April 3—to Baptiste Church this day and evening.

April 5—Captain Crowell in Schn Dolphin left Hyannis today at twelve o'clock with my trunk and oil keggs & left me. I started afoot for Cotuit Landing about V2 past 2 o'clock. I passed through Centerville & made some stops there to find if any vessel way bound for Nantucket & then paid a man 20c to row me across the Bay to Cotuit I arrived at Braddock Coleman's just before dark and Lodged there.

April 6—Paid him 50 cents & started from there with Capt.

Harrol Hallet about 5 o'clock for deep hole where I arrived with just diark, we lay there till morning and then sailed for Nan­ tucket where we arrived at eleven o'clock on fast day. I paid Capt. Hallet 3714c for passage Paid Carman 1214c for taking my trunk and Barrels to A.G. Bunkers house.

April 7—Visited Uncle Walter's, Uncle Barney's, & saw others of my friends.

April 8—I bot of David Joy 43% gallons of Spring Sperm oil at 84 cents & 14% gallons of manufactured whale oil at 55 cents— $8.He One cask of 2914 gals.—1 gal was for David Hinckley, Jr. of Hyannis.

April 10—I went to Friends meeting in the afternoon & to N. Congregational Church in evening.

April 22—I borrowed travels in China & number of Rees Cyclo­ pedia out of the Atheneum to read. I attended an address before the young men's total abstinence Society by Andrew M. Macy and the Society voted to change its name to that of the Nantucket Total Abstinence Society and to admit all to its privileges. I got

74

HISTORIC NANTUCKET

Henry Clapp the American Almanack he had bound for me. Also got 1 quire of letter paper of him.

April 13 I sold Walkers Dictionary to John Curtis for 75c cash.

April 14—I sold John Curtis a tub for 12i/2c cash an<1 a ke^ :tfa 12i/2c John Curtis Dr. for 2 ropes, White rope & linen cloth $1.2-5, 2 tin measures for 1 dollar and shovel and tongs for 31Vic. Gave Winifred Curtis Dermot McMorrough by J. S. Adams. Got W. C. Swain 4 numbers of Tanner's Universal Atlas which L. Coleman of Boston sent me last winter. They come at 1 dollar a number.

Bot of W. C. Swain 2 cakes of shaving soap at 8c.

April 12—Partly contracted to sell my land in Squam.

April 16—I got carmen for 35c to take two hogshead casks guages 147 & 168 and two pipes guages 202 and 174 down to Brant Point to sell to Capt. J. H. Pease. I got David Joy's cooper to drive the hoops of the cask & mark them W C F paid him 25c and David Joy 17c for a hoop Edward Russell had sold Capt. Pease 3 pipes before I arrived from Hyannis guages 254, 231, 196 equals 681 gals equals 21 barrels & 39/63 gals 19i/2 gals at 75c for barrels on 4 & 6 mos.

David Joy paid me 73c being the balance of 90c he owed me for furnishing 2 half barrels for oil I got of him. Got of Aunt Elizabeth Folger 5 pieces she had washed & ironed for me at 5c.

April 17—Went in forenoon to Friends meeting & in evening to orthodox congregational. Took a walk in afternoon with James Delano.

April 18—I bot paper of J. F. Macy & wrote a letter to Charles Whipple of Orleans relating to the Public Schools in this place.

John F. Coffin and James Delano left here in Steamboat of Fairhaven to go from thense to Ohio & Michigan.

April 19—I paid last week to Thomas Whitney Capt. of the Schn.

G. Washington 4 dollars to hand to Samuel Coleman of Boston for the 4 numbers of Tanner's Universal Atlas.

April 20—I paid to Caroline Smith 1.92 cents for making shirt & shirtees finding linen, etc. I exchanged Nothern Voyages 1 vol, 18 mos. and Don Quixote 4 vols, 18 mos, at 1.25c & paid 25c cash for "a Winter in the West" in 2 vols, by Charles F. Hoffman. I got these of John Macy.

April 20—I sold my cart to Edward R. Folger at 45 dollars on @/c. If tis found I do not owe him so much he is to pay me a balance & if I owe him more I am to pay him when convenient.

(To be Continued)

75

Legacies and Bequests Membership in our Association proves that you are interested in its program for the preservation of Nantucket's famed heritage and its illustrious past, which so profoundly affected the develop­ ment of our country. You can perpetuate that interest by naming the Association to receive a legacy or bequest under your will which will help to insure the Association carrying on in the future. Counsel advises that legacies or bequests to the Nan­ tucket Historical Association are allowable deductions under the Federal Estate Tax law.

Legacies wTill be used for general or specific purposes as di­ rected by the donor. A sample form of bequest may read as follows: FORM OF BEQUEST "I give, devise, and bequeath to the Nantucket Historical Association, a corporation duly in­ corporated by the Commonwealth of Massachu­ setts, and located in the Town of Nantucket, in said Commonwealth, the sum of dollars."

Bequests may be made also in real estate, bonds, stocks, books, paintings, or any objects having historical value in which event a brief description of the same should be inserted instead of a sum of money.

Please send all communications to Miss Ethel Anderson, Secretary, P. 0. Box 1016, Nantucket, Massachusetts. Office, Fair Street Museum.

Photo by Paul F. Whitten

The West Parlor, 1800 House, 1961