Historic Nantucket, July 1981, Vol. 29 No. 1

Historic Nantucket

At the head of Main Street's "Square."

July 1981 Published Quarterly by Nantucket Historical Association Nantucket, Massachusetts

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 29

July 1981

No. 1

Nantucket Historical Association Officers and Staff Editorial - The Nantucket "School Room."

When The U.S. Navy "Captured" Great Point in 1901.

by Edouard A. Stackpole Alaska Eskimo Baleen Baskets,

by Molly Lee The Background and Resolution of the Eunice Ross Controversy. (continued from April issue)

by Kristi Kraemer "The Walk" on Nantucket Houses The House-top Walk

by Alice Graves Dejonge

by Charles F. Thompson

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

Membership dues are—Annual-Active $7.50; Sustaining $25.00; Life—one payment $100.00 Second-class postage paid at Nantucket, Massachusetts Communications pertaining to the Publication should be addressed to the Editor, Historic Nantucket, Nantucket Historical Association, Nantucket, Massachusetts 02554.

NANTUCKET HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION OFFICERS COUNCIL 1981-1982 Walter Beinecke, Jr. Mrs. Bernard D. Grossman Leroy H. True

Chairman Vice Chairman President - Chief Executive Officer

Albert F. Egan, Jr. Vice Pres.

Mrs. R. Arthur Orleans Vice Pres.

Albert G. Brock Vice Pres.

Richard C. Austin Secretary

Alcon Chadwick Vice Pres.

George W. Jones Vice Pres.

John N. Welch Treasurer Edouard A. Stackpole Historian

Donald E. Terry Miss Nancy Ayotte David D. Worth

Miss Dorothy Gardner Robert D. Congdon H. Flint Ranney Mrs. H. Crowell Freeman

Renny A. Stackpole, Director of Museums Edouard A. Stackpole, Editor "Historic Nantucket" Mrs. Merle T. Orleans, Assistant Editor Mrs. Elizabeth Tyrer, Executive Secretary STAFF Oldest House Curator* Mrs. Kenneth S. Baird Mrs. Margaret Crowell, Mrs. Abram Niles Hadwen House-Satler Memorial Curator, Mrs. P. Prime Swain Mrs. Richard A. Strong, Mrs. Bracebridge H. Young, Mrs. Everett B. Merrithew, Miss Ann Erskine.

1800 House Mrs. Helen S. Soverino Whaling Museum' Curator, Renny A. Stackpole Rev. Frank J. Pattison, Manager; James A. Watts, Mrs. Arthur Collins, Mrs. Robert E. Campbell, Alfred N. Orpin, Ann C. Butler, Lydia Palmer Greater Light Dr. Selina T. Johnson Peter Foulger Museum Director "Edouard A. Stackpole Asst. Director Peter MacGlashan Mrs. Reginald F. Hussey, Librarian; Mrs. Norman A. Barrett, Miss Marjorie Burgess, Miss Helen Levins, Alcon Chadwick, Ruby O'Reilly Macy-Christian House Curator, Mrs. John A. Baldwin; Miss Dorothy Hiller, Mrs. Edouard A. Stackpole Old Gaol Curator Albert G. Brock Old Mill CuratorMohn Gilbert Millers John A. Stackpole; Terry Ellis, Mary Seager, Tom Seager Fair Street Museum Curator * Albert F. Egan, Jr. Lightship "Nantucket" Curator John Austin Chief Engineer: Miss Maria Veghte, Robert Mooney, Gregory Gaeta.

Hose Cart House Curator* Francis W. Pease Archaeology Department Chairman Mrs. Roger A. Young, Vice Chairman Mrs. John D.C. Little .

Building Survey Committee Chairman Robert G. Metters Old Town Office Curator'Hugh R. Chace Ex-officio members of Council

The Nantucket "School Room" AS A NATURAL ADJUNCT to modern days, Nantucket offers a remarkable opportunity for a quick study for those who have little time for serious research. There are many people who enjoy contemplating history, just as there are many who would like to spend extensive time in a long and detailed study, to relish the insights and writings of historians. In most instances time has forced a curtailment on such pleasure for the latter, and quick glimpses are only available.

But as long as the desire is there such swift forays into history may prove satisfying and enduring. Nantucket, as a community, a town and an island provides a unique "school room," in which even the sojourner may find stimulation and reward. Individual study or group study may involve an hour or a day; the completion of the investigative process is simply a matter of continuing the interest to a degree of satisfaction.

The assimilation of such a study is a matter of the time one wishes to devote. It is truly a cultural experience. In modern terminology, the term "culture" is defined as the expression of organized society, and the acquisition of knowledge, of one form or another, is an integral part.

Learning about Nantucket's past leads to a more careful observation of its present, and definite concern for its future.

The "school room" of Nantucket brings us, street by street, into an awareness of the periods of the town's growth. Whaling in all its varied phases provides an exciting background, and the Historical Association's museums and houses offer a wide range of island study. Here we find the visual revealing the backdrop, reflecting the prosperity and the depression of these exciting eras. The years between the beginning of summer resort popularity, the successes of the late 19th century, and the changing scenes of the modern period, all may become topics of "school room" discussion.

There are no arbitrary rules in such an outdoor activity, enlarged upon through contemplation of the museum world. The listener or viewer soon establishes his or her special interest. The island offers a choice of con­ templation, with the early settlers, the Indians, the shore whalemen, the farmers-even the menace of the developer-all worthy of study. The town provides a full range for further examination as to founding, growth and establishment of an unusual and unique seafaring community.

Edouard A. Stackpole

When the U.S. Navy "Captured" Great Point in 1901

by Edouard A. Stackpolel EIGHTY YEARS AGO this summer the United States Navy carried out a series of training maneuvers which literally "captured" a part of Nantucket for two weeks. The activities were carried out under simulated war-time situations, and three battleships of the "Great White Fleet," as it was known, participated, together with smaller vessels, and several companies of blue-jackets took part in the full scale operation. Not many island residents knew much of what was taking place, but one man who was in the thick of the strenuous maneuvers was a resident. This was George Grimes, then in charge of the U.S. Weather Bureau station at the Pacific Club building, who was on duty as a telegrapher on Great Point.

Rear Admiral Higginson was in command of the operation, which was primarily to forestall any attack on the coasts of southeastern Massachusetts, Long Island (New York State), and Rhode Island by a foreign power. Early in July a fleet of naval vessels had anchored in the "Chord of the Bay" for a preliminary observation of conditions. The vessels left soon after and little more was thought of it. A month later, August 11, a squadron appeared early in the afternoon, with the bat­ tleships Kearsarge, Massachusetts and Alabama, and a flotilla of smaller craft, including the torpedo boat Bailey. As soon as the larger craft dropped anchor preparations for landing troops began, and soon launches were observed headed for Great Point.

The procedures continued after night had fallen, and during the darkness some six-inch guns were put ashore, using heavy timbers as shears and a variety of block-and tackle rigs. The men toiled through the night getting the guns in position, erecting tents, and creating the en­ campment. An unexpected hitch in the proceedings developed when cases of mumps were discovered among crew members of the Alabama. The ship was quarantined, and a special isolation camp located on Coatue.

During the first day ashore the naval force encampment, got the guns established on solid wooden platforms, went through surf-launching drills, established guard points and literally occupied Great Point from the lighthouse to the Coskata Life Saving Station. Some "party boats," mostly catboats, sailed out of the harbor to get a closer look at the maneuvers, but they were promptly warned off and sent scurrying back to the inner harbor of the town.

Completing the Camp on Great Point.

8

HISTORIC NANTUCKET

The planned exercises continued during that night, with the addition of four-and three-pounders to the six-pound guns landed. Considerable signal-work with lights identified the fact that tactics now included the repulse of a (supposed) attacking enemy force. Considerable firing took place, and several boats were employed in this stage of the maneuvers.

The report in The Inquirer and Mirror of these procedures-printed the following week—provides some more detail: "About two o'clock Monday morning the marines on board of the battleships were aroused by the news that their comrades in camp were being attacked, and with all possible speed tumbled out of their hammocks and took to the boats, reaching shore in time to turn defeat into victory. The attack had progressed about half an hour, when it became apparent that unaided from their comrades on the ships the defending party could not succeed, and the summons for assistance were taken up by the watch on board and almost instantly the ships were alive with men. Within half an hour 500 men were on shore going to the assistance of their endangered comrades.

The manoeuvre was planned by Major Doyen and was pronounced most successful by the commanding officers."

An unusual installation of shore torpedo tubes, the filling of hundreds of bags with sand, the laying of a telephone cable from shore to ship, and other features marked the next day's work. Signals were being displayed constantly on the ships, and the sudden steaming away by the big Massachusetts, heading off shore, added to the mystery of the tactics. The camp was now well set up, and Admiral Higginson came ashore to of­ ficially inspect the encampment. Captain C.G. Long, the commander on shore, made a full report of the activities and plans. Of particular interest was the shore torpedo installation, with huge cylinders of steel serving as the tubes, fastened to especially constructed platforms sunk in the sand, and shallow trenches dug from the high water line to deep water.

With the coming of night the action changed dramatically. In a flurry of signals, the battleships hove up their anchors and steamed off to pass around Great Point. An "enemy" squadron had been sighted (actually a fleet of cruisers) headed in from the open sea. With nightfall, the flashing of guns and the sound of the firing sent a thrill of excitement through the camp. Admiral Higginson had signalled: "Defend the camp at all hazards until our return!"

GREAT POINT "CAPTURED"

9

The encampment now set about its next assignment—laying land mines along the outer beach. Forty men were detailed to dig pits near Coskata to repulse the enemy near that section if attacked. The telegraph wires were extended, and even a chevaux-de-frise was constructed. Skirmishers were sent out along both the inner and outer beaches.

The six-pounders were solidly established.

With the coming of night, a heavy fog swept in to cover the eerie scene.

No camp fires were allowed; talk in even lowered tones was curtailed. As the night hours continued only the sound of the surf broke the quietness.

Captain Long and his officers continued to receive reports from the scouting patrols. It was apparent that the expected attack was imminent.

A single shot from the barricades on the south sounded like a thunder clap. The camp became a frenzy of activity, with squads responding, orders being shouted, guns and scabbards clanging together as the men rushed over the sand.

At this moment a rocket split the air high overhead, the sky was filled with a dazzling white light that set the entire scene up as if etched against the background of sand and sea. By this time the south line of defense was in an uproar, with guns blazing and men shouting. At this time, Captain Long discharged another rocket. This illumed the seascape to the east, revealing the astonishing spectacle of several launches, poised on the wave crests, all boats being filled with men. The south barricade attack was a subterfuge—the real attack was coming by sea!

10

HISTORIC NANTUCKET

There was a series of gun fires that rolled along the entire beach, some of the big guns ashore joined in the fray, and the shouting of the men added to the uproar. The firing continued for a full half hour, and then suddenly ceased. The resultant silence found the encampment uneasily unaware as to whether the attackers had been repulsed or not. But as the hours wore on, and nothing occupied the quiet of the outer defenses, it was generally agreed that Camp Higginson had been the victors in the mock battle.

In our own times it is difficult to imagine such a series of naval and land maneuvers taking place on Great Point and the waters adjacent to its sandy stretch. But in July and August, 1901, it was the topic of many a conference at the Newport Naval War College. It would be of interest to learn from the official reports whether the strategy employed was ap­ proved.

In any event, the U.S. Navy had completely "captured" Great Point on this occasion, and very few Nantucketers had any idea of what was transpiring during that interesting summer period—eighty years ago.

The Background and Resolution of the Eunice Ross Controversy by Kristi Kraemer (continued from April issue) WITHIN THE TOWN OF NANTUCKET, there was also in­ tegration in churches and businesses. James Crawford, a black, was the minister of the colored Baptist Church and preached numerous times in the white Summer Street Baptist Church, as well as at "The Asylum" a sort of poor work farm on the island, which served both communities. In fact, when Crawford was saving money to buy his second wife from slavery, the congregation of the Summer Street Baptist Church imposed an admission cost on its own members' attendance to Sunday services at a rate of ten cents per person "for the purpose of relieving Mr. Crawford from the embarrassment occasioned by the necessity of having to borrow money to prosecute his mission."4 Crawford also owned a barber shop downtown, where he cut hair of black and white alike, and was respected and liked by all.

Another black man was helped by the white community in quite another way. In 1820, Arthur Cooper and his wife, Mary, had escaped from slavery to Nantucket Island and had settled on Angola Street. In 1822, acting under the Fugitive Slave Law, some agents came from the mainland to capture the Coopers and return them to their owners. Word of this impending event had reached the citizens of Nantucket and, when the agents finally, with little help from the islanders, managed to find the Cooper residence, they were greeted by a delegation of prominent white citizens who demanded to see the papers entitling the agents possession of the former slaves.

A most elaborate stalling technique was used, which bought enough time that the Coopers were able to escape out the back of their home and hide in the attic of the home of Oliver C. Gardner, a white man, where they stayed for six weeks. The agents did not apprehend their prey, and were gently warned that violence could be a possible outcome of their prolonged presence on the island. That evening, the newspaper further confused the issue by speculating that the two fugatives were probably in

The Rev. James E. Crawford, prominent black minister.

EUNICE ROSS CONTROVERSY

13

the "swamps,'v "hiding in the vast subterranean vaults which had been made by peat diggers."5 Arthur Cooper became a minister at the African Methodist Episcopal Church and was instrumental in the establishment of the African school for the children of the community in 1823. Both Cooper and Crawford preached, occasionally, to white congregations and had white ministers at their churches. The First Congregational Church, meanwhile, had both blacks and whites in its constituency and Mary Starbuck, in her book, My House and I, remembers working on ladies' committees with black as well as white women.

In the area of business, as well, there seemed to be equal acceptance of blacks and whites. Besides having integrated whaleship crews, both blacks and whites served the Nantucket whaling industry as teamsters, coopers, and sail makers at the harbor. There were also whites who bought goods from the Pompey store in New Guinea as well as blacks who shopped downtown. Blacks attended town meetings and were allowed to vote as well as own property and invest in business. In short, by the mid1800's, an equilibrium had been struck between the two communities.

Why, then, in the 1840's, did the controversy surround one ap­ parently respectable black girl, Eunice Ross, and her request that she be allowed to further her education by attending Nantucket's high school, the only public institution of higher learning available to island residents, regardless of color? The answer to this question lies in the changes that came about in Nantucket life and commerce during the mid-1800's.

Nantucket was, at this time, one of the most prosperous whaling ports in New England and, despite the economic set back during the War of 1812, she had long had ships sailing from her harbor to every corner of the world, returning with valuable spermaceti, stories of faraway lands, immigrant whalemen and the prosperity that the people of the island worked so hard for. It was these last two cargoes that caused the first and most basic changes in Nantucket.

Where the island had once been an isolated community of in­ terrelated families with a common religion and set of social customs, the number of immigrants in the early 1800's forced Nantucket to become a more diverse and cosmopolitan community. Dating from the time that peace was declared in 1815, Nantucket's population expanded rapidly until, in 1842 or 1843, nearly 10,000 people were residents on the island.^ With these new immigrants came new customs and demands that had not been made before.

14

HISTORIC NANTUCKET

The schools profoundly changed the complexion of Nantucket life.

The children mixed, one group with another, and, with the influx of offislanders, new ideas were explored.

Churches, too, changed Nantucket life. Where there had once been a dominant religion, suddenly there was a diversity of congregations espousing a diversity of belief systems. Partly in response to this, the once monolithic Quaker faith found itself defending itself from attacks from without as well as within.

After the sudden decline in prosperity during the War of 1812, the Nantucketers had been quick to climb again to economic heights, and many of the old Quaker families had done well in their professions; a great number were enjoying prosperity that they had never before known.

Those who were whalers had travelled far and wide, and had seen many things and heard many new ideas. It was logical that they should want to show this in their lifestyles.

The first major controversey to obviously split the Quakers was that raised by a man named Hicks in the 1820's, a time of increasing prosperity and tension in Nantucket.

Hicks maintained that Christ was Divine and that Atonement was possible through Him. This was considered by many to be heretical to the faith that believed that all mortals were completely equal in the eyes of God and that put personal religious experience at the center of the search for deliverance to heaven, yet perhaps one-fifth of the Nantucket meeting joined his following. 7 They were promptly disowned, and created the first crack in the solid "old Nantucket" religious Society. Then, between 1838 and 1845, another, deeper, schism developed.

Joseph John Gurney was the leader of the English Quakers and believed that children should be taught through a systematic study of the Bible. This was attacked bitterly by the more traditional Quakers, who maintained their belief that the Bible should be consulted only secondarily in man's search for meaning and that anyone who presumed to "systematically" present it to children was not only denying the concept of the Inner Light, but was setting himself up as being more knowledgeable than others, as having answers that others did not have, therefore im­ plying an inequality among men.

EUNICE ROSS CONTROVERSY

15

The controversy and debate was bitter and intense and, in the mid1840's, the Nantucket meeting was split and met in two separate houses on the island. After the split, each group disowned the other, and even went so far as to take their fight concerning Society property to the Massachusetts State Supreme Court.

This, in addition to the fact that other faiths, such as the Congregationalists, Baptists, Methodists, Presbyterians, Catholics and Unitarians, were gaining new strength and membership on the island.

The fact that even the members of the Society of Friends itself were showing increasing affinity for the ways of the world by building bigger houses and dressing in new ways and generally ignoring the basic tenets ol simplicity, uniformity and equality, caused an overwhelming tightening among the orthodox faithful.

Solidarity was eroding at an alarming rate, and it seemed that all of the basic beliefs of Nantucket life were being called into question.

The Society of Friends had long been known for its stand on slavery and, because of this reputation, abolitionists from the mainland were often attracted to the island. On at least two such occasions, however, the Quaker beliefs that all men are equal and that slavery is immoral came into direct conflict with their belief that violence, either in word or deed, is also immoral. These occasions began with the 1841 Anti-Slavery Con­ vention, when a disturbance was caused by Stephen S. Foster, who announced publically, that the clergy of all religious societies, including those chosen as clerks of the Society of Friends, was "more corrupt and profligate than any house of ill fame in the city of New York-that the Southern ministers of (those) bodies were desirous of perpetuating slavery for the purpose of supplying themselves with concubines from among its hapless victims."®

The Nantucket audience was incensed by this and other declarations made by the speakers at the podium and there was a growing unruliness of the crowds in attendance. In the year 1842 the Anti-Slavery Convention was showered by rocks and eggs by many of the locals who looked with disfavor at the whole proceedings.

Nantucket was, therefore, caught in a situation where their basic belief in equality allowed them to be exploited by those whose methods were distasteful to the peace-loving Quakers. Turmoil, obviously, ensued.

16

HISTORIC NANTUCKET

And the blacks themselves added to the turmoil. By the middle of the 1840's, it was becoming more and more difficult for whaleships owners to attract young men to the romance of sitting on a "slaughterhouse at sea" for three to four years at a time. As Nantucketers had grown, so had options for its young people, and many young men preferred to pursue businesses that did not require such long absences from their homes. As a result, more and more whalers returned to Nantucket with crews made up of significant numbers of foreign lands, many from the coast and islands of Africa.

Like any place where men were newly released from the confines of a long time aboard ship and newly paid for their services, drunkenness and related vices were occurrences more common than desirable. If the men were black, they headed for the New Guinea area, generally, and did their carousing there, in the company not only of the old, established "respectable" black residents, but more directly with the new immigrants from the United States mainland who were often newly-escaped slaves with their first taste of freedom.

While records do not in any way indicate that the New Guinea area was regarded as degenerating, as pressure grew from the abolitionists from the mainland who demanded Nantucket support their fight to do away with all slavery and recognize all blacks as equals, the occurrences in New Guinea seemed to take on a new meaning for the white residents of the island. They watched and, like Obed Macy, occasionally expressed amazement that the Negroes of the island seemed to retain their foreign ways and did not become absorbed into the society on the island.9 In the midst of all of this controversy and change, Eunice Ross petitioned to become the first black scholar at Nantucket's high school.

She had clearly shown her competence and, further, was from an old, respectable New Guinea family. In other times, perhaps, she would have been admitted with little comment from the public. As it was, however, there were strong, opinionated people on the School Board who, in the midst of the chaotic change in town, were struggling to make themselves and their points of view heard.

The debate over whether or not to admit Eunice Ross went on for eight years, from 1840 until 1848, during which time the Quaker GurneyWilbur schism deepened. New ideas and people inundated the island; the whaling industry began to decline; the power of the government to impose the mixing of Quaker children with the children of the world increased, and abolitionists hammered away at the basic beliefs of the over-

EUNICE ROSS CONTROVERSY

J

whelmed islanders. No wonder there was such a conflict of feelings over this one issue!

Letters in the Nantucket newspaper, the Inquirer and the Mirror, reflect feelings as disparate as one who decried the "animalness" of the black people to another who dramatically upheld the ideas of equality and education as the key for future success.10Both points were argued fer­ vently at town meetings and at School Board meetings and Eunice Ross was forced to wait eight long years before being allowed to continue her education.

In the end, however, she was admitted and in 1848, fully 12 years before the Civil War, the schools of Nantucket were thus integrated, pre­ dating the United States Supreme Court decision to desegregate the public schools of the nation by more than one hundred years. The debate which had held up this move was one based in the chaotic need to adapt to sweeping change, and to the fiercely independent thinking and reflection exhibited by the residents of Nantucket throughout their history.

It had taken a long time and a great deal of soul-searching, but with this act, Nantucket was, even more than ever before, known as a place where the ideal of equality for all men was a working reality of everyday life, a place where the intellectual beliefs of its residents were put to work in their own locality and all men were respected and accepted, regardless of race, creed or national origin.

1 Linebaugh, Barbara: The African School and the Integration of Nantucket Public Schools, 1825-1847. Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts. 1978. page 3.

2 Ibid. Page 4.

3 Farnham, Joseph E.C.: Brief Historical Data & Memories of My Boyhood Days in Nantucket. Snow & Farnham, Providence, Rhode Island. 1915.

4 Burns, Susan M.: "Nineteenth Century Black Life on Nantucket." page 13.

5 The Nantucket Inquirer and Mirror. October 29, 1822.

6 Dell, Burnham N.: Quakerism on Nantucket. Nantucket Historical Association, Nantucket, Massachusetts. 1970. page 23.

7 Ibid. Page 22.

18

HISTORIC NANTUCKET

8 Starbuck, Alexander: The History of Nantucket. C. E. Goodspeed & Company, Boston, Massachusetts. 1924. page 627.

9 Stackpole, Edouard A.: The Sea Hunters. J.B. Lippincott, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. 1953.

10 op. cit. Linebaugh.

Miss Kristi Kraemer is a native Californian, and a graduate of the University of California at Davis, where she majored in American Literature and Sociology. Currently in a Masters' Program in American Studies at California State University, at Sacramento, she teaches American Literature at the Davis High School. Last July she was a member of the University of Massachusetts-Boston class studying "History and the Seafaring Tradition at the Coffin School". She is planning to continue her graduate work with the University of Massachusetts.

The original African School and Church, corner of York and Pleasant Streets.

Alaskan Eskimo Baleen Baskets

19

by Molly Lee BALEEN, OR "WHALEBONE", is the fibrous material forming the sieve-like structure substituting for teeth in the mouths of the planktoneating whales. Commercial uses of baleen in Nineteenth Century Europe and America are well-known: assuming the role of present-day plastics, it was used in the manufacture of articles such as corset stays, crinoline hoops and buggy whips. That baleen has been in almost continuous use since prehistoric times in Arctic Alaska is not so widely recognized.

Because it does not collect frost, baleen figured prominently in the hunting and fishing technology of the Eskimo for utilitarian items such as nets, fish line, ice scoops and water containers. After the turn of the Twentieth Century, baleen acquired a new use to the North Alaska Eskimos in the weaving of the beautiful little baskets for which they have become famous.

The bowhead whale (balaena mysticetus), which supplies the raw material for baleen baskets, has been hunted by the Eskimo for over two thousand years. Migrating annually into the Arctic Ocean, it serves as the major protein source for the Eskimo as well as supplying baleen and other raw materials. The bowhead is not the largest of the baleen whales, but because of its proportionately greater head size, supplies the largest amount of baleen, about 1500 pounds per individual. The separate strands, called "plates" by the Yankee whalers, average six to eight feet in length and are about a foot wide at the butt end. The rows of plates, some 300 in all, are embedded in the whale's upper jaw, and are kept in place from underneath by a groove in the lower jaw. Microscopic sealife, on which the whales subsist, is trapped on the plates, while the intaken water is released through them (Scammon 1968:52-60).

The Arctic bowhead population was discovered by the Yankee whalers in 1849, and hunted by them for over fifty years thereafter. While the whales were at first taken primarily for their oil, the focus of commercial whaling shifted to baleen after 1875, when increased availability of petroleum products made whale oil unprofitable. After the turn of the century, the drastic depletion of bowheads, and the invention of such baleen sub­ stitutes as plastic, celluloid and spring steel, brought an end to Yankee whaling in the Arctic. A severe economic depression resulted in the Alaska whaling villages of Point Hope, Barrow and Wainwright (Bockstoce 1978:17-25).

The development of baleen basketmaking is a direct outgrowth of the end of commercial whaling in the Arctic. Sometime after 1910, Charles

ALASKAN ESKIMO BALEEN BASKETS

21

Brower, a White whaler and trader who had settled in Barrow and established the Cape Smyth Whaling and Trading Company there, began to explore the possibilities of finding other commercial uses for the unused baleen stockpiled at his store. At first he suggested weaving utilitarian articles such as clothes hampers, but the idea was abandoned when it proved impractical in terms of the time required. Later, he had a few small baskets woven, primarily as gifts to take on his frequent trips to the Eastern seaboard. The baskets were seen in Barrow by visiting government employees, traders and missionaries visiting there, and baleen basketmaking soon became a small but thriving industry. After 1937, the arts and crafts outlet (A.N.A.C.) established at Juneau by the Alaska Native Service handled the distribution and sale of the baskets, and during the Second World War they were a popular souvenir for service men stationed in Alaska to send home. Today, the few remaining weavers have orders for the baskets several years in advance.

Men weave baleen baskets more commonly than women, possibly because of their earlier-established netmaking skills. The baskets are made in variations of the single rod coiled technique, probably adapted from the similarly woven willow baskets of the nearby Athapaskan In­ dians (Ray 1977:49). To make a basket the weaver soaks a baleen plate in water to soften it, then, with the aid of a knife or saw, cuts the plate into narrow strips to form the rods, and still narrower ones for the weft strands or "weavers". After thorough drying (to prevent warped or uneven weaving) the rods and weavers are scraped, shaped and polished. The weaving is accomplished by spiralling the rods upward, wrapping them together with the weaver strands. Decoration is achieved with the ad­ dition of light baleen or the white quill shafts of Arctic Owl feathers. The weaving is a time-consuming process, often taking as long as a month for the completion of a single basket.

As part of the preparation process, the weaver must also carve the ivory or bone starter pieces called the disc (for the basket bottom) and the finial or knob used for the basket lid. Both discs and finials are made in two dif­ ferent styles. The simpler leaves the first row of attaching stitches visible on the basket surface. The second is more complex, with a grooved flange concealing the first row of stitches. Both discs and finials occur in a variety of shapes. The finial is carved in traditional Eskimo fashion, most often with an animal representation. Some of the commoner finial carvings depict seals, walrus and polar bears. Geometric shapes are also used, as are more unconventional and contemporary representations such as boats and airplanes. Noted anthropologist Dorothy Jean Ray reports that she once saw a baleen basket with a finial carved to represent the monument erected near Barrow to commemorate the 1935 airplane crash fatal to Will Rogers and Wiley Post (op. cit. :49).

22

HISTORIC NANTUCKET

Among the basketweaving villages of Barrow, Point Hope and Wainwrigi style differences have been found to exist, mainly in basket shape and weave, as well as in finial carving. For example, Point Hope baskets tend to be straight sided and flat lidded, while their weaves have a diagonal slant. Their finials often have a narrative quality: scenes of polar bears hunting seals on the ice are frequently used. (FIG. 1) Barrow baskets usually have rounder bodies and lids, and their finials most often depict single subjects. They are found to have two different weaves. The close weave differs from Point Hope weaving in its vertical rather than diagonal orientation. (FIG. 2) Its beginnings are associated with King Oktuk, one of the first basketmakers employed by Charles Brower. The open weave was invented by Marvin Sakvan Peter. (FIG. 3) Peter, who often signed, numbered and dated his baskets, taught weaving classes in Barrow in the 1940's when a school teacher there, realizing the economic importance of the art form, encouraged all his male students over the age of fifteen to learn to weave (Burkher 1944:24; personal communication).

It has become increasingly common for baleen basketmakers to sign their work in recent years. This tendency probably results from the fact that the baskets have usually been made for sale. However, the North Alaska Eskimo also employed property marks before historic contact as a means of distinguishing their possessions (Spencer 1976:150-151). Two of the earliest makers have been found to use such marks as signatures on their baskets.

The future of baleen basketmaking is uncertain. While there may once have been as many as thirty or forty living weavers, today there are only about a dozen. Because there are many occupations more lucrative in the Arctic communities, most of the makers are elderly, and only a few of them do work of acceptable quality. Another factor affecting the con­ tinuity of the art will be a satisfactory resolution of the tragic conflict between the endangered status of the bowhead whale and the equally threatened nature of present day Eskimo society, whose members depend on whale hunting as a major food source as well as for a sense of cultural identity.

Baleen baskets and the other so-called "arts of acculturation" that have evolved after historic contact are often viewed with suspicion if not disdain by scholars and collectors alike. Perhaps an increasing awareness of the viability of art forms such as baleen basketweaving will demonstrate that in the case of Native American art, acculturation can sometimes have a -creative rather than a negative effect.

ALASKAN ESKIMO BALEEN BASKETS

23

Mrs. Richard S. Lee, the author of this article, is to receive her M.A. in Primitive Art from the University of California at Santa Barbara. The subject of her thesis is "Baleen Baskets." She lives at Juneau, Alaska, and plans to return later this year to resume her field work. Her husband, who took the accompanying photographs, is the head of the Juneau-Douglas Community College, is an excellent photographer, mostly of wild life, and obligingly made the "shots" especially for his wife, "Molly " Lee's, article.

Photos by R.S. Lee

24

HISTORIC NANTUCKET

References: Bockstoce, John 1978 "History of Commercial Whaling in Arctic Alaska," in Alaska Whales and Whaling, Alaska Geographic Quarterly, vol. 5, no. 4:1725.

Burkher, Pauline Chastain 1944 "From The Whale's Mouth," Alaska Sportsman, vol X, no. 2:1415,24.

Ray, Dorothy Jean 1977 Eskimo Art: Tradition and Innovation in North Alaska. Seattle and London: University of Washington Press.

Scammon, Charles M. 1968 The Marine Mammals of the North-western Coast of North America. New York: Dover Publications, (reissue of 1874 edition).

Spencer, Robert F. 1976 The North Alaska Eskimo. New York: Dover Publications, (reissue of 1959 edition).

PLEASE—Send us your change of address if you are planning to move. You will receive your copy sooner and we are charged extra for all copies returned because of an incorrect address.

Bequests or gifts to the Nantucket Historical Association are tax deductible. They are greatly needed and appreciated.

The House-top Walk

by Charles L. Thompson

Weather-stained and beaten and empty now, The long, long vigil is o'er; No longer the ships go out to sea, And the watchers wait no more; Sailors and watchers are resting now, Some on this sandy lea, And some with the sea-grass round them twined, Are asleep in the wandering sea.

But it comes to me, as I walk the street Of the quaint historic town, A vision these scenes have looked upon In the years so long agone; A vision of struggle with storm and tide By the brave ones, called to roam On the wrathful way of the ocean wide, And a vision of love at home.

On the house-top walk in the morning gray And yet in the deepening night, They watch for the flash of a homeward sail Or the swing of a masthead light.

It is morn again, and again 'tis eve, So the days drag one by one, And the steadfast thing in the changeful scene Is the love that will have its own.

So the hair grows gray and the faces thin, For the sea is empty still; And the lonely years will have their way And God will have his will.

But the watch is o'er—what matters now Though the ships drift endlessly Though some are asleep in the graveyard there, And some in the wandering sea?

Nantucket, July.

Chicago Interior.

26

"The Walk" on Nantucket Houses

By Alice Graves Dejonge

ONE OF THE CHARACTERISTICS of Nantucket houses is the railed platform on the roof tops which are properly termed the "Walk." In recent years these have unfortunately been termed "widow's walks," a misnomer that appears to become more widely spread in general con­ versation. A Nantucket lady once declared: "If they were widows they wouldn't be up there," an expression more apt than sardonic. Among comments on the mis-use of the original derivation is the following notation, written by a woman whose Nantucket ancestry embraces three centuries of Island life. She writes:

"Here are a few thoughts concerning the 'walks' as related to Nantucket, which were used primarily to watch for the incoming and outgoing ships leaving or entering the harbor.

Because of the rigors of a seafaring life, especially whaling, the men were young men. If successful, the young man would eventually build a home and when retired from the sea would invest in whaleships. At this period in his life he would invariably ascend to his roof-top 'walk' to watch for the passages of ships in and out of the port. The wives of the men shared this anxiety in thought while watching a ship sail away or approach the harbor after an absence of years, but only on rare occasions would they mount to the roof­ top. 'Walks' were built for |men—not women—and especially not for widows, looking for their husbands, dead or alive!"

-Alice Graves Dejonge

Photo of House-Top fValk - Main Street

The Nantucketers' Cooperage. Bronze Plaque at the Cooper Shop at Mystic Seaport, Conn., established by a grant from H.H. Kynett, of Philadelphia and Nantucket.