Historic Nantucket, April 1986, Vol. 33 No. 4

Historic Nantucket

Eastman Johnson's portrait of Peter Folger, on exhibit a t t h e Foulger M u s e u m , is one of that M u s e u m ' s prized exhibits.

April 1986 Published Quarterly by Nantucket Historical Association Nantucket, Massachusetts

NANTUCKET HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION OFFICERS President: H. Flint Ranney Vice President: Robert D. Congdon

Vice President: Mrs. Bracebridge Young Jr. Treasurer: Donald E. Terry

Secretary: Richard Austin Honorary Vice Presidents

Albert F. Egan, Jr.

Albert Brock

Walter Beinecke

Mrs. R. Arthur Orleans

Mrs. Bernard Grossman

Alcon Chadwick

Presidents Emeritus Edouard A. Stackpole

Leroy H. True

George W. Jones

COUNCIL MEMBERS Philip C. Murray

Edward B. Anderson

F. Philip Nash, Jr.

Mrs. H. Crowell Freeman

Mrs. Kenneth Baird

Mrs. Alan Newhouse

John Gilbert

Mrs. John A. Baldwin Mrs. Marshall Brenizer

Francis W. Pease

Mrs. Walker Groetzinger

Mrs. Paul A. Callahan

Mrs. Judith Powers

Andrew J. Leddy

Charles F. Sayle, Sr.

Mrs. James F. Chase

Reginald Levine

Mrs. George A. Fowlkes

Mrs. Carl M. Mueller

Mrs. Jane Woodruff

ADVISORY BOARD Stuart P. Feld

Mrs. Charles Carpenter

Charles H. Carpenter

F. Blair Reeves

Mrs. Thomas Loring

William B. Macomber

STAFF John N. Welch, Administrator Bruce A. Courson

Victoria Taylor Hawkins

Curator of Museums & Interpretations

Curator of Collections

Edouard A. Stackpole

Jacqueline Kolle Haring

Historian

Curator of Research Materials

Leroy A. True

Louise R. Hussey

Manager, Whaling Museum

Librarian

Wilson B. Fantom

Elizabeth Tyrer

Plant Manager

Executive Secretary

Elizabeth Little

Peter S. MacGlashan

Curator of Prehistoric Artifacts

Registrar

Lucy Bixby

Thomas W. Dickson

Assistant Manager, Museum Shop

Merchandise Manager Oldest House: Mrs. Abram Niles

Hadwen House-Satler Memorial: Mrs. Richard Strong Whaling Museum: James A. Watts, Alfred N. Orpin, Mrs. Edward Dougan, Gerald Ryder Greater Light: Dr. Selina T. Johnson Peter Foulger Museum: Mrs. Margaret Crowell; Alcon Chadwick, Everett Finlay, Marjorie A. Burgess Macy-Christian House: Mrs. Helen S. Soverino Old Mill: Millers: Richard Swain, Thomas Seager Fair Street Museum: Mrs. William Witt, Mrs. Kathleen Barcus • • • Historic Nantucket* * * Edouard A. Stackpole, Editor Merle T. Orleans, Assistant Editor

t

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 33

April, 1986

No. 4

CONTENTS

Nantucket Historical Association Officers and Staff

2

Editorial - "Nantucket Sound a Part of the High Seas"

5

Honolulu in the Era of Whaling in the Pacific

by Captain John Lacouture

6

Melville Society Conference

15

Bequests/Address Changes

17

The Nantucket Historical Association's Logo

18

The Joseph Macy Warehouse Now a Part of the Nantucket Historical Association

20

Alice Beer's Memories of "Old 'Sconset" Recall the Earlier Scene

24

Historic Nantucket (USPS 246-160) is published quarterly at Nantucket, Massachusetts by the Nan­ tucket Historical Association. It is sent to Association members and extra copies may be purchased for $3.00 each. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to: Nantucket Historical Association, P.O. Box 1016, Nantucket, MA 02554. c. N.H.A. 1986 (ISSN 0439-2248).

Membership dues are: Individual $15, Family $25, Supporting $50, Contributing $100, Sponsor $250, Patron $500, Life Benefactor $2,500.

Second-class postage paid at Nantucket, Massachusetts.

Communications pertaining to the Publication should be addressed to the Editor, Historic Nan­ tucket, Nantucket Historical Association, Nantucket, Massachusetts 02554.

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5

"Nantucket Sound a Part of the High Seas."

ALTHOUGH THE CHARTS of the New England area show Nantucket Sound to be an embayed section, lying within the range of Cape Cod to the island of Nantucket, the Supreme Court of our nation has ruled it a part of the proverbial "high seas", in a decision handed down a few weeks ago in Washington, D.C. The central part of the Sound, about 20 miles long and 10 miles wide, will not now be designated an "Ocean Sanctuary", as the State of Massachusetts wanted, with protection against waste dumping, and construction, and oil drilling.

Although the State of Massachusetts still controls that portion of the Sound lying within three miles of the coasts of Nantucket, Cape Cod and Martha's Vineyard, it has no jurisdiction over the Sound itself.

The ruling by the nation's highest tribunal brings both vexation and dismay to the State officials, who intended to make Nantucket Sound an "ocean sanctuary". The State's lawyers, who have worked long on their brief of the case, based their claim on the traditional use of the Sound over three centuries. There was, also, a direct relationship to the local uses of the sound by the fishing industry over the past, and the recreational use of the area over a recent period of years.

The Supreme Court claims that the Commonwealth did not effec­ tively occupy Nantucket Sound so as to obtain clear, original title by long usage before the seas were recognized to be free. This is a state­ ment which does not follow the truth. When King William and Parlia­ ment conveyed Nantucket to the Massachusetts Bay Colony from New York Colony, in 1691, this meant that the Sound called "Nantucket" was a part of the conveyance.

What the Federal Government may do to recover from this error in the ruling of the Supreme Court is to designate Nantucket Sound as a national marine "Sanctuary". This would guarantee safeguards against the misuse which would come from efforts to exploit the mineral reserves under the seabed, or sell leases for gravel mining, or oil exploration, or do anything to destroy the natural resources of what is now an unsp^il.J area.

To designate Nantucket Sound as an arm ot ihe "high seas" is a step in the wrong direction, and one which does not reflect too well on the dignity of the nation's highest court.

-Edouard A. Stackpole

6

Honolulu in the Era of Whaling In the Pacific by Captain John Lacouture DURING THE YEAR 1819 three momentous events took place affec­ ting the Hawaiian Islands. They changed the lifestyle and society of that delightful Polynesian Kingdom forever. The first of these came with the death in May, 1819, of the great Hawaiian King, Kamehameha I, who had unified the islands under a strong pact. In October, 1819, two New England whaleships, the Equator, of Nantucket, commanded by Captain Elisha Folger, and the Balaena, of New Bedford, commanded

by Captain Edmund Gardner, a Nantucket man and a friend of Captain Folger, while cruising in company in Kalakekua Bay, off the coast of Hawaii, harpooned and killed a whale — the first American whalers to kill a whale in Hawaiian waters.

At the same time, the brig Thaddeus, carrying the first New England missionaries, under the Reverends Bingham and Thurston, was en route to the Hawaiian Islands. The goal was to convert the heathen natives of the Hawaiian Islands to Christianity. They arrived in 1820, and quickly established missions in Honolulu and Kailua, and by 1823 had set up a third mission at Lahaina.

With the death of Kamehameha I the throne passed to his son, Liholiho, who became Kamehameha II. However, the domineering figure of Kamehameha's favorite wife, Kaahumanu, confronted the young king, and told him that it was his father's wish that they should rule jointly. The king was to be the supreme power, and she his second in command and advisor. In order to do this, and have the power she was after, it was first necessary to throw over the law of the land or the "kapu" system. This was a system of religious laws relating to sacred laws, ceremonies and rules and relationships between men, women and the Hawaiian gods. In this system women were held to be inferior to men, and were not even allowed to eat with them.

After considerable persuading by Kaahumanu and Keopuolani, the king's mother, Kamehameha II finally gave in and sat down in public to eat with the women. At the same time the high priest, who supported him, set fire to many of the idols and sacred articles of the land. In short order the old religion had gone and it remained for the mis­ sionaries to give the people a new religion.

In 1818, Captain Jonathan Winship, of Boston, on a China trading

8

HISTORIC NANTUCKET

voyage, came across large schools of whales off Japan. On his return, he wrote friends in Nantucket about his discovery. The owners of the Nantucket whaleship Maro, under command of Captain Joseph Allen, was dispatched specifically to investigate this report. The Maro left Nantucket October 26,1819, and in 1820 put in at Honolulu for supplies with a full load of whaleoil. The news of the great abundance of whales off Japan soon spread through Honolulu's waterfront. Shortly after­ wards large schools of whales were also discovered in Pacific Arctic seas.

Since Japanese ports were closed to foreigners and there were no ports in Arctic waters, the ports of Honolulu and Lahaina soon became the whaling centers of the Pacific. By 1822 60 whalers visited Honolulu's waterfront during the year. For the next ten years or so ap­ proximately 60 to 80 whaleships put in to Honolulu harbor each year.

The golden age of Pacific whaling started about 1835, reaching its peak about 1845 to 1846 when there were the arrivals of over 700 U.S.A. whalers and 250 foreign whalers in Honolulu and Lahaina. (Arrivals did not mean all different ships since often the same ship returned several times during the year.)

By 1840 the whaling industry had made Honolulu a center of com­ merce and trade and had become the Island's greatest commercial in­ terest. In addition to supplying and repairing the whalihfi ships, Honolulu was the transshipping center for whale oil and whalebone.

Here these products would be taken from the whalers and placed on fast clipper ships for the trip around the Horn to American ana Euro­ pean ports. At times ships were moored so closely together in Honolulu harbor that a person could walk from one end of the harbor to the other on the decks of the whaling ships without going ashore.

The New England whaling ships often stayed five years on the Pacific whaling grounds without returning to their home ports. During that time they would return to Honolulu twice each year to transship oil, bone and baleen, to repair and refit their ships, to recruit new crews and to take on supplies. Then, since anchorage fees were expensive in Honolulu harbor, they would haul out and anchor at Lahaina for the major portion of their in-port time between whaling voyages.

Most Honolulu business men made their livelihood by supplying the needs of the whaling ships. Carpenters, blacksmiths, coopers, sailmakers and other craftsmen grew rapidly in numbers to provide the required services. As an example the shipyard and chandlery business established by James Robinson in 1823 had developed by 1840 into the finest facility in the Pacific for serving the New England whal­ ing fleet.

HONOLULU IN THE ERA OF WHALING

9

Robinson had been a master carpenter on the English whaleship Hermes, which struck a reef and sank in 1822 1050 miles from Honolulu. Robinson built a small boat from the wreckage and sailed to Honolulu. Here he was befriended by King Kamehameha II who helped him open his chandlery and ship repair business.

In the early years of American whaleships stoppng in Honolulu the crews were mostly professional sailors from New England, most of whom came from good families. The relationship between the early whaling crews and the missionaries started out well. Actually whaling ships from New England brought many of the first missionaries and their families to the islands as well as bringing mail and furniture and other supplies from home.

On 13 April 1822 Captain Alexander Macy, of Nantucket, in com­ mand of the whaleship Palladium landed in Honolulu the first print ing press ever used in the Hawaiian Islands. Captain Alexander D. Bunker, of the Ontario, listed a gift of fifty dollars (a large sum in those days) for the missionary church and four whaling masters and their entire crews joined the "Tabu Association for the Suppression of Immorality".

As an example of the existing good relationship between the townspeople and the early whalers, on 12 November 1821, Captain George W. Gardner, of the Globe from Nantucket, and his sailors helped contain a fire that threatened Honolulu with destruction. On this day, while lying at anchor in Honolulu, word was received that the royal palace and several nearby buildings had been destroyed by fire and the flames were spreading toward the royal fort which contained a thousand casks of powder.

Captain Gardner immediately sent his crew ashore carrying buckets. Here they formed a Nantucket bucket brigade. For a while it was nip and tuck whether the flames could be stopped before they reached the fort and caused an explosion that would destroy the entire village plus the ships in the harbor. Fortunately, largely thanks to the heroic efforts of the Nantucket sailors from the Globe, the fire was contained and Honolulu was saved.

In 1823 the British whaler L'Aigle from Milford Haven, the whal­ ing colony in Wales of Nantucket whaling men, under the command of Captain Obed Starbuck formerly from Nantucket sailed from Honolulu to England with King Kamehameha II and his Queen on board. Unfor­ tunately both the King and Queen died of measles while touring England in 1824.

As a result his son, age 12, became King Kamehameha HI, but still

10

HISTORIC NANTUCKET

a minor. The country was ruled by Queen Kaahumanu and her minister, Chief Kalanimoku, who allied themselves with the mis­ sionaries and made the Island kingdom a stronghold of Puritanism, much to the annoyance of many of the whaling ship sailors.

In January 1826 crew members from a British whaler and from the U.S. merchant schooner Dolphin started a riot in Honolulu, deman­ ding the repeal of a restriction set upon the advice of the missionaries depriving them of female companionship. It is noteworthy that New England whaling crews did not participate.

However, as the years passed, fewer New England young men from good families wanted to embark on a whaling career. Other pur­ suits in trade and commerce were more attractive to them. At the same time the whaling industry was expanding by leaps and bounds.

As a result recruiting good men to sail on the whaling ships became more difficult, the crew became more motley and desertions were high in almost any port of call. After gold was discovered in California the problem became even more severe as many recruits merely wanted to be taken from the east coast to Honolulu or preferably a California port.

To replace deserters in Honolulu an increasing number of Kanakas (native Hawaiians or other South Sea Islanders) would be recruited as crew members. They were brave and hardworking in the boats, although inclined to be lazy and slovenly aboard ship. When the ship would leave Honolulu the men and women relatives of the Kanaka sailors would stay on board until the ship was several miles from shore.

Then, with much good cheer, all would plunge overboard and strike out for shore, as much at home in the water as on land.

In the year 1832 Kaahumanu died and the young king, now Kamehameha III, repealed most of the Puritanical laws and a wild era returned to the Islands. Honolulu of those days became a boisterous town when the whaling ships were in. Hawaiian maidens from the coun­ tryside would flock to Honolulu. Dance halls, bars and shops would be open every night. Whaling meant wealth for Honolulu merchants and salesmen who would crowd the docks when the ships arrived and would welcome captains and crews. Needless to say, much of their profits came from encouraging the crews to spend their money on wine, women and carousing which put them in direct and continuous clashes with the missionaries.

However, the missionaries fought back. They were able to keep some of their Sabbatarian rules in effect such as forbidding pilots to work on Sunday which prevented ships from entering port on Sundays.

A missionary would come on board each whaling ship entering port to

HONOLULU IN THE ERA OF WHALING

11

talk to the sailors and tell them about a good library and reading room they had set up where sailors could read and write home. They also of­ fered individual Bibles to all sailors who would accept them.

In 1833 a Seaman's Bethel or House of God was established in Honolulu and Reverend John Diell became the first Chaplain of the Bethel. Unfortunately Reverend Diell exhausted himself in the service of the ill and disabled seamen and died at the age of 33 of tuberculosis.

His replacement, Reverend Damon, was a talented and energetic chur­ chman. In addition to religious and social duties with the seamen, he began publishing a local newspaper which devoted its pages to the nautical community. It had articles on ships, sailing, whaling, marine news and statistics as well as current curfew hours for Honolulu seamen.

The sailors now had a place in the community. With the establish­ ment of a U.S. Marine Hospital in 1838, they had their own church, hospital, libraries, books and newspaper. They also had a friend in Reverend Damon who was never too busy to talk to them. Finally, in 1855, the Hawaiian government donated land for a Sailors Home in Honolulu where a seaman could board and eat his meals. It is in­ teresting to note the reading and recreation rooms provided by the mis­ sionaries for the sailors of the whaling fleet in Honolulu where the nucleus was base for today's YMCA. Not all seamen, however, liked the missionaries. On 2 May 1843 a young seaman, Herman Melville, landed in Lahaina after passage from Tahiti on the Nantucket whaler Charles and Henry. Melville had been jailed in Tahiti by the Australian whaleship which had brought him from the Marquesas for attempting to start a mutiny. He had deserted his first ship, the New Bedford whaler Acushnet, in the Marquesas and lived there with a native canibal tribe for several mon­ ths.

Since Lahaina offered little employment for a discharged sailor Melville soon migrated to Honolulu to attempt to earn enough money for passage home. He started working as a pin boy in a bowling alley but soon was employed as an accountant by Isaac Montgomery, an English merchant and opportunist.

Melville had seen the still primitive Marquesans and was appalled at the corrupting influence of the white men on the Polynesians, much of which he blamed on the missionaries whom he later described as a "junta of ignorant and designing Methodist elders". Melville couldn't wait to get back to the states and, in August when the warship United States dropped anchor in Honolulu harbor, he immediately signed on as an ordinary seaman to obtain passage home.

HONOLULU IN THE ERA OF WHALING

13

In November of 1852 Honolulu harbor was full of whaling ships after a good year on the Japanese grounds. As many as 3000 sailors were ashore, most of them looking for a good time. There were many instances of police arrest for drunkenness, disorderliness and other wild action. On 8 November a sailor named Burns was arrested and put in jail where he proceeded to try to tear up the jail. In the process of try­ ing to put him in irons a guard hit him on the head and killed him. News of his death spread quickly and the next morning the sailors in an ugly mood gathered before the Fort and demanded that the guard who had caused Burns' death be turned over to them for punishment.

The Marshal closed the gates of the Fort and refused to turn over the guard. At the same time the Governor refused to let the Marshal send out his best soldiers to disperse the ™ob. On the next day Burns was buried and the mood of the mob demanded violence. In vain the American Commissioner and the American Consul pleaded with them to return to their ships. The sailors again marched on the Fort, deman­ ding the guilty guard be turned over to them. When their demands were refused they marched on a large building nearby housing the police and harbor pilots, seized the building and set it on fire.

When the fire department came to put out the fire, they formed a ring around the building and wouldn't let them through to fight the fire.

Fortunately the wind was not blowing toward the harbor jammed with whaling ships loadeu with whale oil. If the flames had ever gotten started among the closely packed ships, the entire whaling fleet and the town would have gone up in flames.

By now the drunken mob had thrown law and order to the winds and roamed the streets in packs going from one bar to another ordering drinks and refusing to pay for them. In addition they forced their way into private homes, making themselves "guests" of the fearful families within. In the meantime meetings were held by the ship cap­ tains and the leading citizens to determine a way to restore law and order. By morning a citizens guard was formed to discourage further violence. Slowly the riot lost momentum and most of the sailors were ready to return to their ships. The ringleaders were jailed and the 1852 riot was ended.

Starting in the late 50's and early 60's the whaling industry — the greatest cormercial asset of the Islands — began to decline, both because whales were becoming scarce, making voyages more prolong­ ed and expensive, and because kerosene was taking the place of whale oil on a world wide basis and hoop skirts using whalebone were passing out of style. Mark Twain visiting the Islands in the 1860's and seeing the decline of whaling commented: "Without the whaling trade — Honolulu — would die — businessmen would leave and its real estate

14

HISTORIC NANTUCKET

would become valueless."

The process was expedited by the Civil War. Many of the whaling sailors as a matter of patriotism enlisted in the Navy or on Navy privateers. Whaling ships were sold, laid up or transferred to the Mer­ chant Marine. Towards the end of the War, Captain Waddell, on the Confederate ship Shenandoah, captured and burned 34 whaling ships and boarded four more in the Pacific, most of them in Arctic waters after the War was over.

With the War over, several owners tried to start up their Pacific whaling operations to compete with petroleum. Then came the disaster of 1871 to the Arctic whaling fleet in which 34 vessels were caught, crushed and mangled by the ice and had to be abandoned. Miraculously all 1219 souls on board took to their small boats and headed south in the narrow stretch of open water near the shore and managed to reach the seven ships over 70 miles away which were not caught in the ice. Here they were taken on board in rough seas without loss of life and made the long journey back to Honolulu on the overcrowded ships.

To the whaling industry the loss of these ships and their cargo was devastating. Another freeze in 1876 caused the loss of 12 more ships. By then the industry was in sharp decline.

Whaling had been both good and bad for Hawaii. It had generated great monetary gain and economic growth for the Islands (Honolulu in particular) but at the expense of a civilization and way of life. Disease, drunkenness, lawlessness had been rampant and had been most detrimental to the quality of life on the Islands.

Although the whaling industry was dying out, Mark Twain's pro­ phecy was not to come true, for sugar, coffee and cattle industries were replacing it. Agriculture had taken over from whaling as the primary industry for the Islands.

Whaling has passed and with it a certain romance and an adven­ turous and lusty way of life. With the agriculture era replacing it, life was far more orderly but far less exciting.

15

Melville Society Conference ON FRIDAY AND SATURDAY, May 16th and 17th, the Melville Socie­ ty will hold a conference on Nantucket. An organization of distinguish­ ed scholars devoted to studying the life and works of Herman Melville, the Society will meet to hear formal presentations on the author's poetry and prose and to visit the island's special resources for studying American literature and history.

The gam will begin informally on Thursday evening at the Jared Coffin House, where conference participants will gather to hear Richard Doenges of the University of Bridgeport perform "Wisdom's Wall," a dramatization of Herman Melville looking back over a life of failure and triumph.

On Friday morning, May 16th, registrants will meet at the Admiral Coffin School for a continental breakfast, followed by a formal session organized by Thomas F. Heffernan of Adelphi University. Nantucketers will recognize Professor Heffernan as the author of Stove by a Whale: Owen Chase and the Essex.

Five speakers will give presentations on the topic "Melville Abroad" at the Friday morning session, including: Edward Stackpole, Nantucket Historical Association, "Nantucket Maritime History and Melville."

Hennig Cohen, University of Pennsylvania, "Israel Potter: The Circle of Adaptation."

Deborah Andrews, University of Delaware, and Thomas Fahy, University of Pennsylvania, "Clarel: Holy and Land."

Walter Bezanson, Rutgers University, "Water, Meditation, Words."

On Friday afternoon, conference participants will take walking tours of Nantucket's Historic District, with a special emphasis on those sites visited by Melville during his 1852 trip to the island. Wesley N. Tiffney, Director of the University of Massachusetts' Nantucket Field Sta­ tion; Susan F. Beegel, Lecturer on Melville in the University's Nan­ tucket Program; and Douglas Beattie of the Field Station staff will act as guides.

At the Peter Foulger Library, Jacqueline Haring, Curator and Ar­ chivist, and Jane Woodruff, Chairwoman of the Research Materials Committee, will introduce the Melville Society to the library's collec­ tions. The Peter Foulger contains many items of special interest to Melville scholars, including rare first editions of works like Mardi and

16

HISTORIC NANTUCKET

Moby-Dick; and numerous letters, ships' logs, and other manuscripts which help reconstruct the life Melville must have known in the Pacific whaling fleet. Conference participants will also want to see nineteenth century whaling histories like J . Ross Browne's Etchings of a Whal­ ing Cruise and the newly acquired Frederick Bennett's A Whaling Voyage Round the Globe, as well as books by Nantucket authors Owen Chase, Thomas Nickerson, William Lay and Cyrus Hussey, and Obed Macy, all used by Melville when researching Moby-Dick.

Leroy True, our President Emeritus, and Bruce Courson, the Association's Curator of Museums, will guide Melville Society members through the Whaling Museum. There conference par­ ticipants will enjoy seeing items like a photograph of Valentine Pease, Melville's captain on the whaler Acushnet, the whaling scenes of engraver Ambrose-Louis Garneray discussed in Moby-Dick, and a carved Marquesan deity resembling Queequeg's Yojo. Registrants will have a welcome opportunity to examine the whaleboat, tryworks, and tools of the whaling industry so familiar to Melville.

After the exhausting afternoon of tours, conference participants will adjourn to the Jared Coffin House for cocktails and a gala banquet, followed by a concert of whaling ballads and shanties performed by Geoff Kaufman of the Mystic Seaport Museum.

On Saturday morning, May 17, registrants will again share a con­ tinental breakfast and attend a formal session at the Admiral Coffin School. Saturday's topic will be "Melville's Response to the Modern World." Joyce Sparer Adler, of North Bennington, Vermont, is the pro­ grams chairwoman.

Saturday morning's presentations include: Warren Rosenberg, Wabash College, "Poetry and Belief: Clarel as a Response to the Modern Crisis of Faith."

Larry Reynolds, Texas A & M University, " M o b y - D i c k , Napoleon, and t h e W o r k e r s of t h e W o r l d . " Nicholas K. Brommell, Harvard University, "Melville's World of Work in Redburn."

Charlene Avallone, University of Notre Dame, "Melville: Towards Modern Humor."

Christopher S. Durer, University of Wyoming, " M o b y - D i c k and Nazi Germany."

The conference will conclude at noon on Saturday, May 17th.

The University of Massachusetts' Nantucket Field Station will host

MELVILLE SOCIETY CONFERENCE

17

the Melville Society's meeting and provide support services for the conference. Susan F. Beegel is in charge of local arrangements.

Interested members of the Nantucket Historical Association are invited to register for the conference. A registration fee of $50 includes all of the activities mentioned above except the banquet, which is op­ tional, and will cost an additional $25. For further information and registration forms, write to Melville Society conference, P.O. Box 756, Nantucket, MA 02554.

Bequests or gifts to the Nantucket Historical Association are tax deductible.

They are greatly needed and appreciated.

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

18

The Nantucket Historical Association's "Logo" WHEN DID HISTORY begin? The classic response is that history began with the invention of writing. That is a thoughtful answer, but it does not take into account the fact that written language is only one system of symbols people have used to record the course of human events. The logo of the Nantucket Historical Association, "an arrow, a harpoon, and two beaver hats," communicates meaningfully without using any letters. The arrow recalls an age when hunting was basic to communal economy. This age lasted for hundreds of thousands of years. It lasted on Nantucket until 1641. Until that year, the people of Nantucket lived in time before books and maps as well as before com­ puters.

Of all animals, the largest and most difficult to pursue is "the leviathan that lives in the deep". The zenith of all those centuries of developing hunting skills was reached by Nantucket whalemen in the 19th century. The "Essex Journal", recently edited by Edouard Stackpole and published by the Nantucket Historical Assocation, was written by one of these hunters o'er the sea who survived the inten­ tional ramming and sinking of his ship by a sperm whale. Though a tragedy, the "Essex story" is also a record of one of the most memorable hunting adventures of all time, as Herman Melville was quick to recognize. The exploration and charting of the watery world was a by-product of the global hunt for their prey by men such as those who went down on the Essex. The harpoon was the unique symbol of their moment in history.

But what of the two beaver hats?

In 1659 a group of Englishmen paid Thomas Mayhew thirty pounds sterling and two beaver hats, "one for himself and one for his wife". In return the group became, at least according to English law, the "original" proprietors of Nantucket. When the settlers arrived and met the actual "original proprietors" they tried to salve conscience if not square accounts by making some gifts and payments to the Sachems whose ancestors had taken the island by eminent domain some nine thousand years earlier.

Mayhew's reasons for asking for two beaver hats as part of the price for the island are not hard to guess. Fashion. Conspicous con­ sumption. Domestic tranquillity. They add a human touch to this first recorded island real estate transaction. Beaver hats, worn by both men

HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION LOGO

19

and women, were much in vogue in 17th century England and they were very expensive. They have additional symbolic relevance. Euro­ pean interests pushed outward into two continents to supply a lucrative market with beaver hats; westward into North America and eastward into Siberia. While no more the sole cause of the exploration and settle­ ment of these frontiers then the whale was of the world's oceans, the beaver certainly came to symbolize the expansion of civilization to a global economy. The beaver and the whale. One by land. The other by sea.

Itself a lesson in history, the logo in this letterhead is a fitting sym­ bol to appear on all official Nantucket Historical Association documents, on publications and membership cards, for instance. An in­ creasing number of items available exclusively at the museum shop carry this seal as an appropriate reminder that the shop was founded to help support the historical mission of the Nantucket Historical Associa­ tion.

20

The Joseph Macy Warehouse Now a Part of the Nantucket Historical Association IT HAS BEEN a part of Straight Wharf for over one hundred and forty years, and in recent years has been called The Kenneth Taylor Galleries, but for the greater portion of its existence it was known as Joseph Macy's Store. It was built by Thomas Macy, an important figure in Nantucket's whaling history, early in 1847, on land purchased

by Macy from Captain Levi Starbuck, in the ruins of the wharf, directly after the Great Fire of 1846 had destroyed the wharf. Thomas Macy soon after erecting the structure passed it over into the hands of Joseph B. Macy, who was its proprietor during most of the 19th century.

The Macy Warehouse was built after the style of most of the struc­ tures on the New England waterfronts of the period. Until recent years a large lifting device was part of the original building, high up on the third floor, which enabled the occupants to hoist material with com­ parative ease from the lower to the upper floors. Its massive beams and brick construction enabled the structure to exist for most of its 19th century career with little or no maintenance.

Joseph B. Macy was born on November 25,1821, the son of George and Eunice Macy. As an apprentice he entered into the employ of James Tallant, a dealer in a furniture store, but within the first year entered the employ of James' brother, Nathaniel Tallant, a grocer, and later became a partner in the firm of Tallant and Macy, their store be­ ing on the corner of Old North and Cross Wharves. After the Fire of 1846 destroyed this store, Macy, then 25 years of age, obtained permission to utilize the Thomas Macy warehouse and promptly began business as a whaling agent.

But as whaling declined, Joseph B. Macy decided to continue his maritime interests in organizing the Atlantic Fishing Company, which he controlled a number of years. His fishing fleet consisted of several good sized vessels. His interests included manufacturing and other mercantile pursuits, and his business as a ship chandler made his head­ quarters a popular place along the waterfront. He also held the appoint­ ment as wreck commissioner and an agency with the New York and Boston boards of ship's underwriters.

At his death, in February, 1888, it was written of Joseph B. Macy: "Probably no man in the community held business relations with so large a number of citizens as did this man, and there is no one who will be more universally missed."

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THE JOSEPH MACY WAREHOUSE

23

The next owners of the structure were James A. Holmes, Jr., and Benjamin Chester Pease, who used it as a carpenters' shop from 1905, when they purchased it from Lydia B. and Mary Eliza Macy. In 1932, Holmes bought Pease's share. In 1944, the Nantucket Foundation, Inc., purchased the property from the estate of James A. Holmes, Jr., and The Kenneth Taylor Galleries was established.

Considerable work of construction was then begun under the direc­ tion of Everett U. Crosby, and the old iron safe, installed from the Manufacturers and Mechanics Bank, which burned in the Great Fire, was reinforced by increasing the brick foundation, and concrete was used in the foundations to increase the durability of the structure. When this work was completed "The Kenneth Taylor Art Galleries'" came into existence, and continued for the next forty-one years during the summer months.

The unfortunate circumstances surrounding the burning of the Straight Wharf Theatre in the spring of 1975 proved the fire-resisting capabilities of the old Macy warehouse. Had it not been for the fact that the Macy warehouse was a brick structure the flames would have spread and seriously damaged the entire wharf areas. It was a reminder of the efforts of the Nantucketers of that period to build a warehouse to protect against the menace of fire.

In 1980, the Nantucket Foundation offered the old building to the Nantucket Historical Association, and the Council of the Association voted to accept the gift. The dissolution of the Taylor Foundation was next involved, and then the legal questions decided, and so it was not until 1984 that the entire matter was settled and, by action of the State's Supreme Court, the Nantucket Historical Association assumed the full responsibility for the Macy Warehouse.

The Nantucket Artists' Association have accepted a three-year lease of the property, and a joint committee from both organizations is now working out the details of the arrangements.

There is still a good deal of work to be done on the reconstruction of the old building. All brickwork must be re-pointed in both exterior and interior, and major repairs made to the window frames and sashes, as well as other necessary work. The eventual use of the Macy Warehouse is an important part of the Nantucket Historical Association's future plans. When Joseph B. Macy signed the articles which cleared the sail­ ing of the bark Oak from Nantucket in 1869, it was an occasion of American maritime history - the departure of the last whaling ship from the old home port of Nantucket, the founder of an American deepsea industry. The Macy Warehouse will become another interesting ad­ dition to the Association's exhibits on Nantucket in the near future.

24

Alice Beer's Memories of "Old 'Sconset" Recall the Earlier Scene OVER THE DECADES, Miss Alice Beer, of New York and 'Sconset, wrote of her "Old Sconset" memories. Now that she is no longer alive, her account will appeal to all those who remember those halcyon days when the little village on Nantucket's eastern side was a part of the summer scene that was important to the island itself, and in a way quite different from that of today.

She wrote as follows: You have inquired when I would write my memoirs of Nantucket of 'Sconset. I wonder why I should, or who would care. The only reason for committing any such matter to paper is that I have lived so long and do recall, mistily, so much that has vanished, that was so lively, so hap­ pyLast summer, waiting at the airport in the late afternoon to greet a guest, I fell into chat with a lady who, like myself, was fretting over the delay of the arrival of a plane - hers from Boston, mine from New York.

At some point in our talk she asked me how long I had been coming to the island. I thought a moment and then answered "I can't remember the exact year, but I remember it was before the Spanish-American War." She cast upon me a look of sheer unbelief and moved slightly away, as though from someone deranged.

But it happens to be true and I can recall our first trip to this island.

My father, who was tall, fair and fat, suffered dreadfully from the heat of New York City and indeed the town of Yonkers on the Hudson where we lived was not cool. Someone told my father of an island where sea breezes blew and prickly heat existed not, so he set off with his family to explore. The family? My mother, my brother Tom, my little brother Richard, still a toddler, and Bridget, our wonderful big, soft voiced Irish Bridget, and myself, the eldest, age about nine.

The trip? It began with the Fall River Boat leaving in the late after­ noon from near Fulton Street. The excitement to children of exploring those big, gaudy boats; of the first look at the cabin with its double ber­ ths, or bunks, the funny, salty smell of the little cabin, the first ex­ periments with the little basins. But the really thrilling part was the passage of the boats around Manhattan Island, under the bridges - up the East River - where boys at about what is now fashionable Beekman Place, were swimming and diving in the oily water. Finally slowly through Hells Gate (no bridge then), and into more open water. It was cool - fresh.

MEMORIES OF OLD 'SCONSET

25

Dinner time, so down in the dining room to be served by friendly blacks; finally to bed in the little berths, the cool air through shutters, the tramp of feet on the decks. At some time in the night the ship rolled heavily — we were told we were rounding Point Judith. A noisy stop, at dawn's early light, was for Newport. Finally up, hurried breakfast, out and on to a waiting train in Fall River; the engines puffing coal smoke — red plush seats in the car, very sooty. Finally, by train, carried through fields and towns, we reached New Bedford, and there at the dock awaiting us another steamer.

This one was not so gaudy, simpler, and smelled authentically of the sea. We found chairs on a sheltered spot on deck for mother and the restless baby Richard and Bridget. Tom and I roved, explored. There was a man on board who sold popcorn stickers — yellow, pink of various flavors. We were soon sticky with the stuff. We left, I believe, at 9 or 9:30 — it was interesting even to a child to watch the departure from old New Bedford Harbor.

Then open sea — much wind for little caps, or sailor hats; finally Woods Hole — people coming on, getting off, fun to watch the docking and leaving, all new. Now out into more open sea, and then stop at a strange looking town of tall wooden houses on shore — the old stop, Oak Bluffs, before Vineyard Haven in later years became the regular lan­ ding. This we learned was an island named Martha's Vineyard.

Now came the long stretch in rougher sea — though I do not recall any undue turbulence that day. The sudden rush to the ship's side and tossing of a bundle of papers to another ship — the Lightship we were told — and we stared wonderingly at the distant men on its decks, as we jre told of their long, lonely weeks of duty.

Finally after what seemed to my mother an endless journey, we ..ould contemplate the harbor of Nantucket.

I wish I could claim a clear recollection of the beauty of the harbor, the town and its three steeples, climbing up the slopes. Memory is overlaid with later, off-repeated impressions of the lovely moment.

What I recall is confused excitement on the wharf, the many men from hotels with their carriages waiting — calling Ocean House, Springfield, Sea Cliff Inn. My father presently shepherded us to a little train, waiting near the wharf, and in we filed. That funny little train of yellow cars, straw seats and open windows.

My mother later confessed that she thought she was being dragged to the end of the earth — so weary, baffled she was. But presently we left the town and were moving through open fields and moors — and presently, too, there was the blue sea at our right. Then, said my

26

HISTORIC NANTUCKET

mother later, she began to inhale the wonderful sweet, pure air, and she thought it was the loveliest, freshest air she had breathed since the days she rode horseback with her father in Colorado.

The little train ended its journey at a big red shed, at the foot of a low hill, 'Sconset Station. Up there we trudged and were led by father to a big, old-fashioned hotel — where he left us to wait — while he disap­ peared with a white-haired gentleman we learned was Mr. Underhill.

Poor mother — more waiting with restless children. I chiefly recall the scent of the matting on the floor of a corridor. Finally, father returned and we were guided, through lanes, and grassy roads to a cluster of small, low roofed, shingled cottages. One of these father had selected for our summer dwelling, one of the Underhill Settlement houses, built in imitation of the ancient little Sconset houses we soon came to know in the old section of the village. Exploration of the little rooms was an ex­ citement to us children. One room was in a loft and had to be reached by a ladder! I don't know how we all packed in. There was a separate little cabin or house for Bridget. This was simple living — no running water, bowl and pitcher, an out-house, oil lamps and candles.

I know we loved it soon.

And the next day all of us in bathing suits of the period, emerged and made our way through that settlement, along the open street to the steps to the main beach — and here with what exhilaration we met the waves of the open Atlantic.

None of us could swim — all being midlanders by birth. In no time my father handed us over to a tall, fair-haired, blue-eyed man, with a yellow mustache, who shivered slightly, smiled comfortingly, and led us, in turn, into the waves. This was Jim Coffin, a great swimmer, who taught us all to swim. He was so tall he made nothing of the surf; he grasped us by the slack of our clothng and supporting us said "now go this way with your hands" which was just the breast stroke — and somehow we had no fear; the water, the waves, the backwash were fun, and very soon Tom and I were swimming alone.

Mother and father were both thus instructed by Mr. Coffin, though they neither became expert - just happy paddlers. Richard, at that time a dabbler only, ultimately became the good swimmer of the tribe.

That beach at 'Sconset! It was the focus of interest, the social center of 'Sconset, in those early days. Many people had tents there, and, indeed, further north along the beach in front of summer houses as well. These tents were very plain affairs: canvas stretched over a ridge pole and fastened to four stout posts at the corners.

MEMORIES OF OLD 'SCONSET

27

Of course at night these had to be furled as they would break loose in a high wind. They were mighty comfortable for resting between swims, visiting, or an afternoon nap. A few people, somewhat later, sported beach umbrellas. People formed in friendly groups — made dates for golf — after golf links were established! or tennis — after the Casino and its courts were built. But in our very first years at 'Sconset there was just swimming, walking, resting in the afternoon on the beach — and many ladies took sewing or books to the beach for an afternoon under tent; the children played endlessly on the beach.

In those days there was active fishing off the 'Sconset shore. The dories lay, bottom up in the sand and we children played about in their shade. It was great fun to see the men launch the dories through the surf, and, once outside, a little sail was hoisted. And it was exciting to see the boats landed through the surf later and observe the catch.

There was a fisherman's settlement of shacks, just north of the main beach, on the sand below the bluff and one fisherman I recall had his market there, Stillman Cash, who for years was our friendly supplier.

That settlement of fishermen's shacks grew and this section in these times is referred to as Codfish Park. But the fishermen and their boats are gone.

What else was our recreation? Walking — everyone walked. We walked the lovely path along the bluff to Sankaty. We walked down the south shore — we walked on the moors or for longer expeditions we drove to Sesachacha Pond, to Wauwinet, a long expedition! to hidden favorite spots or ponds on the moors. When I say drove you understand I mean with a horse and buggy.

My mother loved flowers, and plants, and often of an afternoon we would set off with Jim Coffin in his rig, for Mr. Coffin knew the plants of the Island with intimate affection, and beside being a good swimmer and good farmer, was also an excellent gardener.

Experienced Nantucketers kept an open eye for wild grape, and beach plums; for the jellies and preserves made from these fruits were the pride of the good housekeeper.

I think that everyone in those early days had bicycles; a good many people had their own horses. What else filled our time? Well there were amateur baseball games I recall, in open fields where such games could be quickly got up by a crowd of super active youths.

Our family spent only its first summer in the Underhill Settlement, after that we rented other small houses, in the village, then on the bluff for a couple of seasons the odd attractive house just above the fisher­ man's settlement, later the house of Mr. and Mrs. Robinson, and their

28

HISTORIC NANTUCKET

daughter Rita. Many 'Sconset houses are peculiar; this one had a fascinating arrangement of two stairways to the second floor, but no communication between parts of the house served by said stairways.

After that period my father laid hand on a big white house on the edge of the bluff, just a step from the Robinson house, and here we per­ ched for several summers. The house was referred to I think as the Bluff Cottage. It stood at the very beginning of the Path to Sankaty, and people turned through a little lane there onto the front bluff.

What was 'Sconset like in those pre-automobile, pre-airplane, preelectricity, pre-telephone days?

One paved road from "Town", our Main or Milestone road lead in­ to the village. At the end, to the right, was the aforementioned old hotel.

Lanes spread away, grass edged — with the old low houses of the village and on the bluff edge at that point a few summer homes. If one turned left from the end of the main road, walking a little north, one came to a little open space, where stood the Town Pump. This was an authentic old wooden pump and trough, and was used by many of the nearby dwellers. Indeed I clearly recall our Bridget carrying buckets of water from the pump to the Bluff cottage — though all the houses had cisterns, little slate sinks and hand pumps in the kitchen.

Many of the larger houses built by "summer people" up the North Bluff or in the south part of 'Sconset had windmills, and therefore would have running water and proper bathrooms.

The Pump stood in front of a store — Mr. Wally Brown's small general store. I am vague about what he sold, probably canned goods, but I remember him mainly for more important commodities — gum drops and sugarcoated almonds. Immediately upon arrival we made for Wally Brown's, and sustained and soothed by bags of gum drops and the sweet almonds, could set forth to check up on any changes in town. That little square was pretty in those days — with old houses on the little lanes branching off.

One particularly at the north side of the square was remarkable for the pitch of its roof. In midsummer a most glorius trumpet vine half covered the slanting end. A step or two through a short lane led to the main street, always in my memory called Broadway - it was in any case a bit broader - with wide grass paths, the road itself just a rutted road, with generous lines of grass along the middle. It was a charming street lined each side with the old low, slant roofed, shingled houses.

The little yards were open to the street, not as today smothered in high privet hedges. One or two boasted climbing roses, or a few small plan­ tings of garden flowers, but in those far-off days things were simpler;

MEMORIES OF OLD 'SCONSET

29

there was not the conscious effort at gardening of today.

At any rate this was a charming street and the overworked word picturesque is appropriate to describe it. Many of these homes belong­ ed to Nantucketers, others to "off-islanders" with Nantucket roots or relatives. A few were rented to summer people.

As one passed up the little street one came to a shop on the left — a rather open affair with roofed verandah. Within a white-haired, whitecoated man in a straw hat presided over his counters; this was Mr. Burgess and this was the village meat market.

At the end of Broadway — facing you — was a small house, in the front window of which sat an old man, with lean, straight features, keen eyes, "watching the pass." He saluted you with a brief nod, unsmiling.

For years it seemed to me this same face was there, sardonic, in­ timidating to a child — Sam Pitman.

If you turned to the left here you came to the end of the parallel street and the beginning of the highway which led in the direction of Sesachacha Pond and Sankaty. But the last little village house at that point was called Le Petite Cottage, and in it was a little shop of those oddments and women's necessities usually called "notions". The pro­ prietress was a quiet, slim, grey-haired lady, a Mrs. Winslow. In a room at the back sat her husband carving and putting together the little sailors with outstretched oars that whirled in the wind, to give you its direction. We loved them and always had one on our porch.

It was a typical old Nantucket shop and the story I am about to tell is typical and oft told of many shopkeepers in Town. I believe them all!

One day I was sent by mother to Mrs. Winslow's for some ribbon, a small amount for some forgotten purpose. When Mrs. Winslow measured her stock of that ribbon, she found our request would take it all. "Oh — I couldn't sell it all" she said. "But - why?" "Oh — I would not have any for other customers."

From the end of Broadway, in front of old Pitman's window, one passed to the open bluff, just overlooking the fishermen's settlement below. Here one met the path to Sankaty, a narrow right of way which passed along the bluff, north to Sankaty Light, with the beach below and the open Atlantic beyond, and to the left the various summer homes in a variety of architectural styles, most of them owned by peo­ ple from "off-island" who had long summered in 'Sconset.

They came from the middlewest — Cleveland, Detroit, Chicago, from Philadelphia, Providence, Poughkeepsie, Boston, New York,

30

HISTORIC NANTUCKET

Washington. Let me say here that when we arrived, there was a definite settled summer population. That "Underwood Settlement", in the south part of the town, of little houses set down in open fields had not doubt been built to meet the need for more cottages to rent.

There is a legend, born of the American talent for building pro­ paganda on the shaky base of an event or brief moment, that 'Sconset was discovered and made known by actors from New York. The Underhill Settlement did house a few for a while, but bus drivers were wont to tour through those lanes pointing out the Actors' Colony, long after many of the little cottages had passed into private hands. Inno­ cent and anonymous owners, hiding in a bit of back garden, would listen as their home was described as part of "the Actors' Colony".

Flat statements and generalities are dangerous, but I would ven­ ture that in that year, before the Spanish-American War, when we first came to 'Sconset, no actors had discovered the island, or the easy, peaceful informality of life in 'Sconset.

That they did, many of them in a few years infiltrated the quiet spot is a fact. Many came, and left, after a short stay, not a few bought homes, or built. Many became part of the community, in a settled, pleasant way, joined the "old timers" as friends and neighbors. I cherish memories of dignified old Mrs. Gilbert, in a rocking chair on the porch of the lovely old house George Fawcett and his wife owned on the main road. Frank Gillmore and his pretty wife were here, settled summer residents, with their two pretty little girls; indeed, being older, I watched Margalo and Ruth grow up, and Margaret Fawcett, daughter of George, who lived in the old Fawcett house, "Rosemary".

Another, who with her sisters melted into the community, was lovely Isabel Irving. She built a big summer cottage on the north bluff, next to one my father bought for the family later.

But back to those early times, and the life we lived: housekeeping was simple — coal stoves in the kitchen, with the occasional oil stove as an adjunct, or, in a tiny house, the only cooker. In the Bluff Cottage a coal stove was Bridget's to manage. With only Wally Brown and Mr. Burgess, as suppliers of staples and meat, one turned to the farmers.

Milk and cream came from Mr. Harry Dunham; vegetables, for us, from Mr. Henry Coffin. They drove in with their farm wagons and came to your door. As to the "staff of life" I am sure there were women who baked bread on order, and I remember clearly going on Saturday evening to Mrs. Folger, across from the Chapel, for Boston brown bread and baked beans.

It is certain that for fruit, more meat supplies and extras there

MEMORIES OF OLD 'SCONSET

31

were trips to Town on the little yellow train. On such occasions if we children were allowed to go, we visited the Woman's Exchange in a lit­ tle house on Main Street near the Bank, where delicious cakes were to be found; and sometimes were taken for ice cream, home-made of course, to a quiet house and it seems to me was on Orange Street. In a still parlor, we ate large saucers of rich chilling stuff.

What was our average day in those early years? One woke to the sound of a coffee mill, and presently the aroma of fresh made coffee. A hearty breakfast, eggs, biscuits, home made bread — then for us children, out to look up friends, perhaps a short bicycle ride. But it was soon time to don the bathing suit and descend to the main beach, to swim and sun and idle and visit till our parents pulled us away for a mid-day meal, which was ample to meet appetites whetted by salt air and exercise. In the years before the Golf Club, before the Casino, we invented our own entertainment for the afternoons. While we were in the Bluff Cottage came the establishment of the Golf Club — and there was a persistent legend in our family that my father and his friend, John Grout, were the originators of the scheme. Certainly my father was interested. A part of Mr. Henry Coffin's land, on the main road, was adopted. A beautiful big old house on high ground became the sim­ ple club house; at first 9 holes were laid out, later 18.1 well remember the arrival of golf clubs from Spauldings in New York for Tom and me short, being for our young years, and very still of shaft. I do not remember how we got to the Links, probably walked or bicycled. We all, father, mother and the young, attempted this sport, none of us with any distinction except the youngest, Richard, who later developed into a pretty good golfer. But the club was a success and became a focus for summer events. The Saturday afternoon matches were graced by ladies' teas in the big room of the old house, and many a cucumber sandwich I passed or helped make for those events. (another section in next issue)