15
Nantucket Whale Oil and Street Lighting by Edouard A. Stackpole
THE NAME OF NANTUCKET is synonymous with American Whaling. From the 17th century, when this tiny Island in the Atlantic Ocean, off the southeastern coast of Massachusetts, inaugurated a brand new Col onial industry called whaling in "the deep", until the end of its busy enterprise in 1870, Nantucket whaling men became the pioneers in ex ploring and finding new areas for whales in the great oceans of the world. Because of the influence of the Society of Friends in its life on land and at sea, these whalemen were called by Melville "Quakers with a vengeance." During the 18th century the whaleships lighted the lamps of the world of both the new and the old. The true impact of the whaling industry on the habits and customs of the town and city life of its time has not ever been fully evaluated. It must be remembered that before the introduction of the whale oil lamp, the means of lighting homes and buildings was governed by the meagre illumination allowed by fish oil, torches and tallow dip candles. With the coming of a better light through the whale oil lamp, the lengthening period of study and recreation created greater opportunities for the advancement of learning and social gatherings. As an example of cultural advancement, the dim medieval theatre was succeeded by the first theatres with stage lights, footlights and other advancements in the art of stage craft, using whale oil and candles. The eighteenth century saw a new era in lighting history. In contrast with the crude fish and vegetable oil lamps, the rush lights, link tor ches and tallow dips, and the first (right) whale lamps, came spermaceti oil from that aristocrat of whales, the sperm. The improvement in lamps and the introduction of sperm candle brought a great demand for sperm oil, and Nantucketers were the great specialists in marketing this superior oil. Quite aside from home consumption there soon came a de mand of Nantucket whale oil for street lighting. For years the great cities of Europe remained unlighted. London was a prime example. Save for the watchman's lanthorn as he made the rounds, and the link-boys bear ing their torches for the individual traveller or sedan-chair, the streets were as tombs, dark and rambling, with refuse and garbage underfoot and robbers at pitch-black corners in wait for travellers of hours unattended. When, in 1709, the first lights made their appearance in London, they were few and placed at points too far apart to be effective. Then, in 1745, came the reforms in civic government, when the elder Pitt secured passage of a bill which would give more street lights for the metropolis heart of the British Empire. As an immediate result, the demand for whale-oil increased one hun dred fold. The addition of more street lights resulted in the decrease in crime. It has always been an axiom that crime does not thrive in the
