·/\.nice q,\,lia{e spoutednear our <]]oat and<flushand ... CJ!ersuedhim ..... At right, the main cabin , such as this one aboard th e Charles W. Morgan at Mystic, served as the li ving quarters fo r the captain and his fa mily. Th e open doo r at leji leads to the captain' s private cabin , containing his bed , dresser and oth er personal items. To the right is th e settee and storage lockers topped by a shelf, with the stern cabin windows above.
"Raising a Whale" by Ron Druett . "My f riends at home would be surprised at my courage in going and coming ji·om Ships in a small whaleboat," wrote Henrietta Deblois, who sailed on th e bark Me rl inji·om 1856 to 1859 . The trip could be even more nervewracking 1f a whale was raised. On 8 August 1855, Betsy Morey of the Nantucket whaleship Phoeni x wrote that while she was in one of the whaleboats, on the way to visit a bay in the Okhotsk Sea , "A nice Wh ale spouted near our Boat and Hu sband observed that 1f ! was not in the Boar perhaps he might have chance to strike him . I told him to go ahead , pay no Regard to me , he did so and Persued him fo r some rime , bur to no Purpose." Captain Israel Morey was so annoyed that when they met another whaling captain on shore, he gave Betsy's dog away to him, "which made me fee l verrysad," wrote Betsy.
istence, simpl y because thi s ex treme ly strong-minded yo ung sister sail or met so many of her husband ' s whaling brethren and inspired them to take the ir wives a long too, thanks to the wha leman custom o f parley ing with each other at sea. Thi s seaborne vi siting, known as gamming, las ted hours or even days, as wh a les hip s lay haul e d a b ac k a nd wh ale boats were pulled from ship to ship so that everyone e ither visited or rece ived visitors. It was a practi ce peculi ar to the whalemen. While merchant ships did speak to each other, it was done hurri edl y, fo r they had ti ght schedules to keep and were intent on reaching port with the minimum of interruption. The whalemen, by contrast, were crui sing back and fo rth in their endless hunt for the ir quarry, going into port as infrequently as poss ible and , being hungry fo r company and conversation , they vi sited each other often and at length , so that not infrequentl y clusters of several ships all a-gamming we re recorded . Thus, Mary met the first of many whaling skippers within weeks of sailing and, being blessed with a dry wit and a penetrating perception of human frailti es,
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she penned intrig uing pictures of them all , not excluding the flamboyant rogues. The whaling brethren we re certainl y in tri gued by her and many of them informed their do ubtless ly startl ed wives on arri val home that they were coming along nex t voyage. One such was Captain William Tower of the ship Moctezuma , who met Mary in Jul y 1846,on the Alas kan whaling ground. "He was very much surpri sed to see a lady on board ," Mary noted in her journal. Tower seemed embarrassed too, and " made many apologies for his dress which caused me to notice it more particularly, and looked well enough save a little dirt which whalemen must expect. " And it seems that her broad-mindedness pleased the old salt, fo r William 's wife Betsy came along next voyage, and enjoyed a gam with Mrs. Brewster in December 184 7, off Cape Hom. " I was happy to meet with a female acquaintance, and was pleased with Mrs. Tower," wrote Mary. " Mrs. T. said a number of ladies were out thi s season with their husbands-I am glad they are following the late fashion. " Many of the foll o wers of thi s fad that she had started were not nearly so glad , even the ones who sailed for love, and not just meek obedi ence. " Honolulu Jan
14th 1855 ," wrote Caroline, wife ofCaptain Jetur Rose, in a letter to her young cousin Me lvin Halsey of Southampton , Long Island . " I suppose you wo uld like to know what I am doe ing, and how I like whaleing .. . what I have seen of it, it is hard service, don ' t never think of it ... when the ship is pitching and rolling so that I cannot stand up, I am ve rry seasick , and have been, ever since I le ft home, when the weather is rugged . . . . I tell you Me llvine," she wrote later in the same letter, with palpable pass ion , "there is no pl ace like home." And yet Caroline Rose (called " the belle of Southampton" in her youth) sailed on another voyage and then another, spending a total of fourteen years at sea. A remarkable woman- but no more extraordinary than all those who sailed, both gladly and reluctantl y, on voyages that extended from the Arctic to the Antarctic, followin g in the wakes of their trai I-blazing sister sailors-Polly Gardiner, Mary Brewster and Mrs. Solomon Gray. t
Joan Druett , author of " She Was A Si ster Sailor," is scholar-in-residence at the Oysterponds Historical Society in Orient , New York , and guest curator of the exhibit described below.
Learn more about these bold sailors at the exhibit "The Sailing Circle: 19th-Century Seafaring Women from New York," opening at Cold Spring Harbor Whaling Museum, 2 July 1995 (Rte 25A, Main St., Cold Spring Harbor NY 11724; 516 367-3418). Although hundreds of 19th-century women left their homes to join their husbands at sea, their presence aboard ship, often undocumented in the official ship 's log, is hard to ascertain. Once back ashore, the women's stories, as well as their souvenirs, became part of family folklore.
For four years researchers dug through historical collections, attics and local folklore to find the Long Island women featured in the "Sailing Circle". Beginning with only six women, the study uncovered more than fifty new names. The exhibit, a joint effort of the Cold Spring Harbor Whaling Museum and the Three Village Historical Society, shows the variety of experiences 19th-century women encountered at sea. The exhibit will travel to Mystic Seaport Museum, South Street Seaport Museum and the Smithsonian.
SEA HISTORY 74, SUMMER 1995