This is a finding aid. It is a description of archival material held in the Research Library at the Nantucket Historical Association. Unless otherwise noted, the materials described below are physically available in our reading room, and not digitally available through the internet.
Summary
Edouard A. Stackpole was a report, curator, historian, and author who wrote many books about whaling and Nantucket history. This collection contains the primary sources and research notes compiled by Stackpole regarding the mutiny on the ship Globe.
Collection Details
- Collection Number:
- MS74
- Title:
- Edouard Stackpole Collection of Ship "Globe" Materials
- Date(s):
- 1824-1981
- Creator:
- Globe (Whaling Ship), Stackpole, Edouard A., 1905-1993
- Repository:
- Nantucket Historical Association
- Language:
- Material is in English.
Information for Users
Restrictions to Access: No restrictions. Open for research.
Restrictions to Use: No usage restrictions.
Copyright Notice: Copyright is retained by the authors of items in this collection, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law.
Preferred Citation: [identification of item], in the Edouard Stackpole Collection of Ship Globe Materials, Nantucket Historical Association.
Acquisitions Information:
Gift of Edouard A. Stackpole (Acc. RL1979-86).
Sensitive Materials Statement:Manuscript collections and archival records may contain materials with sensitive or confidential information that is protected under federal or state right to privacy laws and regulations. Researchers are advised that the disclosure of certain information pertaining to identifiable living individuals represented in this collection without the consent of those individuals may have legal ramifications (e.g., a cause of action under common law for invasion of privacy may arise if facts concerning an individual’s private life are published that would be deemed highly offensive to a reasonable person) for which the Nantucket Historical Association assumes no responsibility.
Related Collections
- MS15 Ships' Papers Collection, Nantucket Historical Association.
- MS335 Edouard A. Stackpole Collection, Nantucket Historical Association.
Subject Headings
-
Topical Term
- Lay, William -- Correspondence.
- Hussey, Cyrus M. – Correspondence.
- Whalers (Persons).
- Ship captains.
- Whaling masters.
- Whaling ships.
Biographical Information
Edouard A. Stackpole was born to Charles H. and Therese Mauduit Stackpole on Nantucket, Mass. on December 7, 1903. He graduated from Nantucket High School in 1922 and then Roxbury Latin School in Roxbury, Mass. in 1924. He was first employed in the editorial office of the Transcript in Boston, then returned to Nantucket in 1925 to work as a printer and reporter at the Inquirer and Mirror. He twice served as president of the Nantucket Historical Association from 1938 to 1952 and 1969 to 1986, and was curator of the Mystic Seaport Museum from 1952 to 1966. Stackpole was also a prolific author and wrote many books about whaling and Nantucket history. He died in 1993.
The ship Globe of Nantucket sailed out of Edgartown, Massachusetts, on December 20, 1822. Two years into the 1822 whaling expedition to the Pacific, mutineers led by Samuel B. Comstock murdered Captain Thomas Worth and three other officers. They sailed the ship to the Mili Atoll, but six of the crewmen not involved in the mutiny snuck back to the Globe and set sail to Valparaiso, Chile where they gave their depositions to the American consul there. Nine months after the survivors escaped, the schooner USS Dolphin sailed to Mili Atoll for the nine stranded mutineers but found only Cyrus M. Hussey and William Lay alive, the others having been killed by the native islanders.
Scope and Content
This collection, compiled of primary sources and research notes by Edouard A. Stackpole, historian and author, consists of a list of crew members, depositions of the crew who sailed the Ship Globe to Valparaíso, the depositions and letters of the two survivors of the Mulgrave Islands, William Lay and Cyrus M. Hussey, and other material. Correspondence of others involved is also included. In part, photocopies and typewritten transcripts.
Contents
Folder 1 Crewmembers, undated
Includes a photocopy.
Folder 2 Photocopies of the deposition of George Comstock, circa 1981
Folder 3 Photocopies of the deposition of Stephen Kidder, circa 1981
Folder 4 Photocopies of the deposition of Peter Kidder, circa 1981
Folder 5 Photocopies of the deposition of Gilbert Smith, circa 1981
Folder 6 Photocopies of the deposition of Anthony Hanson, circa 1981
Folder 7 Photocopies of the deposition of Joseph Thomas, circa 1981
Folder 8 Transcript of the deposition of William Lay, circa 1981
Folder 9 Transcript of the deposition of Cyrus M. Hussey, circa 1981
Folder 10 Correspondence, 1824-1827, circa 1981, undated
Includes some photocopies.
Folder 11 Correspondence concerning the survivors, 1824-1827, undated
Includes some transcripts.
Folder 12 Subscription list, circa 1981
Folder 13 Photocopy of “Dolphin” logbook, circa 1981
Folder 14 Poem “The Young Mutineer”, undated
Folder 15 “Mutiny on Board the Whaleship ‘Globe’” introduction, 1963
Folder 16 “Mutiny and Murder at Sea-The Story of the Nantucket Whaleship ‘Globe’” draft, undated
Folder 17 “Mutiny at Midnight” draft, undated
Folder 18 Research Notes, undated
Folder 19 Clippings, 1828, 1875
Processing Information
Finding aid by Ashley Miller, April 2022.
Materials in this collection were digitized with support from Connie and Tom Cigarran.