Whaling Museum Audio Tour

The Nantucket Historical Association, founded in 1894, preserves and interprets the history of Nantucket through its programs, collections and properties in order to promote the island’s significance and foster an appreciation of it among all audiences.

On this audio tour you will discover Nantucket’s success story through time.  The island of Nantucket, thirty miles at sea, is famous for once having been the whaling capital of the world, then transforming itself into the equally celebrated summer destination that we enjoy today.

The time line will introduce you to the island’s earliest inhabitants and lead you through the first settlers who tried an agrarian economy, eventually turned to whaling and ultimately revolutionized island life.

As Herman Melville said, “What wonder then that these Nantucketers, born on a beach, would take to the sea for their livelihood?”  In Gosnell Hall you will learn how Nantucketer’s came to dominate the whaling business. During this age of sail, strong men in wooden boats pitched their wits against the largest mammals on earth, and in so doing defined the island and its’ people.

Nantucket achieved prominence in the whaling industry by concentrating on the pursuit of sperm whales, prized for the superiority of their oil.  You are looking at the skeleton of a young adult male sperm whale, 46 feet long.  A fully grown sperm whale can be over 75 feet in length!  On the last day of the year, 1997, this whale was spotted close to shore at the eastern end of the island.  The whale was obviously in distress.  The word went out, and a large crowd gathered.  Many Nantucketers had never seen a sperm whale, the whale that made Nantucket the whaling capital of the world.  On the New Year’s Day, 1998, the dead whale washed ashore. Nantucketer’s determination to keep the whale on the island impressed state and federal representatives who agreed to grant the NHA custody of the skeleton.  The acquisition of the skeleton prompted the building of a new Whaling Museum in 2005.

Notice the head of the sperm whale makes up almost a third of its body.  There are teeth only on the lower jaw, teeth that are using for grabbing prey and swallowing it whole.  Sperm whales are pelagic whales that dive and hunt at great depths. The upper jaw supports the whale’s head case, a reservoir of 300-500 gallons of spermaceti oil, the finest oil in the world.  The skull protects the largest brain on earth.  Unlike most whale species who have two blowholes, sperm whales have one, and when they blow, their spout is at a 45 degree angle slightly out of the left side of its head.

Notice the two small bones that hang from the vertebrae.  Millions of years ago, whales lived on land.  At some point in their evolution, they moved into the sea, presumably for food and safety.  When they lived on land, they had four legs.  Those tiny bones are vestigial leg bones, no longer needed in the ocean.   Melville called sperm whales “the most majestic in aspect” of all whales.

When a whaleship departed from Nantucket it was an emotional time.  Most whaling voyages lasted from 2-4 years, frequently rounding Cape Horn or the Cape of Good Hope, and sometimes circumnavigating the world.  When whales were spotted, the whaleboats were launched in pursuit.  The men would race to their assigned whaleboat with a harpooner in the bow, four men to handle the oars, and a boatheader in the stern to steer the boat.  As the whaleboat approached a whale, the harpooner would brace his thigh in the clumsy cleat to give himself stability to throw his harpoon. The harpoon did not kill the whale, but allowed the whaleboat crew to attach to the whale.  A harpooned whale might take off swimming as fast as he could, dragging the whaleboat behind, perhaps at 10-15 miles per hour.  Some of the men hung on to the side of the boat; others bailed water as the boat sped through the waves.  This was the most exciting part of the whale hunt and also the most dangerous.  This was called a Nantucket sleigh ride!

Welcome to the Hadwen and Barney Candle Factory.  Whale oil was the basis of Nantucket’s economy, and America’s first global industry.  There has been a candle factory on this site since 1792.  The first factory burned to the ground in the Great Fire of 1846. In the mid-1840s there were roughly twenty-five factories on the island, producing over 850,000 pounds of candles and over one million gallons of oil, products that were shipped all over the world.

Neptune’s grotto is a magical collection of objects found in and around the sea, displayed in a way that we hope will delight visitors. All museums have curiosities in their collections—items that reflect the travels and varied interests of people in the past. We hope the cases here will echo islanders’ adventures on the world’s oceans.

Families will delight in the transformation of the Discovery Center with a “no touch” interactive experience.  Take a walk back in time through Nantucket Town where you will learn about life in a whaling village. Visit the Curiosity Shop, the harbormaster and other scenes that depict early life on Nantucket.  Then see the model of the Nantucket Railroad as it travels from Town to Sconset and back.  Learn about different species of whales and their behaviors on an interactive screen.

You are looking at a lever press, believed to be the only one left in the world built for whale-oil refining.  Factory workers shoveled chilled, granulated sperm into burlap or hemp bags and loaded the press, with bags placed side by side, a board on top, more bags, until there were approximately 50 bags.  Then the beam was lowered, squeezing the oil from the bags, filling the trough which had a hole in the front corner.  The oil would flow into a cistern in the basement below.  The first pressing, the winter pressing, produced the highest quality and quantity of oil, and was sold for the highest price.  Winter oil was valued for its stable viscosity, and was unaffected by heat or cold.  Winter oil was used in lighthouses and streetlamps in cold climates.  Next,  the process was repeated, reboiling the oil, putting it outside and bringing it in for the spring pressing, which produced oil of lesser quality and quantity, but was still good for lighting and lubrication.  The final pressing was in the summer, and at that point there was very little oil to be extracted, so workers used a screw press.   What was left after the summer pressing was a hard, waxy substance called “black cake”. Now the factory converted to candle making.  The black cake was boiled, bleached, and poured into candle molds, producing highly valued candles that did not smoke or smell and lasted a long time, candles that sold all over the world.

Looking at Nantucket’s harbor today, it is hard to imagine what it looked like during the whaling era. Sooty factories, warehouses and workshops surrounded the harbor, providing the industries that supported whaling.  The vast majority of the whaling ships were built off-island, but much of the outfitting was done locally.  The smaller whaleboats were more likely to have been built on Nantucket, but not the large whaleships.  Masts and spars spawned an industry of skilled carpenters.  Cooperages manufactured wooden barrels, buckets and casks. In the 1830s there were 22 cooperages turning out thousands of wooden containers.  Ships need miles of rope.  Ten ropewalks turned tons of hemp into rope of a variety of widths and lengths from fishing lines to huge, twisted ropes strong enough to hold heavy anchors, or to bind several tons of whale carcasses to the sides of ships. Blacksmiths worked in hot, fiery forges to turn out harpoons, lances, knives and other implements needed to hunt and dismember whales. Each ship needed twenty to thirty sails, totaling over an acre of sailcloth.  Sail making was highly skilled work requiring three-year apprenticeship.

Beginning in the 1840’s a number of occurrences began the decline of Nantucket’s dominance in the whaling industry.

In 1846, a fire that began at Geary’s hat shop on Main Street destroyed the town’s central business district and hastened the decline of the whaling industry.  The blaze spread out of control, particularly along the oil-soaked wharves.  By sunrise the next day, wharves, whaleships and over 300 buildings across thirty-three acres in the commercial core of town had been destroyed, and 800 islanders were homeless.

The California Gold Rush took many men away from the island and with a declining population there were fewer men to man the whaleships.

During the Civil War 339 Nantucket men enlisted.  Seventy-four never returned.  As a naval blockade, the U.S Navy sank aging whaleships at the entrance to the harbors of Charleston and Savannah.  These ships were dubbed “the Stone Fleet”.  By the end of the Civil War, whaling on Nantucket had virtually ended.

For centuries, a sandbar blocked the entrance to the harbor, hindering passage of heavily laden vessels.  Shipping merchant, Peter Ewer, decided to solve the problem.  He hired carpenters to make this working model, based on a Dutch invention called “ship camels”.  The full-size camels were 135 feet in length. The camel hulls were filled with water and submerged and connected under the ship.  As the water was pumped out of the camels, they rose and lifted the ship out of the water.  A steamship would then tow the ship over the sandbar and into the harbor.

Whaling has been an important subsistence and economic activity in multiple regions throughout human history. The first known encounters between men and whales are shown as petroglyphs in Korea in 6000 BCE.  The oldest written mention of whaling comes from a Japanese book written in the 7^th century.

In 1059, the Basques were among the first people to catch whales commercially.   They dominated the trade for five centuries and were the masters of their day.  By the early 17^th century, Holland entered the trade in earnest, adopting new techniques and soon dominated the industry.  Other countries that followed included Britain, France, Iceland, Australia, New Zealand and Scandinavia.   Nantucket’s ascendancy began in the 18^th century.  After the decline of Nantucket whaling, New Bedford with its’ deep water harbor and access to a railroad, became the next whaling center, followed by San Francisco when the trans-continental railroad was completed.

Nantucket has always been on the water that surrounds us. Islanders depend upon the water for work, recreation and their connection to the broader world. Ferryboats, past and present, connect Nantucket to points far and near.

Every August, as part of Nantucket Race Week, the little catboats of the island’s beloved Rainbow Fleet, raise their colorful sails and parade around Brant Point.  Originally, a catboat was any boat with a “cat rig”, a single mast well forward supporting a single gaff-headed sail.  Over time, this rig became associated with beamy, shoal-bottomed centerboard boats designed to operate in windy, choppy and shallow waters.

In the early 1900s, there were about forty dories fishing from Sconset.  These were one-man dories, about 13 feet long.  Each fisherman had a fish house on the beach where he dressed and salted his catch; cod, haddock or bluefish. The fish would be kept under salt for several days and then shipped to Boston, Providence and New Bedford.  Fishing by boat has always been an important Nantucket activity, providing year-round sport to residents and fine seafood to restaurants, both on island and off.  From scalloping in the fall and winter months, to summer charter fishing for bluefish and sea bass, anglers delight in the fishing experiences around the island.  Surf casting, clam digging and pond fishing are also popular pastimes among island anglers.

Cherished summer memories are made on Nantucket.  Family fun on the water and beaches include sailing, clam bakes, kite flying, surfing and sunset cocktails are other favorite recreational activities.

Surrounded by water and thirty miles at sea, Nantucket has always been dependent on ships to supply goods to the island.  However, planes, trains and automobiles are necessary too!

In 1818 the Eagle was the first steamboat to cross Nantucket Sound.  The Island Home, delivered in 1855, was the first coal-powered steamboat serving Nantucket.  Outfitted with marble-top tables, mirrors, velvet upholstery, and stewardesses, she was a luxurious vessel.  The Island Home ran between Hyannis and Nantucket, and another steamer, the Eagle’s Wing took over the New Bedford-Nantucket route.  Today there are two companies that provide daily ferry service to the island.

Nantucket enjoyed a railway service from 1881 until 1917.  By the 1880s Nantucket had already made the transition from whaling center to resort destination, so a conveyance that could provide transportation to ‘Sconset, at the eastern end of the island and to  South shore beaches without the dusty, jarring ride of a carriage made sense.  Rails and used rolling stock in the form of an engine, tender, and two open-air passenger cars were purchased.  The engine was named Dionis after the wife of one of the original settlers, Tristram Coffin.  The road was a narrow-gauge bed with a three foot distance between the rails.  The fare for a trip to Sconset was 35 cents. Due to a lack of turn tables, the engine always returned to town backwards.

Before automobiles came to the island the town had a substantial number of liverymen, farmers, and waggoneers who depended upon horse-drawn transport, which was an important component of the local economy.  A row of livery stables and horse barns at Steamboat Wharf catered to the horse and buggy business.

Nantucket rolled into the 20^th century when Arthur Folger brought the first car, a Stanley Steamer, to the island in 1900. Islanders gazed with curiosity and wonder. Nantucket horses were terrified by the noisy intruders on the quiet town streets.  Thus began a long battle between Nantucket and the automobile, a war that raged in the streets, the courts and the legislature resulting in a ban on automobiles, making Nantucket the only place in the country to successfully outlaw the automobile on town streets until 1918.

In 1913, Clinton Folger brought an Overland touring car to the island so that he could deliver mail to Sconset.   He was free to drive his vehicle on the Milestone Road, but the Selectman prohibited automobiles in town.  Folger had a solution.  As he approached town, he hitched his car to a horse and drove his “horsemobile” through town.

Nantucket’s aviation history began during WWI when convoy shipping from Nantucket to Cape Ann needed planes to search for German u-boats. The first commercial flight arrived on the island in 1927, landing on a pasture.  In 1946, the Navy built a runway for training during WWII.  The modern Nantucket Memorial Airport is now one of the busiest in New England, second only to Logan Airport in Boston.

Nantucket ships traveled all over the world in pursuit of whales, with the crew bringing back souvenirs from their travels.  Ship owners also engaged in trade with Europe, Africa, the Pacific, and Arctic and of course, China.  Fine American homes were decorated with items purchased in China.  Nantucket cargo ships and whalers would bring furs, turtle shells, lumber and specialty food items from the northwest coast of North American and the islands of the Pacific to trade with China.

The whaleship Essex, captained by George Pollard, left here in 1819.  While hunting whales in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, the ship was rammed and sunk by an eighty ton sperm whale.  Thousands of miles from land, the twenty crew members took to three small, open whaleboats.  For roughly ninety days, as they tried to sail to the coast of South America, the men endured unimaginable hardships, including fierce storms, starvation, death and cannibalism.  At the end there were eight survivors.  The true story of the Essex disaster was Herman Melville’s inspiration for writing the great American novel, Moby Dick and the award-winning In the Heart of the Sea, by Nantucketer Nathaniel Philbrick.

First mate Owen Chase was one of the survivors.  Chase, an able, if somewhat opinionated whaleman, was working his way up to become a captain.  During the voyage of the Essex there were several disagreements between Captain Pollard and his First Mate.  At the time of the ramming, Chase was aboard the Essex making some necessary repairs to his whaleboat. As the Essex began to sink, Pollard who had fastened onto a whale, released the whale, and hurried back to the ship, shouting, “My God, Mr. Chase, what is the matter?”  Chase responded, “We have been stove by a whale!”

Upon his return to the island, Chase wrote a book about the disaster of the Essex.  Chase sited his need to provide for his family as his motivation for publication.  Shortly after his return, he left for New Bedford where he achieved success, eventually becoming a captain.  When he returned to his island home on Orange Street in his later years, he suffered frequent nightmares, debilitating headaches, hallucinations.  He hoarded food and water, and ultimately he went insane.

One of the Essex survivors was a young man named Benjamin Lawrence.  During his unbearable time in the whaleboat, Benjamin collected stray fibers and hair, braiding and twisting them into this tiny piece of string.   He vowed that if he ever made it back to Nantucket safely, this would be a reminder of the terrible ordeal that the men suffered.  It is the sole surviving artifact from the wreck of the Essex.

The Sankaty Head light was built in 1849 on the Siasconset bluff at the eastern end of the island.  It was the first American lighthouse to be designed and built with a Fresnel lens. The apparatus was purchased in Paris.  Its’ brilliant light was visible up to twenty-four miles away and was referred to by mariners as “the blazing star”. Frenchman Auguste Jean Fresnel created lenses using a central piece of glass called a bull’s eye, surrounded by concentric rings of glass projecting beyond one another.  The design allowed five times more light to be transmitted than traditional reflector technology.

The Town Clock was given to the town in 1881 by William Hadwen Starbuck.  For over 80 years the clock recorded the time from the Unitarian Church tower.  It continued until 1957 when the works were replaced by an electric movement that ran the clock, as well as controlling the 52 strikes at 7:00 am, noon, and 9: 00pm, formerly done by the bell ringer. Why 52 strikes?  When the bell was installed the town decreed that it would be rung for 3 minutes.  The bell ringer noted that was 52 strikes.

At 11:10 pm on May 7, 1915 45 miles south of Nantucket the Italian ocean liner Andrea Doria bound for New York City and the eastbound Swedish liner Stockholm collided in a heavy Atlantic fog.  1, 650 passengers and crew were rescued, while 46 died.  The Andrea Doria was widely regarded as one of  the most beautiful liners of the era with three outdoor swimming pools and a dazzling array of paintings, tapestries and murals.

Scrimshaw is the art of engraving images on whale teeth, baleen and bone.  This folk art was practiced by men aboard whaleships during the 19^th century.  During long voyages, often 2-5 years, whalers would often turn to scrimshaw as a way of passing the time when they were not busy pursuing whales.  They produced decorative objects and utilitarian devices.  These were often enhanced, decorated and combined with other materials like wood, mother-of-pearl, and abalone shell.  This shipboard art was a unique product and is cherished as an expression of appreciation for nautical prowess.

Nantucket has had a dynamic heritage of decorative arts and crafts reaching into the 20^th century and extending far beyond its geographical boundaries.

As whaling declined, Nantucket had to reinvent itself, and so began the birth of the tourist industry, promoting the island as a beautiful, healthy summer resorts.  Steamship service from New Bedford started in 1874. A single narrow-gauge railway was installed in 1881 connecting to the South shore, and later to Sconset at the eastern end of the island.  Actors, artists and writers from Boston and New York City began to gather on the island creating a vibrant Art Colony.

In addition to the beautiful beaches and moors, Nantucket boasts over 800 pre-civil war buildings and has been called the “finest example of an early New England seaport.”  The Nantucket Historic District was designated to the National Register of Historic Places in November 1966.

This rooftop view is similar to the views that Nantucketers enjoy from “Widow’s Walks” on their homes.  Actually the term “Widow’s Walk” is more accurately called a roof walk, a platform on the roof to give access to the chimney in order to put out chimney fires.

Follow the compass on the deck. Looking east you will see the channel that rounds Brant Point, the entry point for ferry traffic.  Visitors coming to the island by ferry will enjoy a spectacular view of the town.  A Nantucket tradition says that as you leave the island and pass Brant Point Lighthouse, you should throw two pennies overboard to ensure a return visit!

The town experienced a devastating fire in 1846.  Cataract was one of the fire engines that attempted, unsuccessfully, to extinguish the fire.  Cataract is typical of New England fire appliances from the first half of the 19^th century.  Drawn to the scene by its company of men and operated entirely by hand, it features a two-cylinder single-acting pump inside a copper-lined wooden tub which was filled with water by bucket brigade or suction hose.  Its long wood pumping handles, stored on either side, were swung into position when needed.  The crane neck at the front permitted the front wheels to be rotated in a wide arc, allowing the engine to turn for easy positioning.