Nantucket shipbuilding began in the late 1700s and culminated in the construction of notable whaling ships during the early 19th century. Shipbuilding was predominantly sited at Brant Point. Whaling ship construction concluded in 1838.
Nantucket lies 30 miles off the southern coastline of Cape Cod, Massachusetts. By the late 17th century, the few groves of forest trees on Nantucket were gone except for small numbers of isolated oak and beech trees. These relatively few Nantucket forest trees were cut for firewood, fence posts, and short boards for diverse construction projects. Land was taken for agriculture and stock raising. Any timbers needed for architectural and shipbuilding use were imported from the mainland, with the result that most Nantucket whaling, fishing, and maritime trade was carried on in vessels purchased from shipbuilders elsewhere in New England.
Brant Point on the north side of Nantucket harbor still has the sandy beach that was a good site for building large wooden ships [1] and it is the location of Brant Point Light.
The first ship built on Nantucket after the town moved to Great Harbor was the brig Dolphin, a West Indies trader launched in 1770. [2]
In 1802, the trading ship 'Rose' was built at Nantucket for use in the China trade. On her last voyage under the United States flag, the 'Rose' was captured by the British and finished her days as a dispatch ship for the Royal Navy. [3]
In 1832, the whaler 'Charles Carroll' was built for captain and 1/32 share owner Owen Chase the first mate and survivor of the Essex tragedy. This history is confirmed by other references to Capt. Owen Chase. [4] [5] . [6] [7] [8]
At 350 tons, Nantucket was the first Nantucket Island ship built of Live oak with copper fastenings. The construction cost for the vessel was $52,000. [15] Nantucket's short life ended when she was wrecked in 1859.
Also built in 1838 of live oak and copper fastenings was the whaler 'Lexington' at 399 tons. She was valued at $24,000 and ended her life when wrecked in 1859. Mrs. Eliza Spenser Brock wrote a detailed and important history of a whaling voyage when she accompanied he husband, and Lexington's captain, on a Lexington whaling voyage in 1853. [21]
In 1838, Joseph Starbuck built the last whaler constructed at Brant Point and named it after himself – the 'Joseph Starbuck'. [29]
Whaling Voyage of the Joseph Starbuck –
This article discusses the history of whaling from prehistoric times up to the commencement of the International Whaling Commission (IWC) moratorium on commercial whaling in 1986. Whaling has been an important subsistence and economic activity in multiple regions throughout human history. Commercial whaling dramatically reduced in importance during the 19th century due to the development of alternatives to whale oil for lighting, and the collapse in whale populations. Nevertheless, some nations continue to hunt whales even today.
The Ann Alexander was a whaling ship from New Bedford, Massachusetts. She is notable for having been rammed and sunk by a wounded sperm whale in the South Pacific on August 20, 1851, some 30 years after the famous incident in which the Essex was stove in and sunk by a whale in the same area.
Owen Chase was first mate of the whaler Essex, which a sperm whale rammed and sank on November 20, 1820. Chase wrote about the incident in Narrative of the Most Extraordinary and Distressing Shipwreck of the Whale-Ship Essex. This book, published in 1821, would inspire Herman Melville to write Moby-Dick. Chase was born in Nantucket, Massachusetts, the son of Phebe (Meader) and Judah Chase.
The Coffin family was prominent in the history of whaling in the United States, operating ships out of Nantucket, Massachusetts, from the 17th to 19th centuries. Some members of the family gained wider exposure due to their discovery of various islands in the Pacific Ocean.
Commercial whaling in the United States dates to the 17th century in New England. The industry peaked in 1846–1852, and New Bedford, Massachusetts, sent out its last whaler, the John R. Mantra, in 1927. The Whaling industry was engaged with the production of three different raw materials: whale oil, spermaceti oil, and whalebone. Whale oil was the result of "trying-out" whale blubber by heating in water. It was a primary lubricant for machinery, whose expansion through the Industrial Revolution depended upon before the development of petroleum-based lubricants in the second half of the 19th century. Once the prized blubber and spermaceti had been extracted from the whale, the remaining majority of the carcass was discarded.
Sperm whaling is the human practice of hunting sperm whales, the largest toothed whale and the deepest-diving marine mammal species, for the oil, meat and bone that can be extracted from the cetaceans' bodies.
The whaler Globe, of Nantucket, Massachusetts, was launched in 1815. She made three whaling voyages and then in 1824, on her fourth, her crew mutinied, killing their officers. Eventually most of the mutineers were killed or captured and the vessel herself was back in Nantucket in her owners' hands. She continued to whale until about 1828. She was broken up circa 1830.
Two Brothers was a Nantucket whaleship that sank on the night of February 11, 1823, off the French Frigate Shoals. The ship's captain was George Pollard, Jr., former captain of the famous whaleship Essex. The wreck was discovered in 2008 by a team of marine archaeologists working on an expedition for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument. She is thought to have been built in 1804 by Joseph Glidden in Hallowell, Maine.
Chardon was a 379-ton whaler that Aget, Kenny and Coffyn purchased in 1787 and commissioned at Dunkirk that same year. Benjamin Hussey purchased her in 1789 and renamed her Judith. Judith made four whaling voyages as a French ship. The British captured her but her crew recaptured her. She then sailed to New Bedford.
Admiral Cockburn was a ship launched in New York in 1808 or Philadelphia in 1809, almost certainly under another name. The British captured the American ship in 1814 and she was sold as a prize. Corney & Co. purchased and renamed her; originally she served as a London-based transport. In 1829 she became a whaler in the southern whale fishery. She was wrecked at Muizenberg Beach, False Bay, Cape of Good Hope, in July 1839 while returning to London from her third whaling voyage.
Rambler was launched in America in 1812. The British captured her in 1813 as she was returning to America from Manila. She then briefly became a West Indiaman. In 1815 she became a whaler in the Southern Fishery. She made four complete whaling voyages and was wrecked on her fifth.
Montezuma was launched in Philadelphia in 1822 as a packet ship. In 1841 her owner sold her and she became a whaler operating out of New London, Connecticut. Between 1841 and 1861 she made six voyages to the Indian Ocean, the Pacific, and the Bering Sea. Late in 1861, during the American Civil War, the USS Navy purchased her to sink her in January 1862 as a harbour obstruction.
Renown was launched in 1794 at New Bedford, Massachusetts. She made four voyages from Nantucket as a whaler. In 1813, while she was on her fifth American whaling voyage, she became the first American whaler that British whalers captured in the South Seas. She was sold in London and under the name Adam became first a London-based transport and then a British Southern Whale Fishery whaler. She made four whaling voyages and was wrecked in 1825 at the outset of her fifth British whaling voyage.
Paragon was launched at Portsmouth, Virginia, in 1803. She immediately sailed for Great Britain and thereafter sailed for some time as a merchantman under the British flag. She then made three whaling voyages between 1819 and 1828, and sank at sea near Oahu on her third.
Charlton, was built in America. She first appeared in British-origin online records in 1803. She made three complete voyages as a whaler. She was on her fourth voyage when the U.S. Navy captured her. After her captors released her she returned to England and then disappears from easily accessible online records.
Fonthill was a ship built in France in 1781 and was probably taken in prize in 1782. Fonthill sailed as a West Indiaman between 1783 and 1791, then became a whaler southern whale fishery and made four whaling voyages between 1791 and 1799. On her third voyage she took back from Cape Town a Dutch captain whose vessel had been captured bringing in arms and ammunition from Batavia to stir up unrest against the British at the Cape. After refitting, in 1800, Fonthill became a whaler in the northern whale fishery. Fonthill was last listed, with stale data, in 1810, but whose last reported whaling voyage took place in 1806.
Warren was launched at Swansea, Massachusetts, in 1829. She made six complete voyages as a whaler operating from Warren, Rhode Island, before she burned in the Anadir Sea on 10 July 1852 on her seventh whaling voyage.
Venus was launched at Deptford in 1788 and made 15 voyages as a whaler in the British southern whale fishery. Of 812 whalers in the British southern Whale Fishery database for which there was data, she had the fifth highest number of whaling voyages. She was last listed in 1823.
Sir Charles Price was launched in America in 1812 under another name. The British captured her c.1814 and Daniel Bennett purchased her and added her to his fleet of whalers. She made six complete whaling voyages and was lost in 1833 on her seventh whaling voyage.
Cadmus was built in 1818 in New York. She was a packet sailing between New York and Havre. In 1824, Cadmus carried General Lafayette to New York on a visit at the invitation of the U.S. Congress. From 1827, Cadmus became a whaler, sailing from Sag Harbor, New York. She made 17 complete whaling voyages. During her whaling years Cadmus brought in oil and whale bone worth a total of $359,000. In 1849, a new owner sailed her to California so that he and his crew could take part in the gold rush there. They abandoned her in San Francisco, where she became a storehouse until she became too leaky; her bones were eventually buried under fill.