Wichita eagle., 1888-07-12
OLD TINE NANTUCKET.
WHEN THE TOWN WAS At IT'S
HIGHEST WHALING PROSPERITY.

tune and Charactef-Aahore Tor . Hol-
iday-Good Lack.
Forty-fve years ago Nantucket was at its
highest tide Of whaling prosperity. It sent
out feet Of 100 whalers. Its reCurned ships
lay in tiers two deep at those now ruined
| wharves. Then acres Of ground we're COW
cred With OIL casl1 'twinter ssorede under
seaweed; then full oil casks obsroded them
selves on the water edge sidewalks, and rem
dered lady's passage in silk dress Diff
cult not costly experiment.; then ceres Of
ground, low gress grown or turned to salt
meadows, were covered With boat builders
shops, biacksuiths' shops, rope walks, ship
yards and coopers' shops, whose noisy ham
uers, rafting around full or empty casks,
reverberated through the entire town Ia
cooper with one hammer, one cask and one
iron hoop TO tighten on 1t can make more
noise than twenty men engaged In any other
work; then every other man suelled of oil,
End the talk % all sides was Of oil and the
price per gallon Of oil, whale or sperm, and
the names Of the far distant seas from whence
were gathered oil, or where Nantucket's ships
put in for repairs or provisions, were On
every hp
The whaling merchant OF Old Nantucket
was snen with bit OF good horse flesh driv-
ing hriskiy about from the ship under repair
to his Office, from Office 70 dwelling, and back
again. he wes ever In consultation with bis
ship carpenter, his cooper. his blacksmith, his
rigger, or with bis "ssevedore," who boesed
the entire ships repair He wore black
stovepipe hat and high standing collar
side boards we termed them. and his neck
was cramped IN q black 'stock, " kept in its
place by stout steel spring concealed within
it, which suggested Spanish garrote> He
wore swallow tailed coat whether at bust
ness or not, and from his waistband there
dsugled huge gold fob chain and q great
seal attached.
He wrote With quill pen ald knew how
to mend it He sanded his letters to dry the
ink from black or red sand pepper box on
his desk. He SO folded his letter that It would
make its own envelope, for envelopes were
then not known OF used, and he sealed it
with a red wafer or sealing wax. he splioed
the mainbrace at II O'Clock regularly with
horn of Jamaica rum, and kept decanter of
the same always ready for action on bis side
board at home.
The shore dress Of the Nantucket sailor OF
forty years ago was fancy rig as compared
with that Of the sailor Of today. He wore a
round tarpeuin hat-a straw hat, hard
coated with tar, and about az comfortable on
ones head as an iron skillet It was pictur-
esque, but painful-hke tight set Of corssts
and would knock q mans front teeth out il
thrown hard enough at him-I mean the hat,
not the corsets. A half yard OF black ribbon
futtered from the hat-his liberty day signal.
possibly, that his ''ooppers were hot" and his
money burned IN his poc&st" In his ears
were gold earrings. II tho rings were not
there tho hawss holes were. His hair some
times hung in ringlets to his shoulders, and
these he had curled and oiled and perfuu,sd
even after they were gray; for man can be
as vain as WOMAN, and has right to be.
POCKET FCLL OF DOLLARS
He wore a short Jacket, sometimes of green
baize, sometimes Of blue cloth, having many
buttons sewn closely together Arms, bosom
and sometimes whole body were tattooed in
red and bhs India ink, with ships under full
sail and flags Of various nationalities, as
well as bis name for purpose of identified
ticn, in case Of sudden death in foreign
lands. On bis feet were low slippers or
pumps, and in his hand Light whslebone
cane, and inside his right or left cheek
lump of tobacco. and if there wsre any Span
ish dollars in his pocket he made them get
out as quickly as possible.
His business On shore was TO enjoy himself
and spend his money, and in such pursuit he
hired teams and Tip up carts" and filed
them with girls and possibly fiddler. and
drove to 'Sconsstt or Madequet, and danced
al night and drove back to town, and drove
furously FOX ali the biggest stones or deepest
ruts in the road, and if be capsized the cart
ard ali in it, so much the better; and in
coming into town on occasions he veered,
and waved, and tackled, and close hauled on
the wind, and often managed TO carry away
or smash up something Of his own horse or
wagon or that of somebody else.
That was a strange good luck which at /
tended this feet Of whalers for generations.
In those little ships, not nearly as large as |
many OF our present coastiAS schooners, they |
sailed year after year in Tar distant uu- /
known, and then almost unnapped seas.
They sailed IN the light and in the darkness.
too, on seas beses with rocks and reefs above /
and below water They were exposed TO
currents setting them on dangerous shores /
They ran many risks fron the savage and /
ueachsrous natives Of the South Sea
islands. They cruised in the far
north amid foas and icebsrgs These
were not short excursion trips Their voy-
ages lasted two, three, four years. always |
exposed to some ono or other Of these dan
gers So voyagins they explored and dis
covered and were familiar with tribes and |
cannioal races long years before costly naval
and government. expeditions retold tbs
whalernan's story IN series OF ponderous
So wandering over ocean after
ocean for so many thousands OF miles and
during SO many years, yet for over 900 years
four Of Nautuckse's whaling eeet re-
surnsd home sate-Prens;ce Milford in New
York StAr.