Away Off Shore

by Nathaniel Philbrick

  The secret of how to manufacture sperm candles came relatively late to Nantucket, the result of some high-stakes espionage work on the part of the Rotches in the early 1770s; see Macy’s History. According to an account in NI (August 3, 1827), the Rotches’ on-island monopoly of candle-making “was not to be endured,” so Walter Folger, “a man of uncommon perspicacity,” determined to figure out the secret himself, ultimately starting a successful candle factory with Thomas Jenkins, the man who would accuse Kezia, Rotch, and the others of treason during the Revolution; after the war Jenkins would be one of the men behind the founding of the whaling port of Hudson (see Chapter 13).

  The Rotches were so savvy (and ruthless) in their manipulation of the whale oil market that not even such Boston heavyweights as the Hancocks were able to wrest control of it from them in the 1760s; see Byers.

  The letter describing the arrival of the Boston refugees on Nantucket was written by Abraham Williams to Col. Nathaniel Freeman on July 20, 1775, and is in NHA Collection 197; Williams also states that there are Nantucketers who “expect to make their own fortune in the squabble, without danger to themselves”—a plan that Kezia Coffin seems to have latched onto from the very beginning of the Revolution.

  Stackpole in Nantucket in the American Revolution (Nantucket, 1976) speaks of the confiscated whaleboats going to Lake Champlain. Rotch’s reference to religious persecution appears in Byers; for an account of the still-murky circumstances surrounding the plan for a Falkland-based whale fishery see Stackpole’s The Sea-Hunters. Besides Kezia Fanning’s diaries, Macy’s History is an excellent source of firsthand information concerning the Revolutionary period on Nantucket.

  Hart provides this account of Kezia’s Quaise estate in Miriam Coffin : “When last we saw it, time and exposure to storms had covered it with a mossy coating, and it was occupied by an industrious farmer and his family, who seemed to take pride in speaking of its origin and its peculiarities.” The reference to the factual accuracy of Hart’s novel appears in NI (July 16, 1834).

  In the introduction to Miriam Coffin, Hart recounts sharing some chowder with a character obviously based on Benjamin Franklin Folger in his squalid shack in Siasconset. Hart even goes to the lengths of claiming that the actual text of the book is based on a manuscript given to him by the Folger character. Eliza Mitchell met Folger when she was a twelve-year-old girl and later recalled: “We were from that time on always the most friendly terms, and from him I learned much that to me was very interesting. But he never seemed willing to give me opportunity to write any down. He simply said, ‘Your memory’s good enough, and you’ll remember, because you cannot forget.’ ” Folger recounted to Mitchell the specifics of how he discovered Kezia’s secret passageway: With the help of an old farmer, who referred to it as “that old Tory’s Smuggling Hole,” he began digging where “I often had been told the entrance might be found.” Eventually he came to what he described as “an opening,” and “in a few days after the air had passed through,” he crawled inside and found the “storage place” (NHA Collection 23). As is indicated in his diaries, William C. Folger, a schoolteacher, surveyor, and noted genealogist on the island, got most of his information from Franklin Folger, whom he visited on a regular basis in the 1830s and ’40s.

  Before the Revolution put them on opposite sides of the political fence, Timothy Folger provided his “cousin” Benjamin Franklin with information concerning the Gulf Stream that Franklin used to make an extremely accurate chart; see NP for a copy of the chart and Franklin’s comments concerning the Nantucketers’ familiarity with the Stream. For a description of Kezia Coffin’s legal entanglements after the Revolution, see Emil Guba’s The Great Nantucket Bank Robbery Conspiracy (Waltham, 1973).

  Although William Rotch wanted no part of the Revolution, in February, 1783, his ship the Bedford was the first to fly the American flag in London. No matter what the political leanings of the ship’s owner might have been, at least one crew member was a true patriot. According to an anecdote related by William F. Macy, one of the sailors was a hunch-back who, after being asked by a British tar what it was he had under his coat, replied, “Bunker Hill and be damned to you!”

  13. The “Removals”: From Jethro Coffin to William Rotch

  In his History, Obed Macy says that Nantucketers “were so closely connected by birth, similarity of pursuits, and habits of intimacy, that in some respects they appeared and conducted as one family. Perhaps there is not another place in the world, of equal magnitude, where the inhabitants were so connected by consanguinity as in this. . . .” Godfrey in Island of Nantucket describes the differences between Nantucket and Martha’s Vineyard speech patterns. Franklin’s letter to his sister is dated August 3, 1789, and appears in NP.

  My account of the Mendon settlement is based on Elizabeth Little and Margaret Morrison’s “The Mendon-Nantucket Connection: 1708–1737” (NHA, 1986), in which they describe the transplanted Nantucketers as “peripheral suppliers.” The Rev. Timothy White’s bride, Susanna Gardner, was part of the return migration from Mendon. As Little points out, economic factors may have also contributed to the end of the settlement; by 1726 Nantucket had developed to the point that there were plenty of coastal traders willing to make the trip out to the island, reducing the need for a peripheral supply-town such as Mendon.

  After expelling the French Acadians from Nova Scotia in 1758 (some of whom were sent to Nantucket before resettling elsewhere), the British were attempting to bolster the English presence on the island. For an account of the Nantucket settlement of Cape Sable, see Edouard Stackpole’s “The Nantucket Migrations,” HN (October, 1958).

  For information on the settlement in New Garden, North Carolina, see William Macy’s “Migrations of Nantucketers to the South and West,” HN (1933); also Robert Frazier’s “Nantucket and North Carolina,” NI (October 26, 1967). Copies of removal certificates are in “Nantucket Friends Records: Testimonials of Denials, Acknowledgements, Removals, 1777–1812,” NHA Collection 52, Book 21. An example: “To the Monthly Meeting at New Garden: Margaret Marshall having removed from hence to settle among you, and requesting our certificate, these are to certify that she is a member of our society and hath settled her outward affairs as far as we know to satisfaction, and is clear of marriage engagements as far as appears, as such we recommend her to your Christian care, with desires for her growth and establishment in the truth, remain your friends brethren and sisters. Signed in and by order of the above and Meeting by William Rotch, Clerk; Ruth Gardner, Clerk.” An original copy of the letter from William and Phebe Stanton is in NHA Collection 36, Folder 28.

  The migration from North Carolina to Indiana and Ohio is discussed not only in William Macy’s article but also in Guba, who speaks of the town of Nantucket, Indiana, as well as the “commonwealth” of Nantucket. An example of a Nantucket descendant taking his “genius” into the interior of the country is provided by Levi Coffin, popularly known as the “President” of the Underground Railroad and the model for the character of Simeon Halliday in Uncle Tom’s Cabin. In his Reminiscences, Coffin speaks proudly of his Nantucket heritage while describing his migration from North Carolina to Indiana; indeed, at one point in his autobiography he talks about the “Underground Railroad business” in just the same way that his ancestors spoke of the “whaling business.”

  A colorful account of the Hudson, New York, settlement is provided by Charles S. Clark in “Emigration from Nantucket to Hudson, N.Y.,” HN (1928). Stackpole’s Whales and Destiny also deals with Hudson while providing a blow-by-blow account of the international “chess game” between England, France, and America in the Dartmouth, Dunkirk, and Milford Haven settlements. The letter from Rotch to Samuel Rodman is cited in Stackpole, as is his reference to a “second Revolution” in France. Moses Brown’s remarks concerning Rotch are quoted by Byers. Greville’s three aims regarding the Milford settlement were made in a memorandum to the “Committee of South [Sea] Whalers,” cited in Stackpole. Abiel Folger’s di
ary is also cited in Stackpole.

  Although it never came to fruition, plans were made for yet another Nantucket offshoot community, this time in Lima, Peru. In a letter (at the NA) dated November 10, 1799, addressed to Captain Wyer and signed “X” (but with handwriting that resembles Benjamin Tupper’s), the writer claims that “I have been about 10 mo. on a project of establishing a whale fishery at Lima in Peru which I have obtained an exclusive right for 10 years free of all duties. . . . I . . . embark for N. York to put my project into effect with American ships and sailors. I shall have 10 ships of 150 to 300 tons . . . and 3 large ships of 600 tons in bringing the proceeds from Lima to Spain.”

  Crèvecoeur mentions Kennebec as the northern alternative to New Garden for Nantucketers wishing to remove; Nantucketers also went to Saratoga, New York, prior to the Revolution. In his daily journals (NHA Collection 96), Obed Macy also refers to early nineteenth-century removals to Kennebec; New York City is another favorite destination; interestingly, Boston is almost never mentioned.

  Micajah Coffin’s letter to Walter Folger, Jr., is dated November 18, 1811, and is at the NA. The 1818 letter from J. Rotch is in NHA Collection 144, Folder 81. William Rotch’s reputation seems to have undergone a dramatic turnaround on Nantucket. In 1781, a traveling Quaker referred to him as “much esteemed by the people” and as “a prince of the island” (in Henry Cadbury’s “An Off-Islander’s Impressions, June, 1781,” HN, June, 1949); by the 1790s, such was not the case.

  14. A “Nest of Love” No Longer: William Coffin and the Bank, Commons, and School Wars

  An article in NI (May 30, 1825) looks back to the days of the Federalist-Democrat division on Nantucket: “Every man, woman, or child could tell a Democrat from a Federalist, at the slightest glimpse.—There were a 1000 little lines, demi-lines, and sublines of character, which rendered it as impossible for a member of one party to counterfeit the marks of his opponent as for a turkey buzzard to pass for a cockroach.” William Coffin’s 1793 letter is to Thomas Upshur, Jr., and is in NHA Collection 150, Folder 78. The tightening of the Friends Discipline on Nantucket can be traced in the “Quaker Committee Book of Objections,” NHA Collection 35, Box 4, Book 9; also see Byers. William Coffin had a direct professional connection with Kezia Coffin, deciding in her favor when asked to mediate a debt dispute, and apparently representing her in court at one point. William Coffin’s portrait can be seen in the Coffin School, of which he was the first president of the trustees.

  In June of 1795, just before the opening of the Nantucket Bank, the town’s name was changed back from Sherburne to Nantucket; the bank (where the Lion’s Paw now stands) was robbed only two weeks after opening its doors. For a detailed and thoroughly researched account of the robbery and its effect on Nantucket, see Emil Guba’s The Great Nantucket Bank Robbery Conspiracy and Solemn Aftermath or the End of Old Nantucket (Waltham, 1973); another good account of the controversy (from a lawyer’s perspective) is in Robert F. Mooney and Andre R. Sigourney’s The Nantucket Way (New York, 1980). As whaling vessels became larger and the voyages became longer (by this time whalers were rounding the Cape of Good Hope and Cape Horn for the Pacific), it was vital that Nantucket shipowners and merchants have access to increased capital; hence the formation of the bank.

  A treasure trove of materials relating to the Nantucket Bank robbery, including letters, depositions, and other documents are in NHA Collection 91. The joke concerning the latch string is in Charles Clark ’s previously cited “Emigration . . . to Hudson.” Nathaniel Coffin’s letter is from The Chronicle (November 30, 1795) in NHA Collection 91, Folder 17. Silvanus Macy’s letters (several of them to William Rotch) are in Collection 91, Folder 6; Coffin’s correspondence is in Folder 5; the threatening notice is in Folder 17. Kezia Fanning’s deposition (Folder 3) provides a very personal look into the incredible maneuvering and backstabbing involved in the controversy.

  The full title of the ballad is “Siasconset Laws or The Laws of Siasconset, A Ballad, Proposed with a pipe of Tobacco as An Evenings Amusement to the Fisherman (to the tune of ‘Vicar of Bray.’) By a Friend of Native Simplicity.” An 1845 edition of the poem is in the NA.

  My account of William and Micajah Coffin’s square-off owes much to Guba and Will Gardner’s The Coffin Saga (Nantucket, 1949). Freeman’s description of Nantucket’s “spirit of bitterness” is in NP; in 1801 Josiah Quincy met Albert Gardner during a visit to Nantucket and commented on how the scandal had devastated him (in NP). On his deathbed in 1808, Jethro Hussey asked that several of those who had accused him of the bank robbery be brought to his bedside; he then swore that “he was an utter stranger” to the robbery (a copy of his moving address to his accusers is in Folder 3).

  The irony of a “thee and thouing” Quaker such as Silvanus Macy leading a cover-up operation is made plain by a reference to “The Epistle from the Yearly Meeting held in London—1796” (in the NA), a Friends document that was printed in New Bedford and distributed throughout the island in the midst of the scandal: “In these times of worldly commotion, the concern still remains with us, that our brethren may be preserved from joining with any thing, that immediately or remotely conduces to mixing . . . with the fluctuating politics of the times.”

  For an account of the religious aftershocks of the scandal, see Guba and Byers. By 1823 the Methodist church that presently stands on Center Street (with a seating capacity of 1,000) was built, although the pillars that now dominate the front were not added until 1840.

  Churchman’s account of the proprietary is in Henry J. Cadbury’s “An Off-Islander’s Impressions, June, 1781,” HN (1949). Josiah Quincy (in NP) made the comments about exhausting the land. Obed Macy’s discussion of sheep grazing is in his History. Perhaps the most eloquent defense of the proprietary came from Joseph Sansom writing in 1811 (in NP): “[T]here is now a plan in agitation for dividing to each proprietor his share, in fee simple under the specious plea of putting it into the power of every man. . . . Should this operation take place, it will probably throw large tracts into particular hands, who may improve the breed of sheep, and ameliorate the soil . . . but the place would lose forever its most interesting peculiarities.” For an account of the Commons War, see Guba’s “The Sheep Commons Fight,” HN ( July, 1964). A copy of the original petition to divide the commons as well as the pamphlet “A Nest of Love” are at the NHA (“Commons Land” blue-dot file).

  For an account of the Federalist-Democrat wrangling during the War of 1812, see Reginald Horsman’s “Nantucket’s Peace Treaty with England in 1814,” New England Quarterly ( June, 1981); Starbuck also offers a good documentary account of some of the more controversial town meetings. During the war, a bloody battle between the American privateer Neufchatel and British frigate Endymion just off the southeastern end of the island flooded the town with wounded sailors. As a five-year-old boy Frederick Sanford (Chapter 18) heard the screams of men being operated on in a tavern, something he would never forget.

  Sanford also remembered Uncle Cash and the Newtown Gate, as well as the east and west sheep shearings. For those seeking to explore the arcane intricacies involved in what makes up a sheep’s common (from a lawyer’s perspective), there is Orrin Rosenberg’s concise and readable “History of Sheep’s Commons and the Proprietary,” an unpublished manuscript, as well as Guba’s article.

  Copies of Coffin and Gardner’s “Bank Narrative” are at both the NHA and NA. Obed Macy’s journals are in NHA Collection 96. See Byers on the Quakers’ deemphasis of education. For an overview of Nantucket schools, see W. D. Perkins’s “Education,” HN ( January, 1960). William Coffin was part of a committee that determined in 1818 that there were hundreds of children on Nantucket without schooling. Unfortunately, after briefly instituting a fledgling school system, the town withdrew its support.

  For an account of Isaac Coffin’s relationship with Nantucket, see the video “Admiral Sir Isaac Coffin, Baronet: The Vicarious Nantucketer” (for which I wrote the script) in the archives of the Egan M
aritime Institute, as well as Thomas C. Amory’s The Life of Admiral Sir Isaac Coffin, Baronet (Boston, 1886). The original Coffin School was built on the corner of Lyons and Fair Streets; the current building on Winter Street was built in the 1850s.

  For Samuel Jenks’s account of the history of the Democrat-Federalist feud, see his previously cited editorial in NI (May 30, 1825). In the advertisement for Macy’s History (NI, 1834–5), William Coffin, Jr., has this to say about his role as ghostwriter, “The part which it was proposed that the writer of this should perform has been readily and cheerfully undertaken, and, although he can claim no honor as a historian, and is desirous of none for the drudgery of re-writing, it gives him pleasure to anticipate that he may be the means of hastening a publication, and possibly of securing to this generation, what might otherwise have been postponed to the next.”

  In 1821 when Owen Chase, a survivor of one of the worst disasters to strike a whaleship (see Chapter 15), returned to the island, he certainly looked to someone else for literary help. As none other than Herman Melville observed, Chase’s Narrative of the Essex (one of the chief inspirations for Moby-Dick) “bears obvious tokens of having been written for him; but at the same time, its whole air plainly evinces that it was carefully & conscientiously written to Owen’s dictation of the facts.” The empathetic eloquence displayed in both the Bank and Essex narratives has led the literary critic Thomas Farel Heffernan, in Stove by a Whale (Middletown, 1981), to point to William Coffin, Sr., as the only Nantucketer capable of writing what has become one of the most celebrated whaling narratives ever written. However, his son, William, Jr., must also be considered as a possibility; he was closer in age to Chase and would perform the same service for Obed Macy in 1834–5; also Macy’s History contains a plug for Owen Chase’s book, suggesting that William, Jr., may have indeed been the author. In her introduction to selections from the Globe narrative in the Nantucket Journal (Spring, 1991), Helen Winslow Chase speculates that William, Jr., was also the ghostwriter for Lay and Hussey. For a good example of his prose, see not only the History but also the pamphlet “Address Delivered before the Nantucket Assoc, for the Promotion of Temperance,” April 1, 1833 (NHA Collection 150, Folder 79). The younger William Coffin’s obituary in NI (April 28, 1838) describes him as “possessed of a remarkably philosophic mind highly improved by classical attainments.” William Comstock makes the comments concerning the “depravity” of Nantucket Quakers in The Life of Samuel Comstock (Boston, 1840).