1690: THE BEGINNING OF AN ERA
In 1690, a Captain Ichabod Padduck of Yarmouth, MA was summoned to Nantucket to teach the islanders how to whale. The small-scale island business turned into a major world industry in a very short time.
- Captain Padduck showed the islanders how to kill and process whales. - Within a few years of Padduck's departure, the South Side of the island was divided into 3.5 mile sections. - Each section had a mast where men watched the seas for whales. - There were huts as well, where five men were always stationed, a sixth in the watchtower. - Boats would be rowed out to the whale, where it was killed brought to shore. - Upon the return to shore, the whale's blubber was boiled for use on a variety of products. Throughout the entirety of Nantucket's whale fishery, the whale blubber was always returned to Nantucket for processing, even if voyages were for years at a time. |