Whaling in New York

Posted to historical archaeology (histarch) and underwater archaeology (sub-arch) forums: In "Famous First Facts A Record of First Happening, Discovery and Invention in the United States," by Joseph Nathan Kane (c)1973 3rd Edition, The H.W. Wilson Company, NY 1964) it's stated that the first "Whaling (systematic)" began in Southampton, Long Island, New York on March 7, 1644. Has anyone heard of earlier dates? Of course it might be hard to get dates from the Shinnecock archaeology finds, currently said, many to be under America's first golf course (said to be 12 holes in the Scotsman newspaper online). It might be difficult to ascertain as the same reference has the first "Historical Society" the American Historical Association founded Sept. 10, 1884, in Saratoga Springs, NY. Would welcome counter dates. >George: >Basque whalers had fully established shore stations linked by ships in New Foundland as early as the 16th century. Also, Dutch whalers hunted the North Atlantic at least that early. The same kind of operations continued through the 19th century in both the Atlantic and Pacific waters. Out here in San Diego, we have the only known surviving tryworks oven feature preserved on Ballast Point, Naval Base San Diego. I have a research paper in process on the Ballast Point Whaling station. >Ron May >Legacy 106, Inc. Thanks. One of the first tax revolts in the New York Colony was over the 1/6 or so of beached whale rendered to oil to be paid to the New York government in the "city". Many thought it an undue tax and without representation (that east end of Long Island is at least 80 or 90 miles away in Suffolk County) in the outcome of local government I think began to refuse to pay it. It was also I think in reference to "beached whales" and tough to enforce. It may also had been a misunderstanding about methods of harvest. Later in the 19th century some other towns on Long Island became whaling ports, Greenport out on the north fluke of the native thought fish-shaped island and in Cold Spring Harbor, which today is home to the world famous biology research laboratories. I was thinking there might be some other earlier dates, but I imagine they might be early on at Nantucket Island (the Macy's company was started by one of their whalers, after four or five business failures its written) and elsewhere. Some of the native materials found "out there" have "harpoon" looking artifacts, though thought maybe for smaller coastal fish. Thanks >José Manuel MATÃ?S LUQUE >I don´t know whether this is related to your query but don´t forget the whaling stations in Newfoundland by the Basques since 1500´s (Red Bay shipwrecks mainly, 1545) as it is said also to have been the early moments of whaling as a commercial entreprise yearly when vessels were fitted in the Baque Country for that purpose. Also there are terrestial stations to produce whale oil and you´ll find references in English. If you want the Spanish ones, I can provide you with them. >William Moss >http://www.heritage.nf.ca/exploration/basque.html Me: I was thinking Continental United States to "narrow" it down a bit since the date is very early, I thought maybe Spanish? whaling in southern U.S. States? earlier? Thank you. I once met the woman from Guelph University on Grand Manan Island in New Brunswick in the Bay of Fundy, (not far from St. Croix Island, a very early international archaeology site between the US and Canada), who was taking DNA samples from the "right whales" with a small crossbow. They have a nursery there, not far from Campobello Island also. They had some minke whale sitings too she said of the two parked down at Indian Beach and the Eddystone light called "The Whistle" I had seen that had chased the ferry over to the island. The DNA was combined with visual records to try to study the "right whale" pods and their attempts at survival swimming from Florida to New Brunswick, Canada. Once working for the US National Park Service, I had left to go to grad school and returned to visit the crew at its next stop, the Martin Van Buren "summer White House" (due to epidemic) which then was all white and has been returned to what it once looked like. Nearby in Hudson, NY was where it's said many whales were processed for whale oil for the northern tier of cities lighting (Albany, Syracuse, Rochester, Buffalo) and also the home of the American Museum of Firefighting. (?) >Ron May, Inc. >One of the interesting archives concerning whaling is the Basque legal archives (although I no longer recall where it is located). The Basque whalers took out insurance on their expeditions and often filed claims or were sued for failure to make payments upon their return. Fascinating details emerge from those claims and counter-suits. The one Dutch scholar I have met also said the legal records for 16th century Dutch whaling expeditions, as well as health records, are extensive. Of course, researching this source requires considerable funding and language skills to ferret out the story.

>From my research, this early date is more or less right. According to what I have read, the early English colonists learned to hunt whales from the beach from the Native Americans.

>Ralph K. Pedersen, Ph.D. rkpedersen@yahoo.com Visit http://www.wedigboats.org >Join the TAMU Nautical Archaeology group for NAP students and Alumni at > http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TAMU_NAP_alumni Me: Although it's reported the first oil spring was recorded in 1627 in Cuba, New York (north of where petroleum oil drilling started later in Western Pennsylvania), the first oil (kerosene) wasn't patented (Newton Creek, NYC, by Abraham Gesner) until 3/27/1855 so there might've been quite a bit of whale oil used for lighting.