[9] NOTES ON THE WHALE FISHERY. 213^ 



down like rain upon the heads of the demons. This was a kind of war- 

 fare which they were not prepared for. They coukl not understand ito. 

 The deck was literallj^ covered with tacks, and, being barefooted, the^ 

 sharp little nails penetrated their feet, while with shrieks and yells of 

 rage and pain they tumbled headlong into the sea, leaving the ship once 

 more in the hands of her rightful owners. The natives, however, did 

 not leave the ship without severely injuring at least one of the crew. 

 While giving his order for the men in the top to scatter down the tack» 

 the mate, Mr. Absalom Bunker, received a severe wound from an arrow 

 just above one of his eyes, which necessitated his return to Nantucket 

 and final retirement from the sea. He died in 1836. He was as capa- 

 ble and energetic a man as ever sailed from Nantucket, but this iujury 

 affected him mentally, and never after was he the same man he had 

 formerly been. Mr. Bunker was grandson of Uriah Bunker, who, as 

 previously stated, landed at Nantucket, April 19, 1775, the first load of 

 oil from the Southern hemisphere. At the commencement of hostilities 

 in 1812, England had many whale ships in the Pacific Ocean, most of 

 them commanded by Nantucket men. A few, however, were in charge 

 of Englishmen who had been taught the art of taking whales by Nan- 

 tucket captains sailing from English ports. Later on in the war these? 

 ships, on sailing from England, were armed as privateers, and captured 

 many of our own ships when full of oil and homeward bound. The gal- 

 lant Porter, however, in the frigate Essex, made havoc among them^. 

 taking nearly the w^hole of the British fleet in the Pacific Ocean and: 

 running them off to Neuheva, Marquesas, where some were retaken and 

 sent to England; among them the Seringapatam, Sir Andrew Ham- 

 mond, Montezuma, and Greenwich. Among those remaining in our 

 hands was the Atlantic, afterwards called the Essex, jr. She was a 

 very fast ship, and was taken home by the late Commodore Downs- 

 (then first lieutenant of the Essex). When Commodore Porter ascer- 

 tained that some of his captures were commanded by Americans he in- 

 vited the captains into his cabin and treated them with courtesy and 

 generosity. 



The people of Martha's Vineyard were never a sea-going people m 

 early times like their Nantucket neighbors. A few of her citizens came 

 to Nantucket and sailed from here, becoming at once superior command- 

 ers, ;is well as fishermen. In 1816 old Capt. Jethro Daggett bought 

 the New York ship Apollo, a small ship, 200 tons, carrying 1,700 barrels,. 

 and fitted her out for the Brazilian coast. This was the first enterprise 

 of the kind on the Vineyard of which we have any knowledge. She 

 proceeded on her voyage, but not meeting with success she was taken 

 into Eio Janeiro and fitted for a more extended voyage to the Pacific 

 Ocean and its extensive cruising groands. In due time the ship re- 

 turned to Edgartown full, with 1,500 or 1,600 barrels of sperm oil, and 

 to this beginning were added many fine shii)S, not only to Edgartown 

 but to Holmes Hole, and the island is now noted for its able captains 

 and fine seaman, second to none in America. 



