THE YANKEE WHALER II3 



reading Jonathan's diaries at every available spare 

 moment. He read of the pretty girl from Boston who 

 became Mrs. Jonathan Oakley; of Captain Oakley, 

 whaling master and father of five boys and two girls; of 

 Captain Jonathan P. Oakley, shipowner and merchant; 

 and of the old man's visit to his native Somerset in 1805, 



C/A^A^eriAa/^ 



the same year that one of his friends made the last 

 entry in an unfamiliar hand stating that 'they buried 

 this fine old man in the Nantucket dunes that he loved so 

 well.' 



When Thomas had closed the leather cover of the last 

 volume he climbed into the evening sunlight of the upper 

 deck and as he stood with the breeze rustling his fair hair 



