It Also Needs More Car Chases

St. Louis Post-Dispatch book editor Jane Henderson had some good advice for the author of an acclaimed book about the Pilgrims.

Nathaniel Philbrick is condensing his popular "Mayflower" history into a book for middle school students, so I asked whether he couldn't add some cannibalism. The cannibalism in his "In the Heart of the Sea" is one of the things that made that whale story so riveting.

"I've had so many teachers tell me that 'Revenge of the Whale' is the only thing they can get their seventh-grade boys to read, because it has the cannibalism in it," he said with a laugh. ("Revenge of the Whale" is the student-geared version of "In the Heart of the Sea," the true story of a whaling ship sunk by an angry sperm whale.) [Link]

It's Better to Give Than to Receive Vomit

Dorothy Ferreira of Montauk got the weirdest Christmas present ever from her 82-year-old sister in Iowa.

Inside she found what looked like a gnarled, funky candle but could actually be a huge hunk of petrified whale vomit worth as much as $18,000.

“I called my sister and asked her, ‘What the heck did you send me?’ ” recalled Ms. Ferreira, 67, who has lived here on the eastern tip of Long Island since 1982. “She said: ‘I don’t know, but I found it on the beach in Montauk 50 years ago and just kept it around. You’re the one who lives by the ocean; ask someone out there what it is.’ ” [Link, via Neatorama]

The waxy lump may indeed be ambergris—a substance retched up by sperm whales and prized by our ancestors for its "strangely alluring aroma." Which makes me wonder what else our ancestors tried dabbing behind their ears.

It Ain't Moby Dick

From EastBayRI.com, posted Dec. 8, 2005:

Westport Historical Society acquires ships' logs by local 17th century whalers

WESTPORT - We have heard the stories of lonely whalers out at sea, but their feelings come to life in a ship's log acquired by the Westport Historical Society. The log was written by Albert A. Gifford of Westport. Mr. Gifford was a boat steerer and harpooner who later worked his way up to first mate.

[snip]

Although Albert Gifford is emotional about his wife, he does not express much concern about a fellow whaler's death. He writes, "The whale took Ansell Jewell in his jaw and we never saw him after."

Mr. Gifford makes a confusing reference to what appears to be an altercation between two men. He calls one a "lap dog" and says he was "released from the teeth of a huge mastiff by quietly administering a pinch of snuff."

[snip]

[Read the whole story]

Sorry, My Pearl-Diving Uncle Ned Was Missing an Arm

From (Richmond, Va.) Style Weekly:

Treasure Hunt: Historian Seeks to Reunite Descendants

November 30, 2005

At the Thanksgiving family gathering, did anyone mention long-lost Uncle Ned? Not the one who lives in Des Moines, but the Confederate veteran who deserted a whaling ship to live with the natives on an island off the coast of Australia, where he made his fortune in pearls and sea cucumbers. The one who was missing a leg. If such an unusual character appears in your family tree, James Gray would like to hear from you. Gray, an American historian who lives in Queensland, Australia, believes the family of local legend Edward “Yankee Ned” Mosby can be found in Virginia — perhaps even in Richmond.

[snip]

[Read the whole story]

Letting Strangers Milk the Pines

Seen in Records of the Town of Plymouth (1636-1783):

[1:35]
It was ordered by the towne that all graves especially for elder psons shalbee diged five foot deep and that all such as have any occation to Imploy any in diging of graves shall see that they are diged soe deep

[1:119]
Ordered by the Towne That whatsoever whale or pte of a whale or other great ffish that will make oyle shall by the Providence of God be Cast up or Come on shore within the bounds of this Township . . . two ptes of three therof to belonge and appertaine to the Towne . . . and the third pte to such of the Towne as shall find and Cutt them up and try the Oyle . . .

[1:309]
. . . liberty is Granted to Major John Bradford to milk the pine Trees upon the Towns Comons . . . & [he] hath liberty to Imploy straingers lately Com from the westward upon sd Comons . . . upon Condition the sd Bradford doth . . . Instruct Aney of said Inhabitants in what scill sd strainger[s] hath in Milking the pines soe far as they are Capable of Instructing any in that Art

[3:10]
At said Meeting the Town voted that every male head of a Family be obliged to procure Ten grown Rats heads or Ten Grown black birds heads and bring them to ye Town Treasurer. . .

[3:239]
Then voted & Directed the Selectmen at a proper time to Advertise in this town the law of the Province Respecting Preventing Carrying about the Image of the pope &c in night time. . .

A footnote to this last entry remarks that "The Province Charter provided 'that there shall be liberty of conscience allowed in the worship of God to all Christians (except Papists).'"