Tag: whaling

Nantucket History & People

Shipyard Arson

by Amy Jenness, author of On This Day in Nantucket History, available at Mitchell’s Book Corner Built in 1818 in Middletown, CT, the 340 ton Nantucket whaleship Planter left Nantucket on its first voyage on September 25 of that same year. Launched at a time when Nantucket whaleship owners were […]

Whaling | Nantucket
Nantucket History & People

Nantucket Whalers in Europe

by Amy Jenness author of On This Day in Nantucket History On June 1, 1796, the British brig Swallow received a “Letter of Marque,” which gave it the authority to capture French ships. The Letter of Marque and Reprisal is a government license authorizing privateers to attack enemy vessels (Britain […]

When America First Met China
Nantucket Events, Nantucket History & People

“When America First Met China”

by Amy Roberts There are very few windows into Nantucket’s little known nineteenth century engagement in the China Trade. As small pieces of a vague past, there are portraits of Nantucket captains and their families completed by Chinese artists, intricately painted porcelain platters, personalized creamware jugs, and earthenware figurines brought […]

Featured Articles

Labor of Love

Nantucket Carving & Folk Art Perched on the hill at 167 Orange Street you’ll find Nantucket Carving & Folk Art, where hundreds of quarterboards, dozens of signs, and carved mantles, whales, eagles, and other decorative pieces are drawn, carved, painted, and gilded. Downtown Nantucket is a portfolio of the work […]