Category: Whaling

By David Bunn Martine My grandmother, Alice Osceola Bunn Martinez, born in 1901, was a keeper of many oral histories. She remembered whaling stories from our Shinnecock-Montauk family and community going back to the early 19th century. In fact, she was a granddaughter of David Waukus Bunn, who was a whaler on several ships. But […]

By Georgette Grier-Key Introduction Archaeologist Steve Mrozowski, Ph.D. acknowledges that Long Island’s history, as in much of the North, seems largely to escape the slavery narrative. Stories about African Americans and enslaved Africans on Long Island are the less-told stories largely because of the lack of surviving or noted physical evidence.[1] Yet, Long Island had […]

By Stephen N. Sanfilippo I have seen the Storm arise Like a giant in his wrath.[1] There was no regular mail service between the seaports of the northeastern United States and the ships that those ports sent to the Pacific during the mid-19th century peak of “Yankee” whaling. Letters were passed from ship to ship, […]

By Francis Turano William Cooper (1785-1857) was a builder of whaleboats in Sag Harbor Long Island (Figure 1).[1] He was born in Southampton.[2] His father Caleb (1745-1834) was also a boat builder as well as a trustee of the Town of Southampton.[3] In 1806, William was in New York City.[4] In 1808, he married Phebe […]

By Allison Manfra McGovern “March the 3 I arrived at Montauk in the year of our Lord 1798 on Sat. Night. I was gone Nine years and five months. I sailed out Nantucket.” “I Jeremiah Pharaoh the Bold mariner I sailed the world all over nine long years. When I Returned home I found my […]

By John A. Strong Introduction The Long Island Algonquian communities along the south shore were closely attuned to their maritime environment. The coastal wetlands provided them with a reliable supply of shellfish, fish, migratory fowl, and sea mammals. They collected clams year round, trapped and netted fish, and hunted water fowl, seals, and whales. Little […]