Whalemen of the Josephine

“We took three bowheads in a month’s time and each one equaled two of our sperm.”  Excitement controlled Captain’s voice and he banged his fist on the table to release it.  “This old chart of my grandfather’s shows thirty-two marks made over a ten-year period.  ‘Twas a long time ago, but whales!  Aaron, whales!” 

You’ll sail with Aaron and his uncle, Captain Aaron Samuelson, on a fictionalized whaler in 1855 when a whaling ship was registered in the state of New Jersey.

This is a coming of age story about a teenage boy, newly orphaned, and the uncle he never knew aboard a whaler in 1855.  Many young men make up the crew of the Josephine; some of them were able-bodied seamen, some had had previous experience aboard a sailing ship, and nine were greenhorns.  You’ll experience the hard work, difficult living conditions, high spirits, training and discipline of these young men along with the dangers, thrill of the kill, and unusual adventures on an eight-month search from New Jersey to Greenland for whales.

Sag Harbor on Long Island, New York; Gloucester, Boston, and New Bedford in Massachusetts; and dozens of towns and cities in New Jersey, Delaware, New York, Connecticut, Rhode Island and Maine were once the homeports to hundreds of whaling ships.  Most of the catastrophes and day to day incidents in this book happened at some time, somewhere, and the activities, food, clothing, books, songs, schools, discipline, treatments for sick or injured people, medicine, care of orphans, and methods of whaling were in use during the middle of the 1800’s.

Sperm and other whales frequently beached themselves on the outer banks of New Jersey in the 1600’s and 1700’s.  When men took to boats, and then bigger an bigger boats, they decimated the schools(pods) of whales migrating along the shores all the way to Canada.

During this era most whaling ships traveled for months around dangerous Cape Horn at the bottom of South America to the South Seas, Japan, the Philippines, Bering Strait and the Arctic in search of new whaling grounds.  They shared the location with other whalers until each bay was shore to shore ships, and the whales were almost extinct. 

In 1859 the first productive oil well in nearby Pennsylvania and the hundreds of sister wells that followed, providing a cheaper and less dangerous source of oil, shut down this carnage.  With the industrial revolution in full swing and the pay in a factory at least three times that of a seaman, most young men traded their hankering for adventure for the safety of a factory job.

In recent years we have seen whales cavorting off the beach near Sandy Hook Lighthouse and off Long Beach Island in New Jersey.  A couple of years ago an article in the newspaper said that a Right whale had been spotted in the ocean off Sandy Hook.  In the forties my father found a hunk of ambergris floating in the water off Sandy Hook.

The name Samuelson was chosen because Frank Samuelsen and George Harbo of Atlantic Highlands, NJ departed from New York City on June 6, 1896 and rowed for eighteen hours a day, in an eighteen-foot rowboat, across the Atlantic Ocean.  They arrived in Le Harve, France on August 7, 1896.

Have I ever been aboard a whaler?  Yes, the Charles W. Morgan in Mystic Seaport, CN.

Have I ever sailed on a large sailboat?  Yes, in the Caribbean for five days and most recently on the seventy-two foot gaff rigged sailboat Daniel Webster Clements in Florida.  A local organization Aquarian Quest teaches school children about the ecology of the Gulf of Mexico in the morning and invites their sponsors for a sail in the afternoon.

I did a lot of research, consulted with experts and had the glossary and manuscript read by an expert.  In simplifying terms is the definition distorted?  Are there grammatical errors?  I hope not, but please overlook them and enjoy Aaron’s story.  This manuscript started as a short exercise for my critique group but the characters wanted their story told, and I’ve made every effort to express their thoughts and words their way.

Liberties were taken with the phonetic spelling of foc’s’le so that a reader would pronounce it fok sel.  Actual spelling is forecastle.  A sketch of the Twin Light lighthouse that was built in 1862 is included because the castle like towers still stand and are quite handsome.  A visit to the museum in the Twin Light lighthouse is recommended.  The display is very informative, the guides are helpful and the view is stupendous.  And if you cross the bridge to Sandy Hook you might even see a whale.

Please read the Glossary and look at the primitive map of the northern coastline before reading Whalemen of the Josephine.  Under each chapter heading you will find a sketch of a whale, whaleboat, inside of the whaling ship, etc.  The sketches were drawn as visualized by the author and her husband.

For Pat Holenstein a writing exercise for her critique group about a captain, a boy, and a ship ignited a fire for writing a historical novel about whaling from New Jersey in the 1850’s.  Researching the era rekindled her interest in the dramatic changes that occurred during the Victorian era and the Industrial Revolution.

Pat grew up in Atlantic Highlands near Sandy Hook.  She holds a degree from William Paterson College as a Teacher-Librarian and taught library skills while encouraging a love of reading in her students. 

A member of NJSCBWI and Heritage Oaks critique group she presently writes in Sarasota, FL where she is warm all winter and the beach and sand are forever.  Summers are for New Jersey.