2 PM Saturday January 15, 2022
(presented via Zoom)
Join us for a conversation about the adventures of Frederick Allen during his whaling voyage.
Drawn by Frederick Allen “Tuesday, June 21 1836 Rainy ◄ NE. AM went to H. Pero’s. Afternoon made that image of a horse on this book.”
In March 1838, Westport farmer Frederick Allen purchased a sea chest and boarded the Westport whaling brig Mexico. With “an uneasy mind”, “a bottle of elderberry syrup and 2 fine sweet cakes” he set sail on a year-long voyage bound for the Bahamas, the Azores, the Canaries, and to the Caribbean. His daily journal entries capture his experiences chasing whales and boiling blubber. His time was also spent waiting in vain for letters from his family, enduring storms, discovering exotic destinations, scrimshanding, gamming with other Westport whaling vessels, and “fluting, fiddling and dancing.”
This conversation will include whaling historian Judy Lund, antiquarian Richard Donnelly, maritime historian Michael Dyer, and local historian Maury May.
Frederick Allen’s journal is available at https://wpthistory.org/explore-2/journal-of-frederick-allen/
Pre-register to attend at https://wpthistory.org/events/a-westport-farmer-goes-whaling/
Westport Historical Society, 508-636-6011, www.wpthistory.org westporthistory@westporthistory.net
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Click here to download the entire 1/13/22 issue: 01-13-22 Snowstorm
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