A
NARRATIVE
OF THE
MUTINY,
ON BOARD THE
SHIP GLOBE,
OF NANTUCKET,
IN THE
PACIFIC OCEAN, Jan. 1824
AND THE
JOURNAL
OF A
RESIDENCE OF TWO YEARS
ON THE
MULGRAVE ISLANDS;

WITH OBSERVATIONS ON THE MANNERS AND
CUSTOMS OF THE INHABITANTS.

————————————

BY WILLIAM LAY, OF SAYBROOK, CONN. AND
CYRUS M. HUSSEY, OF NANTUCKET:

The only Survivors from the Massacre of the Ship’s Company
by the Natives.

————————————

NEW-LONDON:
published by Wm. Lay, and C. M. Hussey.
————
1828.

DISTRICT OF MASSACHUSETTS, TO WIT

District Clerk’s Office.

Be it remembered, that on the twenty-fourth day of October, A. D. 1827, in the fifty-second year of the independence of the United States of America, WILLIAM LAY and CYRUS M. HUSSEY, of the said District, have deposited in this Office, the title of a Book, the Right whereof they claim as Proprietors, in the words following, to wit:

“A Narrative of the mutiny on board the Ship Globe, of Nantucket, in the Pacific Ocean, Jan. 1824, and a Journal of a residence of two years on the Mulgrave Islands, with observations on the manners and customs of the inhabitants. By William Lay, of Saybrook, Conn. and Cyrus M. Hussey, of Nantucket, the only Survivors from the Massacre of the Ship’s Company, by the Natives.”

In conformity to the act of the Congress of the United States entitled “an act for the encouragement of learning, by securing the Copies of Maps, Charts, and Books, to the Authors and Proprietors of such Copies during the times therein mentioned:” and also to an act entitled “an act supplementary to an act, entitled an act, for the encouragement of learning, by securing the Copies of Maps, Charts, and Books to the Authors and Proprietors of such copies, during the times therein mentioned; and extending the benefits thereof to the arts of Designing, Engraving, and Etching Historical and other Prints.”

JNO. W. DAVIS,
Clerk of the District of Massachusetts.

S. Green, Printer.

INTRODUCTION.

Formerly whales were principally taken in the North Seas: the largest were generally found about Spitzbergen, or Greenland, some of them measuring ninety feet in length. At the commencement of the hazardous enterprize of killing whales, before they had been disturbed by man, they were so numerous in the bays and harbours, that when taken the blubber was for the most part boiled into oil upon the contiguous coast.

The pure oil and whale bone were only preserved in those days; consequently a ship could carry home the product of a greater number of whales than a ship of the same size now can.—Indeed, so plentiful were the whales in those seas, and taken with such facility, that the ships employed, were not sufficient to carry home the oil and bone, and other ships were often sent to bring home the surplus quantity. But the coasts of these countries, were soon visited by ships from Denmark, Hamburgh, and Holland, as well as from England; and from frequently being killed in the shoal water near the coasts, the whales gradually receded from the shores, and have since been found only in deeper water, and at a much greater distance from the land.

In the earlier stages of the whale fishery, of which we are now treating, the ships were generally on the whaling waters, early in May, and whether successful or not, they were obliged to commence their return by the succeeding August, to avoid the early accumulation of ice in those seas. But it not unfrequently happened, that ships procured and returned with a cargo in the months of June and July, making a voyage only about three months, whereas, a voyage to the Pacific Ocean is now often protracted to three years!

Among the early whalers it was customary to have six boats to a ship, and six men to a boat, besides the harpooner. What at that time was considered an improved method in killing whales, consisted in discharging the harpoon,