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As we've discussed throughout the year, understanding the historical context of a text is integral to understanding it. One mistake that students make when reading historical texts is bringing to it modern day assumptions. Familiarizing yourself with the historical context will help you better understand everything-- from diction choices to allusions, from character development to symbolism. Let's begin with an overview of HOW to read historical texts...

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Set up a two page spread in your ThinkBook. You can use the timeline we set up at the beginning of the year if you want. Take notes as you read through the various primary sources linked here. I encourage you to try the sketch note approach, since visualizing this moment in time will be helpful to you. Begin by creating a quick schematic of what you have learned about the era so far. Refer back to your notes and capture the essence of the following terms: picturesque, romanticism, transcendentalism, and the sublime.

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Scroll through the timeline linked below. It provides a good overview of the whaling industry that developed in New England. What similarities do you notice between this historical timeline and events or details you read about in Moby Dick. Capture anything noteworthy in your ThinkBook.

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Into the Deep: America, Whaling & the World | Timeline

The History of Whaling in America

1605
An English sailor, having just served on George Weymouth's exploratory voyage to the territory that would become Maine, publishes an account of a Native American whale hunt.

1640
Shore whaling is taken up at Southampton, Long Island. The fledgling industry is manned by Native Americans, who are paid a percentage based on the quantity of oil returned -- a precursor to the "lay" system of wages used in later whaling voyages.

1659
Nantucket is sold to and settled by nine original purchasers: Tristram Coffin, Thomas Macy, Christopher Hussey, Richard Swayne, Thomas Barnard, Peter Coffin, John Swayne, and William Pike. The sale is made for 30 pounds of sterling and two beaver hats.

1676
Whaling on Nantucket takes root as settlers construct small fishing hamlets at Quidnet and Siasconset.

1690
Ichabod Paddock, a Long Islander, is recruited by Nantucketers to help increase the efficiency of their shore whaling operations.

1700
Approximately 60 English settlers and 160 Native American Wampanoags are engaged in shore whaling on Nantucket.

1702
John Richardson, a Quaker, visits Nantucket and proselytizes Mary Coffin Starbuck; as a prominent civic figure, Starbuck's conversion is crucial to Quaker ascendance there.

1712
Nantucketer Christopher Hussey kills the island's first sperm whale, and deep-ocean whaling commences. For the next century and a half, Nantucketers will specialize in hunting sperm whales.

1750s
Tryworks -- brick oven furnaces used to render oil from whale blubber -- are first installed on ships, increasing profitability and extending length of whaling voyages.

1767
Prominent Nantucket whaling merchant Joseph Rotch resettles to New Bedford, anticipating the city's future importance to the whaling industry.

1775-1783
During the Revolutionary War, whaleships are targeted by the British Navy with nearly fatal consequences to the industry. Nantucket's fleet is reduced from 150 vessels to fewer than 30, and ports elsewhere in Massachusetts and on Long Island are likewise impacted. Many Nantucket merchants, who, prior to the war had strong commercial links to Britain, relocate their whaling operations abroad -- to London, Canada, and France.

1783
Several whaling businesses, shaken by the destruction of the war, relocate their operations from Newport, Providence, and Nantucket to Hudson, NY, which is more than 100 miles from the open ocean.

1785
Great Britain, anxious to subsidize its own whaling industry (and perhaps to rebuke its rebellious former subjects), imposes a duty on imports of whale oil. U.S. Ambassador to Great Britain John Adams famously argues to Prime Minister William Pitt that the duty "sacrifices the general interest of the nation [Great Britain] to the private interests of a few individuals." Adams' argument is rejected, and the duty upheld.

1790-1820
With the discovery of the whale-rich "onshore grounds" off the coast of South America, the Pacific Ocean is an increasingly popular destination for American whaling vessels.

1807
Nantucket's fleet has recovered from the losses of the Revolutionary War, and at 116 vessels it is the largest in the young American republic.

1812-1815
War of 1812: As during the Revolution, American whaling vessels are preyed upon by the British Navy; several dozen are either seized or destroyed, and among American whaling ports only Nantucket continues to send out voyages.

1818
After the War of 1812, the whaling industry enters its "Golden Age." Among the investors attracted to the industry is novelist James Fenimore Cooper, who, while visiting a relative in Sag Harbor, Long Island, invests in a whaling firm. (The investment ultimately returns a loss.)

1823
For the first time, New Bedford's whaling fleet exceeds that of Nantucket.

1846
Already disadvantaged by a sandbar at the mouth of its harbor (which was prohibitive to the larger whaling vessels typical of the industry's Golden Age), Nantucket is ravaged by The Great Fire. The whaling industry there will never recover.

1848
The toggle harpoon -- a weapon substantially more effective than its fluted predecessor -- is invented by Lewis Temple, an African-American blacksmith.

July 1848
Sag Harbor whaling captain Thomas Welcome Roys opens the arctic to American whalers via the Bering Straight. Arctic whaling will gain increasing importance after mid-century, as the industry shifts its focus from oil to baleen.

December 1848
New Bedford artists Caleb Purrington and Benjamin Russell debut their 1,295-foot moving panorama of "A Whaling Voyage Around the World," just as popular interest in the industry is peaking. Among the events depicted in the panorama is the ramming of the Essex and the mutiny aboard the whaleship Sharon of Fairhaven.

1850
Because of profits from whale oil and baleen, New Bedford is the wealthiest city per capita in the country.

August 1851
The whale ship Ann Alexander, cruising in the Pacific under Captain Deblois, becomes the second such vessel to be stove by a whale, 30 years after the Essex.

1853
The "Golden Age" of American whaling reaches a soaring peak. In the industry's most profitable year, sales of whale products total $11 million.

1859
After more than a year of drilling, Edwin Drake finally discovers petroleum in Titusville, PA. Petroleum -- cheaper, more abundant, and more easily obtained than whale oil -- will soon displace whale oil in the illuminant market.

1871
An early winter traps 32 whaling vessels -- a substantial proportion of the American fleet -- in the arctic ice. The crews, half of whom are native Hawaiians, are rescued, but all of the vessels are lost.

1876
Another Arctic disaster claims a further 12 whaling vessels.

1879
The Mary and Helen is launched asthe first steam-powered whaling vessel in the United States.

1886
As railroads increase the efficiency of coast-to-coast transportation, San Francisco passes New Bedford as the nation's foremost whaling port.

1891
Herman Melville dies.

1907
Paul Poiret, a Parisian designer, introduces a "slim, up-and-down" line of women's clothing, undercutting demand for corsets, and thereby baleen.

1924
The New Bedford whaling vessel Wanderer is blown aground by a hurricane at Cuttyhunk in Buzzard's Bay, bringing the American whaling industry to a symbolic end. The Wanderer had been embarking on the last whaling voyage aboard a sail-powered vessel.

1986
The International Whaling Commission bans commercial whaling after a global anti-whaling movement in the 1970s. The ban, however, permits whaling for scientific research. This provision has allowed countries such as Japan to whale under scientific research permits.

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The History of Whaling in America | American Experience | PBS

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Into the Deep: America, Whaling & the World | Timeline 1605 An English sailor, having just served on George Weymouth's exploratory voyage to the territory that would become Maine, publishes an account of a Native American whale hunt. 1640 Shore whaling is taken up at Southampton, Long Island.

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Click on the link below, scroll through the images, and note the evolution of of how the natural world was perceived. Pay particular attention to images created during the 1800s. In your notes, comment verbally or visually on how these images align with the concepts of romanticism and the sublime.

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Year: 1539 Scientist/artist: Olaus Magnus Originally published in: Carta Marina Now appears in: The Book of Fabulous Beasts and Sea Monsters by Joseph Nigg Many of the creatures in Ortelius's map were inspired by the version released decades earlier by Olaus Magnus, a Catholic priest who left Scandinavia for Rome after the Reformation.

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Click on the link below. It will take you to a site that has archived some images that relate to the whaling industry. Click on the Logbook Art and Images of Whaling links. Peruse the images and then explain on your note sheet how these images relate to what you read about in Moby Dick. Do they illuminate any of the details you read about?

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Browse pictures about whaling using the categories below.

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Read about the purpose of sea shanties on this webpage. You might want to listen to a few, too.

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I soon got used to this singing, for the sailors never touched a rope without it . . . Some sea captains, before shipping a man, always ask him whether he can sing out at a rope.-Herman Melville, Redburn

It's the 19th century. You're a young man seeking adventure and a test of your manhood. You decide to sign up on a ship to see exotic foreign lands. You take the trip to the coast. You find a big coastal town and you walk through the docks admiring the ships. Finally, you spot one that you like. You walk on deck and a tall man dressed in black coat confronts you. It's the captain.

"What do you want lad?"

"I want to sign on board sir," you say.

He looks you up and down, and says "Aye. But first I need to give you a test."

You're not worried. You were expecting this and, in fact, hoping for it. You want to show the captain what you can do. After all, you were always the strongest out of all your friends. You could climb up any rock or tree since you learned how to walk. And you also knew a bit about navigation from your grandfather. You were eager to show what a great addition to the crew you'd make.

"How well can you sing?" the captain asks.

Wooden Ships and Iron Men

Sea Shanties were work songs sung on ships during the age of sail. They were used to keep rhythm during work and make it more pleasant. Because these songs were used to accomplish a goal, rather then for pure entertainment, the lyrics and melody were not very sophisticated. Still, the songs were usually meaningful and told of a sailor's life, which included backbreaking labor, abuse from captain and crew, alcohol, and longing for girls and dry land.

A typical shanty had a call-and-response format. One sailor(a shantyman) would call out a verse, to which the rest of the sailors would respond in unison. The work would occur usually on the last syllable of the response or some other cue. An example can be found in the movie Moby Dick:

Shantyman: Our boots and clothes are all in pawn Sailors: Go(pull) down ye blood red roses, go(pull) down.

Shanties were divided into several categories, named after the work they were used for. There were long haul shanties and short haul shanties for long and short rope pulling. There were windlass shanties for pumping out water(all wooden ships leaked to some extent and water would have to be pumped out regularly), and capstan shanties for raising and lowering the anchor.

There was also a fifth kind of sailor song, which wasn't really considered a true shanty because it was not used for work. Foc'sle, forecastle or forebitters were songs sung after the work was over. They were named after the sailor's living quarters, where they would gather around to drink and sing wild ballads. For the purpose of the article I'm including a few of them as shanties.

The categories weren't set in stone and sailors would often borrow songs and change the melody and rhythm to suit their work. It seems the only rules regarding sea shanties were that the songs talking about life at sea were sung on the outward part of the journey, and songs talking about coming home and dry land were sung while the ship was homeward bound.

Today, not many people know about the existence of sea shanties. They are usually sung at sea festivals and pirate shows. You can sometimes hear them in movies about the sea, such as Master and Commander and Moby Dick. But the true tradition of shanties ended with the age of sail.

The 10 Manliest Sea Shanties
1. Blow the Man Down
A very popular halyard shanty among modern shantymen. The Spongebob Squarepants theme is a variation of this tune. The version sung on ships usually told about a policeman accusing a sailor of being a black baller and the insulted sailor knocking the policeman down and ending up in jail. The modern version usually tells a story about a sailor meeting a pretty young damsel. The title and chorus refer to the abuse sailors endured on the ships of the Black Ball line.
2. Roll the Old Chariot Read the lyrics
A capstan shanty of African-American origin. The song told about the indulgences sailors dreamed of partaking once they came on shore. It was very easy to add lyrics to it, and so individual sailors would list things they loved most that "wouldn't do them any harm."The line, "A drop of Nelson's blood wouldn't do us any harm," refers to Horatio Nelson whose body was put in a casket of brandy following his death at the battle of Trafalgar.
3. The Coasts of High Barbary Read the lyrics
This one was a forecastle song. Originally an English song, it was later rewritten by American sailors to tell about a victorious battle with pirates disguised as another ship. The pirates pleaded for mercy but the sailors gave them no quarter.
4. Spanish Ladies Read the lyrics
This is the song that you can hear in Master and Commander and Jaws. It was a capstan shanty sung on homeward bound journeys. The lines "we'll rant and we'll roar like true British sailors, we'll rant and we'll roar along the salt seas," might as well have been a battle cry. The verse "we'll drink and be jolly and drown melancholy," perfectly describes the sailor's recipe for a bad mood.
5. The Bonny Ship The Diamond Read the lyrics
This was a forecastle song telling a true story about whaling ship The Diamond which was lost at sea in 1819. Whaling in the age of sail was perhaps the most dangerous job a man could do. Sailors were required to kill the biggest creature on earth from a rowboat. The frost and winds and hard work alone were enough to make sure that only the toughest men signed up for the job.
6. Rolling Down to Old Maui Read the lyrics
Another whaling forecastle song. This one featured a sweet melody which reflected the melancholy of tired sailors. It told about coming home from a whaling trip and describes leaving behind the hardships of hunting for whales.
7. Blood Red Roses Read the lyrics
A halyard shanty about going around Cape Horn to whale. Rounding Cape Horn was one of the toughest tasks in the age of sail because of the strong and unfavorable winds in the area.

There is some speculation as to what "blood red roses" is referring to. Some people say it's a name for the Royal British marines who wore a red uniform. Others say it's referring to whale's blood on the surface of the water.
8. Fiddler's Green Read the lyrics
A forecastle ballad. Fiddler's Green is sailors' and fishermen's version of heaven. A place where there is no work, where you have a mug of beer that refills itself, and there are pretty ladies dancing to a sound of fiddle that never ends. The idea of Fiddler's Green was taken from an old Irish legend and adapted by sailors because at sea the dying did not have the chance to get properly anointed and therefore did not have the chance to enter Christian heaven.
9. Lowlands Read the lyrics
A very sad capstan shanty(although it was probably sung more often in the forecastle). As with all shanties, there are many versions, but the basic story is that the sailor dreams about his love and in that instant he knows that she has died. There are versions where it's the sailor's girl that dreams about the sailor. Some versions are more elaborate and include sailors seeing red roses on his girl's body as a symbol of blood, wet hair as a sign of drowning, and so on. In some versions after the death of a sailor the girl cuts her hair so that no other man will find her attractive.
10. Haul Away Joe Read the lyrics
A short haul shanty. Another popular shanty among modern shantymen. It contains, in my opinion, the best two lines of any shanty or sea song: "When I was a little boy my mother always told me...That if I did not kiss the girls, my lips would grow all moldy." The rest of the song usually tells about the sailor's adventures with women of different nationalities until he finds one that's "just a daisy."

Sea Shanties in the Movies
Master and Commander Shanties
Jaws

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The 10 Manliest High Tide Sea Shanties | The Art of Manliness

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I soon got used to this singing, for the sailors never touched a rope without it . . . Some sea captains, before shipping a man, always ask him whether he can sing out at a rope. -Herman Melville, Redburn It's the 19th century. You're a young man seeking adventure and a test of your manhood.

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Listen to some of the sea shanties on this YouTube compilation. Take some notes on your perceptions. How do the songs and what you have learned about their purpose help you better understand the mindset of 19th century sailors? Consider the following questions... What was life like on a whale ship? What was the nature of the work? How did the whaling life affect families? What type of man might have chosen the life of a whaler?

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A Collection of Sea Shanties (vocal only)

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Here's some amazing footage from the early 20th century. You won't have time to watch it all, but watch five minutes or so. I love that you get a historical firsthand account. What do you find interesting?

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Old Whaling Film aboard The Viola 1916 Part 1 of 2

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This restored 1964 classic of "Whaling Days" features a whaling voyage aboard the New Bedford whaleship "VIOLA"in 1916 narrated by Whaling historian Reginald Haggerty of The New Bedford Whaling Museum. He actually was a whaler himself and sailed on the "VIOLA".

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Spend the rest of the period scrolling through the attached primary source: Narrative of the Most Extraordinary and Distressing Shipwreck of the Whale-Ship Essex. This is a true account of a whaling ship's disastrous encounter with a sperm whale. It is the primary source Mrs. Hall shared with us at the beginning of the year. The book and the movie In The Heart of the Sea were based upon this narrative. It also inspired Melville's Moby Dick. I'd scroll down to page 77 or so. Things start to really go downhill from there! Don't forget to add some details to your SketchNotes.

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The Ploughboy Anthology eBook of: Narrative of the most extraordinary and distressing shipwreck of the whale-ship Essex, of Nantucket; which was attacked and finally destroyed by a large spermaceti whale, in the Pacific ocean; with an account of the unparalleled sufferings of the captain and crew during a space of ninety-three days at sea, in open boats, in the years 1819 and 1820, By Owen Chase of Nantucket, first mate of said vessel. -- Owen Chase, 1797-1869