Some indigenous North American tribes still whale, at a subsistence level. The whaling is allowed because whale populations have rebounded beautifully since commercial whaling ended, and because whaling is an important part of the tribe’s culture, tradition and history. I’ve spent years trying to convince people that whaling is a vital part of non-indigenous American culture, tradition and history too, but I haven’t made any progress. It seems to me that the sacrifice of a few dozen non-endangered whales each year in exchange for the continued operation of a great, square-rigged wooden tall ship would be a fair trade. I’d bet the market value of hard-to-obtain whale-meat would cover the cost of laying down a 19th-century-style whaler. Any difference would doubtless be offset by the romance of the high seas and wind-power.
This was on my mind last week when I got a chance to drop into Mystic Seaport on Connecticut’s coast, not far from Rhode Island. Mystic Seaport, in the mouth of the Mystic River—which is not mysterious, but is named for the Pequot word for large river, missi-tuk—is a maritime museum that hosts about 15 ships and boats, and a 19th-century “seafaring village” of about 60 original buildings. One its ships is the Charles W. Morgan, the oldest merchant vessel and only wooden whaler left in the world. Her keel was laid is 1841. She was a contemporary of the Beagle. In fact, she stopped at the Galapagos on a whaling trip less than a decade after Darwin’s visit.
