In Chapter 1, you read about life in Nantucket. I found the history fascinating--a town of roof-dwellers, superstitions, the "imprinting of young Nantucketers (whale brain washing), the influence of the Nantucket Wives Club, and the social hierarchy. Chapter 2 provides detail about the beginning of their voyage and the mechanics of the Essex.
In your next blog entries, consider how the established hierarchy on the Essex reflects the social stratification of Nantucket. In other words, are the sailors all on equal footing as believed by the Quaker faith. Think about the exercise we did when we laid out the ship.
The Quaker faith is described as being pacifists. Although the Quakers were pacifists and most Nantuckets were Quakers they still believed in hunting for whales. Hunting for whales meant that they would need to have blacks and whites on the Essex in order for it to run smoothly, it was still in the 1800's so of course there was racism in the Quaker faith and on the Essex as they treated white people much better than black people. "Nickerson considered himself fortunate indeed to escape being so clasely penned up with so large a number of blacks." (page 34) The blacks kept themselves busy by yarning, while the whites, as far as I know did not do much. "African American sailors indulged in the ancient seafaring tradition of "yarning", swapping stories about passages, shipmates, and wrecks, along with other tales." (page 35) The quakers were pacifists. Even though the Quakers were pacifists, they segregated the blacks from the whites in the living quarters, but for the rest of the ship the blacks and the whites were treated the same.
ReplyDeleteNicole 11/28/09
I agree with nicole. Despite the Quaker religion there were diffrent rankings on the ships. If you were a captian or first mate then you were in chnrge of everyone else and got the biggest nicest area to sleep. If you were a greenhorn who were mostly black people then you would get smooshed in a small dark room near the whale guts/oil which smelled teribly. (p.34-35) show us the layout of the ship and what the greenhorns would do in their spare time. They would tell stories play music and more, they could do this because they were separated from the athourity. All though the quaker faith is that every man should be treated equal it was not always followed on the ships.
ReplyDeletePetra Callo 11-29-09
The Quaker religion is one of peace and tranquility despite the practitioners of Nantucket who hunted whales and brutally murdered them. It was the first religion to be approved for the people by Mary Coffin, a woman who tried to act as the leader of the early Nantucket settlement (pg 8). This religion grew and was adopted throughout the island, but it was not upheld off of the island on the whaling ships that sailed for Nantucket and the Quakers. One the whale ship Essex, the captain and his mates held authority and claimed the nice part of the ship. Leaving the poor white sailors to the decent but stinky part of the ship. While the black sailors where left with the room right near the blubber room, that smelled like thousands of dead whales. The blubber room separated the blacks from the authority causing the blacks to tell stories, sing, gamble, and do many other various activates that would be frowned upon by the captain. The Quaker religion like all others was flawed because man is flawed. I agree with Petra said and feel that the blacks were not treated by a religion that called for equal treatment of everyone, but in another sense I feel that it is not the religion but the understudy who does not understand the laws or codes.
ReplyDeleteChristopher Lindberg 11/28=9/09
i forgot to cite my sentence- The blubber room separated the blacks from the authority causing the blacks to tell stories, sing, gamble, and do many other various activates that would be frowned upon by the captain(pg 34-35)
ReplyDeleteI agree with Nicole but there is one more thing that I would like to add. The captain and his 1st and 2nd mates were all white weren't they? I don't know but something about this is a little fishy (haha). Pg 34 showed that Thomas Nickerson was "fortunate not to have to [live with] a number of blacks." This to me is a racist statement that should not be made from somebody whose religion says that every man deserves the same chance to live freely. I think that there was still racism on both land and sea even though they tried to treat each other fairly. Hunter 11/29/2009
ReplyDeleteI agree with everyone else.the Quakers were supposed to be pacifists and against racism. Yet the black people are kept apart from the other crew members.The point that hunter made is very valid. It also proves my point that even though the Quakers thought they were against racism they were ultimatly not.
ReplyDeleteAnastasia
The Quaker's were believed to be Pacifists who wanted to abolish slavery. Yet even if most of the Nantucket society were Quaker, colored people were still considered less desired then White people. It says that the colored green hands were treated worse than White green hands and a lot worse than other Nantucket folks (pg. 26). I also agree with Topher that if Blacks were supposed to be treated equally then why do they have to live in the god awful blubber room. The Blacks were separated from the Captain which allowed them to do things that the captain would not like them doing like gambling, telling stories, and sing (pg. 34-35. A part of Quaker faith was to abolish slavery or make black people equal to White people. They treat Black people so differently even if they say they will treat them equally
ReplyDeleteJamie Gates 11/29/09
I totally agree with Hunter on this one.
ReplyDeleteAfter reading about this, i got confused on the Quaker way of life, since the way they treated black people and lower ranked people wasn't very pacifistic at all. Like on page 26 where it says "An African is treated like a brute by the officers on the ship", which goes against the Quaker and pacifists way of life. This is not something I would have thought the first time I heard about the Quakers.
-Nikolaj
I agree with hunter and nicole, the social hierarchy on the ship was all wrong. they claim they are pacifists, yet they force the africans to work for them. not only do they have to work, but they have to stay in the worst part of the ship. the africans had some fun while they were there in the blubber room. would you like to be put in a hot smelly room for up to 3 years? the africans would sing and dance. things that would normally be frowned upon on other parts of the ship. 6n page 26 it says "The indians have disappeared, Negroes are now there substitute in there place." in the end the quakers are not sweet pacified roof dwellers, but savage killers and slave holders. "You really cant tell a book by its cover."
ReplyDelete-Ben Smith-
I'd have to agree with Hunter, again. The Quaker faith says that one should treat all humans equally, yet all of the men on the Essex are very racist and cruel towards negros. And aside from that the fact that they attack and slaughter whales is also untrue to their faith. The men on the ship completely disregard their faith and their home front beliefs.
ReplyDeleteI agree with everyone here. For Pacifists, the Quakers seem to deceive the morally correct teners of their religion, by segregating the whites from the blacks, the young from the old, and the powerful from those subject to their laborious demands. Based on this conjecture, it's evident that the Quakers' behavior goes against their strict morals, not only based upon their establishment of hierarchy on the Essex,but on their purpose on the sea-faring journey itself. The Quaker religion is supposedly based on the emphasis of equailty: "equality of the sexes", equality of races, and the equality of people in all phases of life. [Philbrick,15]. Philbrick himself acknowledges that "black sailors who were delivered to the island as green hands were never regarded as equals by Nantucketers" [Philbrick, 26].
ReplyDeleteTaylor Kristiansen 12/01/09
I sort of agree with both sides of the thread. On the Essex, most of the sailors have a sort of half and half connection to the Quaker faith. On one hand, most of them treat each other equally; however, they DO murder the whales, and confine the slaves to other quarters in which the living conditions are much less than satisfactory. It's almost as if they want to follow the Quaker faith, yet their ideals and judgments have been skewed.
ReplyDeleteAsa Kuhn 12/5/09