Nantucket Atheneum Podcast

In this episode, Jim introduces you to another sea captains that was born in Nantucket, but became part of the Japanese expat community: Captain Arthur Fisher.
This is a production of the Nantucket Atheneum. It is hosted and edited by Janet Forest. It was researched, fact checked and co-hosted by Reference Library Associate Jim Borzilleri. Special thanks to the Berkshire Athenaeum for use of their space and Shire Video for production support.
SHOW NOTES:
If something piqued your interest and it isn’t in the Show Notes, please email [email protected]. and include “Podcast Question” in the subject header.

• By the 1860’s American merchant ships and whales increasingly utilized Pacific ports for support. The services at these ports were frequently run by merchants from Nantucket and other sea-trading communities as extensions of their existing businesses along the eastern Atlantic.
  • The whaling voyage of the Clara Bell under Capt. Timothy Fisher seems to have been based out of Paita, Peru, which had grown to include a hospital and resident American Counsel. (In 1862, Dr. C. F. Winslow of Nantucket was appointed to that post).
  • It’s possible that Arthur Fisher periodically resided at Paita with his mother and sister as part of the American expat community while the Clara Bell followed the pattern of Nantucket whaling from the pre-Pacific era – voyages of week or perhaps months, broken by extended periods at “home”.
  • The extreme duration of the Clara Bell’s voyage may have been driven by the American Civil War. Confederate Raiders targeted the American whalers, which were slow moving and poorly defended while carrying a highly desirable cargo. Relatively short trips and the safety of a foreign port, while far from safe, was less risky than long voyages far from shore.
• United today by a network of bridges of tunnels, the islands of Japan and the Seto Inland Sea of Japan was previously dependent on ships traveling between coastal ports. After Japan was forced to open its borders, steamships extended routine travel to Korea, China, and other parts of Asia.

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In this episode, Jim introduces you to our final sea captains that was born in Nantucket, but became part of the Japanese expat community: Captain Richard Swain.
This is a production of the Nantucket Atheneum. It is hosted and edited by Janet Forest. It was researched, fact checked and co-hosted by Reference Library Associate Jim Borzilleri. Special thanks to the Berkshire Athenaeum for use of their space and Shire Video for production support.
SHOW NOTES:
If something piqued your interest and it isn’t in the Show Notes, please email [email protected]. and include “Podcast Question” in the subject header.

• Like many members of the Nantucket diaspora, Capt. Swain subscribed to the Nantucket Inquirer & Mirror. In 1911, in response to an article mentioning Abram Quarry, Swain wrote a letter of his memories of the man, whom he knew as a youngster. He also noted that Abram Quarry’s house in Shimmo was on land belonging to Capt. Swain’s grandfather, Hezekiah Swain. (I&M, Sept 16, 1911,Pg 2)
• Several former-Nantucket residents resided in Meiji Japan. One, the dentist Dr. George D. Richmond was good friends with Captains Fisher and Swain and sent several letters to the I&M detailing their gatherings.
  • An article in the I&M, likely based on one of Dr, Richmond’s letters, described how the trio, nostalgic for a traditional New England boiled dinner, arranged the shipment of a salt cod to Japan.
• Caroline Furber Swain seems to have held some views independent of her husband.
  • During their 1912 visit to Nantucket, Capt. Swain gave an interview that generally praised the Japanese maritime industry and its military. However, he disparaged a certain naval officer he had met who while “educated, cultured and in every respect the equal of an unsuperstitious, clear-headed American,” also held the “...common superstition that the Emperor [of Japan] was something more than human and could command the forces of nature...” (Boston Sunday Post, July 14, 1912)
  • A month later Caroline Swain gave an informal talk at the Nantucket Quaker Meeting House about Japan, and as reported in the I&M, “...At the close she paid a truly eloquent tribute to the underlying spirit of religion of Japan, making a plea for those of Christian education and faith, to judge it kindly and leniently...”. (I&M Aug 8, 1912, Pg 2).

© The Nantucket Atheneum

In this final bonus episode of Season 6, we invite back on Jascin Leonardo Finger from the Maria Mitchell Association to discuss what role Florence Easton Conable played in the the founding of the organization and the greater influence she and her contemporaries had on women's rights at-large.

This is a production of the Nantucket Atheneum. It is hosted and edited by Janet Forest. It was researched, fact checked and co-hosted by Reference Library Associate Jim Borzilleri. Special thanks to Shire Video for production support.

SHOW NOTES
If something piqued your interest and it isn’t in the Show Notes, please email [email protected]. and include “Podcast Question” in the subject header.

• Special thanks to Kurt Gally, Alyssa Gouw, and the team at the Monrovia California Public Library for their research assistance on this episode.
  
• The founding and growth of the Maria Mitchell Association is documented on the Association website.
  
  
• Florence Conable might have become re-acquainted with Capt. Arthur Fisher when he visited Nantucket in 1904.
  
• Florence’s friendships and social activities on Nantucket blended into her life in Monrovia. For example, she likely met Capt. Richard and Caroline Swain when they visited Nantucket in 1912 (discussed in Episode 6). The following January, Florence hosted a Daughters of the American Revolution (D.A. R.) event in Monrovia where Caroline was one of the guests of honor and gave a talk about Japan. The other Guests of Honor were Mrs. Eleanor Williams Morgan, Regent of the Nantucket D.A.R. Chapter, and Helen Parker Willard, wife of Henry K. Willard, the young man Florence first met at the Surfside Depot party in 1882 (discussed in Episode 11).
  
• The Willards summered on Nantucket and wintered in Pasadena. They were close friends with Florence (while her Sconset cottage was being renovated in 1913, Florence stayed with the Willard’s at “Wesco”, their house on Orange St). Florence and the Willard’s were also members of the “Silver Grays”, an informal group that socialized and travelled together in Southern California.
  
• It’s also possible that during her stay with the Willards, Florence met Capt. Peter’s Hussey daughter, Phoebe Hussey Allen, whose family was renting a cottage just around the corner in Gorham’s Court. (Phoebe is the only one of Peter Hussey’s children known to have visited Nantucket).
  
• Florence may have later seen Richard and Caroline Swain during their extended visit to North America in 1921-22. If not on Nantucket that summer, then possibly in Monrovia when they passed through California on their way back to Asia.
  
• To put in perspective how much changed during the era we explored this season, consider this article from the June 14, 1930, I&M:
  “From California to Nantucket in Ninety-six Hours. Mrs. Morris Conable arrived in Nantucket, Wednesday evening, to spend the summer at her cottage in 'Sconset, and made the trip across the country from California to Nantucket in four days. She left there Saturday evening and in 96 hours was heading in over Nantucket bar. Fast train service and close connections at Chicago and Boston favored her in the journey.”
  Unimpressive today, but when Peter Hussey made his first voyage to the Pacific in 1847 at the start of our series, four months would have been a noteworthy time...

The 23rd Annual Thanksgiving Cold Turkey Plunge to benefit the Weezie Library for Children is just around the corner. In this three-part special special edition of the podcast, Janet talks with the development team to find what it takes to pull off this event year after year.
If you want to get involved in this year's Plunge, visit our website at https://nantucketatheneum.org/turkey-plunge-2024/
If you have done the plunge in the past and want to share your story, you can record a voice memo on your phone and email it to [email protected]. Please put "Turkey Plunge 2024" in the subject line.
This is a production of the Nantucket Atheneum. It is written, hosted and edited by Janet Forest. Special thanks for Director of Development Maggie O'Reilly, Marketing and Design specialist Anastasia Tumash, and Head of Outreach Lisa Lothian.

Now it is time to meet some of these sea captains that were born in Nantucket, but became part of the Japanese expat community. This episode discusses Captain Peter Hussey.
This is a production of the Nantucket Atheneum. It is hosted and edited by Janet Forest. It was researched, fact checked and co-hosted by Reference Library Associate Jim Borzilleri. Special thanks to the Berkshire Athenaeum for use of their space and Shire Video for production support.
SHOW NOTES:
If something piqued your interest and it isn’t in the Show Notes, please email [email protected]. and include “Podcast Question” in the subject header.

The three captains we profile were atypical in their longevity and financial stability.

• Nantucket-born Robert Coleman, who was just a few years younger than Arthur Fisher, had risen to First Officer of the Mitsu-Bishi Steamship Co. However, in 1886 , he died, age 29, during a smallpox outbreak at Nagasaki.
  
• Our subjects were also impacted by the lack of shared information and slow transmission of information that did exist.
  • Credit rating agencies and uniform accounting procedures did not yet exist, so even within a firm, serious issues could go undetected.
  • Merchants had to rely on an individual’s reputation within their business community or a referral from a trusted party. Better candidates undoubtedly existed, but they were unknown or could not be verified.
  • Until the deployment of the telegraph, a round-trip business communication between China and America could take up to a year.
  • Even with the construction of the railway across Panama communication between California and the East Coast cities took several weeks, contributing to the glut of goods arriving at San Francisco and the collapse of its markets.
• On Nantucket whaleships, a cooper made and assembled the casks, whose liquid contents were measured in barrels (1 barrel = 31 1⁄2 U.S. gallons).
  
• George Bruce Upton, (1804-1874), exemplified how Nantucket’s wealth helped fuel America’s westward expansion.
• A successful Nantucket merchant, he held several political offices, and was a member of a firefighting company, skilled using explosives to demolish buildings as a firestop. He supervised the practice demolition of a vacant windmill, and during the Great Fire of 1838 the destruction of four buildings.
• After moving to Boston Upton channeled his Nantucket wealth into clipper ships. He also invested in railroads as part of John M. Forbes’ “Boston Group”, becoming Treasurer of their Michigan Central Railroad.
• Portraits of George Upton and Anne Upton, now in the NHA, reflect their status. Their son George Jr. would become a regular summer visitor into the 20th century.
• The Bark Ly-ee-moon was commissioned for the Asia trade and built in Fairhaven Massachusetts by Moses Delano (distant relative of Warren). It was sold by its American owners to a Hong Kong firm before its launch in 1862.

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