![]() ![]() In late August 1814, at the height of the War of 1812 and in the midst of the Royal Navy’s blockade of America’s Eastern Seaboard, acting out of desperation, the small Massachusetts Island of Nantucket took matters into its own hands. Indeed, the actions of the residents highlight the agency they had in negotiating settlements for their survival. Moreover, it highlights how coastal – and especially island – communities and their industries have historically been prey to the consequences of wider national and international politics. Less researched, however, is an event that for a brief period of time threatened to disrupt or even eliminate Nantucket’s whaling industry and expose the island’s connection to, and total dependence on, the sea for its very existence. This narrative has dominated the history of this small New England island. Reproduced with permission from Daniel Reeve (Residents of the island of Nantucket played a significant and prominent role in the development and control of much of the global whaling industry during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. ![]()
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