Living with Whales: Documents and Oral Histories of Native New England.
Edited By: Nancy Shoemaker
University of Massachusetts Press, 2014
Whales and the whaling industry have played a prominent, if ambivalent, role in the lives of the Native nations of Southern New England, writes historian Nancy Shoemaker, who traces this history from the seventeenth century to the present in a recent collection of short essays and primary sources. Historically, these Indigenous nations relied upon whales for subsistence, though the animals also maintained prominent roles in creation stories and spiritual practices. These communities’ relationships with whales began to change, however, in the 1650s when white settler communities moved into the region. Shoemaker describes this changing relationship as closely connected with the colonization of North America and illustrates how settlers who initially relied upon the whaling expertise of Indigenous peoples transformed whaling into an international enterprise over the course of two centuries. Though Shoemaker underscores that the whaling industry was built upon the exploitation of Native labor and lands, she also emphasizes Indigenous resilience and these communities’ enduring connections to whaling.
Shoemaker skillfully utilizes primary sources throughout her text to demonstrate how the whaling industry in Southern New England changed during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. The earliest sources she draws upon are those created by English colonists, who described the whaling practices of the Algonquian nation in detail and with admiration. These colonists learned from and emulated their methods, and their written accounts help uncover the value Native peoples placed upon whales and items derived from them. As English settlers became increasingly adept whalers in the late seventeenth century, Shoemaker traces their establishment of commercial enterprises based on whaling and the employment of Native men in their companies. Concurrent to this development, English colonists also increasingly appropriated Native lands and resources and took control of the tools and goods required for whaling work. The result was Indigenous financial debt and contract labor, which could be worked off by joining whaling crews. Shoemaker also points out, however, that even in this environment Native peoples worked to reassert their rights. The Unkechuag tribe, for example, presented a proposal in 1676 to form its own whaling company, in accordance with their “free liberty of fishing” (44). Whether the Unkechuag succeeded is unknown, though this effort illustrates Indigenous efforts to combat colonialism and maintain a degree of autonomy. Still, by the late eighteenth century, scores of Native men had joined English whaling crews and spent much of their lives at sea.
The rise of whaling as an international enterprise during the first half of the nineteenth century, and its impacts on Native whalers, is also explored by Shoemaker. Demand for whale products precipitated the rapid expanse of the whaling industry during this period, and as local whale populations were depleted, crews moved to international waters in their efforts to catch and kill the animals. Shoemaker writes that Native men were highly sought after crew members for international whaling ships, for their expertise, professionalism, English language skills, and tolerance for this dangerous and difficult work. As such, Native men often rose to prominent positions on these ships, becoming first or second officers, though never captain, and earned higher incomes than they might in other industries. The respect these men received was often exemplified in their obituaries, which detailed their abilities as whaling officers, as well as in local folklore, which also lauded their contributions.
Interestingly, Shoemaker also shares a story that illustrates both the international aspects of whaling and the connections between Indigenous whalers in New England and New Zealand. She recounts the life of Elisha Apes, a Pequot man born in Connecticut in 1815, who traveled to New Zealand aboard a whaling ship, deserted, and then married and started a family with a Maori woman. His sons became whalemen as well, and his life and story continue to be celebrated by his descendants in New Zealand.
Perhaps the most important chapters in Living with Whales are those in which Shoemaker shares oral history interviews she conducted with Wampanoag and Shinnecock descendants of Southern New England whalers. Shoemaker acknowledges the importance of these sections of her book, and asserts the value of incorporating modern Indigenous perspectives into historical texts. Through these histories, she underscores the continued connections between Native New England nations as whales, and well as the extent to which knowledge of whaling practices has been preserved and passed on to successive generations. Importantly, these chapter are also published without extensive commentary; Shoemaker allows these descendants speak for themselves and in doing so emphasizes the connections between Native communities in the past and present. She further encourages scholars who engage with Native American studies to look beyond traditional archival materials, such as U.S. government or missionary reports, to examine sources “that make an Indian presence explicit,” or that detail the lives of Native figures as a means of gaining additional insights into Indigenous history (201).
Living with Whales is an important examination of the shared Indigenous and colonial American history of whaling in the Southern New England region. This is also a shared history of colonization, which Shoemaker inventively documents through her use of a variety of primary sources. In additional to oral histories, she evaluates letters, receipts, legers, obituaries, drawings, and whaling vessel logbooks, and in doing so constructs a comprehensive narrative of the social and economic history of whaling in New England. Her skill in this regard makes this a useful book both for historians and history majors, each of whom can learn from Shoemaker’s methods.