Martha’s Vineyard Magazine heralded the previously moribund whaling business on Martha’s Vineyard in its May/June issue by announcing the June 18 visit of the Charles W. Morgan, America’s last wooden whaleship. The Martha’s Vineyard Museum hosted Eric Jay Dolin, the author of Leviathan, one of the more complete and contemporary books on whaling, at the Federated Church on June 3. The Martha’s Vineyard Playhouse debuted The Whaleship Essex by Joe Forbrich last Saturday, and I visited the Charles W. Morgan on Monday.

The ancient Basques hunted whales in the late 1400s and there is evidence that the Vikings did in the 1500s. Whaling in the Arctic began around 1600, after the discovery of Spitzbergen, an island off the coast of Norway, by Dutch explorer William Barents. Soon, the British and Dutch were dispatching whaling fleets. But in America, it was here on Martha’s Vineyard around 1712 when the original people of Aquinnah began our industry of whaling. A tough business with many challenges, for almost 300 years whaling was the third largest industry in Massachusetts and the fifth largest in the country. The whole of the business, geographically, emanated from here, Nantucket, New Bedford, Sag Harbor, and ports in between.

Oak Bluffs was founded on religion, but built on whaling, and the wealth created was astronomical. For example, the group of six men — four of them whaling captains (Shubael Lyman Norton, Ira Darrow, Grafton Norton Williams, William Bradley) — who formed the Oak Bluffs Land and Wharf Company had made enough money to build Oak Bluffs. Over the period of 1859 to 1869, the company spent $300,000 (today’s equivalent of $8.3 million) in developing the town — roads, hotels, a dock, businesses, homes, churches and parks.

Whaling did a lot more than build Oak Bluffs, it created opportunity for minorities, the original people and African Americans in particular, many of whom, like Frederick Douglass, were able to use it to escape from slavery. Indeed, research suggests that 20 to 30 per cent of whalers were men of color, making it one of the most diverse of all early industries.

In his editorial in the Vineyard Gazette of Friday, Nov. 27, 1857, editor and proprietor Edgar Marchant deplored the fact that slavery had supplanted so many other economic interests. He wrote, “While upon this subject, it may not be out of place to state that Frederick Douglas (sic) the colored gentleman and orator, will lecture before an “Association of gentlemen,” at the Town Hall on Saturday evening next. We are not advised as to his subject, but suppose from his antecedents, that he will treat mainly upon the subject of slavery in our country. We hope the learned lecturer will aim more to enlighten his audience than to excite their prejudices against the South; that he will disappoint the expectations of those who can see good in nothing but agitation, by endeavoring to allay rather than excite hatred among the members of the States of the Union. Let peace and concord, and brotherly love, be his watchword, rather than that which leads to strife and all manner of evil. We learn that he will give two lectures next week.” Obviously, Mr. Marchant had never been a slave.

Frederick Douglass wrote “The Meaning of the 4th of July for a Negro” in 1852. On July 1 at the Inkwell, Renaissance House is hosting a reading of the treatise that will be taped by MVTV and is looking for volunteers. It will be reread at 1 p.m. on Friday, July 4th. Call 917-747-0367 if you would like to participate. Similarly, “The Meaning of the 4th of July for a Negro” will be read at Edgartown’s Federated Church on Wednesday, July 2, at noon. Jan Pogue of Vineyard Stories will be at Renaissance House on Pennacook avenue on Tuesday at 7:30 p.m., dessert will be served. Oak Bluffs’ Kripalu superstar yogaphile Martha Abbot is doing a stretch and meditate class at the Yoga Barn on Wednesdays at 11 a.m. from Tuesday to September 3. Om Shanti!

Kevin Parham’s new book The Vineyard We Knew — A Recollection of Summers on Martha’s Vineyard is available at C’est La Vie and the Island bookstores. Pick up a copy.

Congratulations to former Oak Bluffs Police Chief Joe Carter in his first (and excellent) acting role as Richard Peterson in the play The Whaleship Essex, where he has the role of a seafarer almost twice his actual age. Coincidentally, the captain of the Charles W. Morgan’s last whaling voyage was John T. Gonsalves — a black man of Cape Verdean ancestry.

No more pencils, no more books — school’s out, so watch for those paying more attention to skateboards than drivers.

Keep your foot on a rock.

Contact Skip Finley @[email protected].