The roots of Paul Magid’s latest book began in 2005, when he found at a flea market what appeared to be a letter written by a whaler who sailed aboard the Northern Light.

Men of color were full participants in the whaling industry, a business so difficult and dangerous that most people only went out once.

It’s a testament to Tom Dresser’s storytelling gifts that a subject as big as whaling on the Vineyard can be told so well in only 150 pages.

Of the 2,500 masters who captained whaling ships during three centuries of whaling, at least 63 were men of color, five with Martha’s Vineyard ties, Skip Finley told a rapt audience Wednesday night.

Next week Alaskans and New Englanders will gather for a conference about whaling in the Arctic, with events in New Bedford, Nantucket, and on the Vineyard.

New exhibit at Martha’s Vineyard Museum explores the characters and figures from the heyday of Island whaling that often go unnoticed.