Wednesday 4 August 2010

Day 12: Nantucket MA

A morning of beaches and breakers, and then a trip to the Whaling Museum. Perhaps an unbeautiful history for this stunning place - and yet somehow the odds didn't seem overwhelmingly in the humans' favour. 3-4 years at sea; 60 whales; that's only just over one a month. And considering how tough some of those months were, well, I'm ok with it. More amazing is how anyone ever found that rendered scrapings from the inside of a spermwhale's head made a phenomenal base for French perfume. No other whale; no other part of it - just a spermwhale's head. You've got to think there's was some considerable trial and error in that discovery. Makes you wish you knew what else they'd tried (or maybe not...).

Today’s statistics:
  • Castles built: 1
  • Lighthouses visited: 1
  • Percentage of family jumping waves in the Atlantic: 75%
  • Days at sea in small whaling boats eating comrades: 0
  • Dogs in house: 5
  • Breakfast: Canning residence, Tom Nevers
  • Lunch: Stubby's, Nantucket
  • Dinner: Canning residence, Tom Nevers
Today’s Discoveries:
  • Nantucket, like Suffolk, is eroding; the Sankaty lighthouse was moved 400 feet inland in 2007.
  • Puppy labradors and puppy chihuahuas don't necessarily mix.
  • Nantucket means "Faraway Land". It was reputedly formed by a giant kicking off his moccasin in his sleep as it was full of sand.
  • Cash is King where icecream is concerned.

3 comments:

  1. I don't know who he was, but this bit of Nantucket is named after him.

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