Connecting Cultures

Whaling voyages created opportunities for cultural exchange among crews drawn from around the world, as sailors used whaleships to emigrate and joined vessels at remote ports such as Valparaiso, Cape Verde, and Tristan de Cunha. More than 1,600 sailors from more than 50 countries worked aboard the Morgan during her career, and whaling communities with residents from many lands grew along the New England coast and in San Francisco, Hawaii, Alaska, Nova Scotia, and Wales. America was enriched by the arrival of people with varied customs and points of view, while distant ports such as Hawaii and the Azores supported sizeable expatriate communities where captains' wives and children, whaling agents, and whalemen spent weeks, months, or years absorbing different cultures and then carried home new tastes and ideas. Men, women, and children aboard ship left letters, journals, sketches, photographs, and stories that informed the work of artists, authors, scientists, and mapmakers, while whaling also inspired scrimshaw, figureheads, ship models, music, and tall tales. At the same time, American whaleships and whalemen sometimes brought harmful effects to ports worldwide, including invasive species, disease, and social disruption. Whales, whaling, and whalemen have remained prominent in American culture, from whale-watch cruises to films and operas.

Mystic, Connecticut · United States