Jane Hooper - Yankees in the Indian Ocean (Indian Ocean Studies Series)

Yankees in the Indian Ocean

Indian Ocean Studies Series

Richard B. Allen, series editor

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Jane Hooper, Yankees in the Indian Ocean: American Commerce and Whaling, 17861860

ADVISORY BOARD

Edward A. Alpers

University of California, Los Angeles (emeritus)

Clare Anderson

University of Leicester

Sugata Bose

Harvard University

Ulbe Bosma

International Institute of Social History, Leiden

Janet Ewald

Duke University

Devleena Ghosh

University of Technology Sydney

Engseng Ho

Duke University

Isabel Hofmeyr

University of the Witwatersrand

Pier M. Larson

Johns Hopkins University

Om Prakash

University of Delhi (emeritus)

Himanshu Prabha Ray

National Monuments Authority, India

Kerry Ward

Rice University

Nigel Worden

University of Cape Town

Markus Vink

SUNY at Fredonia

Yankees in the Indian Ocean

American Commerce and Whaling, 17861860

Jane Hooper

OHIO UNIVERSITY PRESS

ATHENS, OHIO

Ohio University Press, Athens, Ohio 45701

ohioswallow.com

2022 by Ohio University Press

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Hooper, Jane, 1981author.

Title: Yankees in the Indian Ocean : American commerce and whaling, 17861860 / Jane Hooper.

Description: Athens, Ohio : Ohio University Press, [2022] | Series: Indian Ocean studies series | Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2022018913 (print) | LCCN 2022018914 (ebook) | ISBN 9780821425084 (hardcover) | ISBN 9780821447901 (pdf)

Subjects: LCSH: WhalingUnited StatesHistory18th century. | WhalingUnited StatesHistory19th century. | WhalingSocial aspectsIndian Ocean Region. | AmericansIndian Ocean RegionHistory18th century. | AmericansIndian Ocean RegionHistory19th century. | United StatesCommerceIndian Ocean Region. | Indian Ocean RegionCommerceUnited States.

Classification: LCC SH383.2 .H67 2022 (print) | LCC SH383.2 (ebook) | DDC 639.2/80973dc23/eng/20220523

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022018913

LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022018914

Contents

Acknowledgments

I am grateful to have received support from so many friends, colleagues, archivists, and institutions. My colleagues at George Mason University have been generous with their time and expertise. I would especially like to thank the following people: Joan Bristol, Carrie Grabo, Sheri Huerta, Alison Landsberg, Sam Lebovic, Sun-Young Park, Brian Platt, and Rosemarie Zagarri. Numerous historians outside of George Mason also offered encouragement. I am indebted to Clifton Crais for my training as a historian and for modeling how to write, research, and teach with empathy. Richard Allen has been a constant source of cheerful encouragement. I look forward to our future collaborations. Pier Larson provided me with vital assistance over the years. His loss is a grave one for Malagasy and Indian Ocean history.

I was the fortunate recipient of several invitations to present my preliminary research findings. I wish to thank the organizers, as well as attendees, of these seminars for their insights: the Early Americas Workshop at George Mason University, the Slavery, Memory, and African Diasporas seminar at Howard University, the Journe dtude on the Francophone Indian Ocean at Florida State University, and the Department of History seminar at Johns Hopkins University. I presented papers at the Forum on Early-Modern Empires and Global Interactions, the American Historical Association, the African Studies Association, and the World History Association. Thank you to all who listened and provided feedback in these and other venues. I especially appreciated the support of Danna Agmon, Ned Alpers, Jack Bouchard, Daniel Domingues da Silva, Janet Ewald, Ben Hurwitz, Pedro Machado, Amanda Madden, Nate Marvin, Molly McCullers, Kevin McDonald, Vanessa Oliveira, Tasha Rijke-Epstein, Robert Rouphail, Devin Smart, and Laurie Wood. Earlier versions of several chapters were published in the Canadian Journal of African Studies, Global Food History, and the Journal of African Economic History. Thank you to the editors and readers for their assistance with those pieces.

My research in New England archives was supported with generous grants from the New England Regional Fellowship Consortium, the Nantucket Historical Association, and the Department of History and Art History at George Mason University. Archivists at the following institutions helped me to uncover the logbooks and journals that make up the accounts in this book: the Baker Library in the Harvard Business School, the special collections of the Library of Congress, the Massachusetts Historical Society, the Mystic Seaport Library and Museum, the Nantucket Historical Association archives, the New Bedford Whaling Museum and Library, the Peabody Essex Museum and Library, and the Rhode Island Historical Society.

Thank you to the editors and staff of Ohio University Press for helping to move this project to publication. I am particularly grateful for Rick Huards guidance through the entire process. I also benefited from feedback from anonymous readers who offered me detailed critiques and helped me rethink key portions of the manuscript. Even with this support, numerous mistakes likely can be found throughout the book, but those errors are all my own.

Much of the writing and editing of this book took place after March 2020. As the world shut down and schools closed, I relied heavily on friends, family, and neighbors to help me find the time to complete this project. Even though my neighbors know little about the history of the Indian Ocean, they provided invaluable assistance. They entertained my children during masked outdoor playdates and gave encouragement in the evenings when we sat outside after our children had gone to sleep. Without them, I would not have had the mental capacity to continue my work in the midst of virtual elementary-school classes and my own online teaching. Last but certainly not least, I thank my husband, Josh, for his constant support, and our children, Elizabeth and Noah, for occupying themselves when I had to finish just one more page.