Newark's Whaling Legacy Gets Recognized at Arts High

Newark is and has always been a connected city. Today its dramatically designed international airport, dubbed “Newark-Liberty,” is a hub for global travel. Many travel adventures to distant lands begin and end there, not to mention my own first trip to Disneyworld in Orlando as a kid. Directly across the highway from the airport, the modern-day Port of Newark and Elizabeth welcomes colossal ships from as far away as China and Japan. There, containers are continually and efficiently off-loaded, quickly placed onto trucks, and whisked away to American shops, car dealers and markets.

This spirit of international trade, of pursuing opportunities long offshore, is one that goes back – way back – in the city’s history. Since the early 1800’s, Newark’s residents have, from their port city on the Passaic River, reached out to the seas of the world in search of profit, better prospects and (sometimes terrifying) adventure. And of all the ways to make money in distant waters during this era, there was none more profitable (or risky), for both investors and common workers, than whaling.

This year, I worked hard to include a lesson on whaling for my students at Newark’s prestigious Arts High. I’m always trying to communicate with them that American history is more than just wars, assassinations, slavery and treaties.

Whaling was an important industry in the United States in the 1800’s. The mammoth and extremely dangerous animal, now protected by Federal law, was the source of numerous products needed by millions. First and foremost, whales provided the prized oil that chandlers (candlemakers) added to their wax candles. These candles would last much longer, and burn considerably brighter with a vivid white glow that is hard to imagine today. Whale oil was also heavily utilized by Newark’s growing industries as a lubricant for heavy machinery. The oil eased friction and lowered temperatures. The result was longer lasting, faster, safer equipment…and more employment.

Whalebone was also considered valuable, though it was the bane of most adult women. The flexible bones were used in the manufacturing of suffocating corsets, which, of course, imprisoned a woman’s body in a not-so-flexible, wearable “cage” to give them an “hourglass” figure. Numerous photos of Newark in the late 1800’s, especially those of crowded areas like Broad and Market (the so-called “Four Corners”) are filled with well dressed, corset wearing, and probably uncomfortable women.

Interestingly enough, the most valuable part of the whale was located deep inside its digestive tract. There certain waxy fluids were, if properly extricated, worth their weight in gold. These fluids would then be used to manufacture female perfumes and deodorants. Yes, you can’t make this stuff up.

Whaling provided real job opportunities to men of various skills and color. The whaling ship was one of the only early 18th century workplaces that readily hired whites and blacks. As long as you could put up with the horrendous food, impossible and dangerous working conditions, and had a good set of hands and a strong back, you were hired. Many a runaway slave and a recently arrived Irish immigrant worked side by side on a whaling boat. And with every completed voyage, with new skills and experience, a sailor’s pay and rank could increase. It was social mobility, 19th century style.

Whaling voyages were, as a rule, extremely long, rarely less than a year and sometimes as long as four. There was no port destination per se…the ship went to where the whales were. And once spotted, whales had to be chased, harpooned, drowned, peeled like a gigantic onion aside the boat and fried in huge pans. The oil would then be placed into highly flammable barrels and stored below ship. Only when the ship was full of these barrels did it return to its home port. Everyone’s pay was directly related, percentage-wise, to the money the ship made at voyage’s end. So if you were the kind of person who cut corners or was naturally lazy, no one on board – irrespective of rank - would put up with you. You worked, and you worked hard.

Regardless of your rank, from the captain to the lowliest sailor, while you were on that ship you were lost to everyone on land. To family and friends, once your ship left port, you might as well have fallen off the face of the Earth, and many whale ships did. To this day in preserved, former whaling communities throughout coastal New England, fenced-in roof platforms can be seen atop old captains’ homes. These were no decks for sun tanning…they were called “widow’s walks.” Family members would use these platforms to stare out to sea for the first sign of a returning whale ship.

News of whaling ships was eagerly sought-after in home ports like Newark. Frequently ships passing “whalers” on the homebound voyage would exchange letters and news with those “outbound.” Surely, when news of the Newark whale ship John Wells was published in the local paper in September of 1835, many wives, sweethearts and children breathed a sigh of relief. The report detailed that the ship was in good shape, with all of its crew in “fine health.” Additionally, the paper reported that the ship had already passed around the tip of South America and into Pacific waters, and had already caught and processed several whales.

The whaling industry would bring in its share of capital and prosperity to the Brick City throughout the 1800’s. Newark’s waterfront was a busy one, a portal to the world’s supply of goods and information. But whaling would eventually decline and, as a large industry, cease altogether as emerging chemicals, technologies and animal rights activists appeared in the 1900’s. By the early 20th century whale oil was no longer needed for light; it was replaced by kerosene and other flammable oils discovered in Pennsylvania and then adopted globally. Animal activists such as Greenpeace and others convinced the world’s lawmaking bodies in the 1960’s and 70’s to respect and protect whales for the intelligent beings that they are. Today remnants of the industry can only be found in books and museums, which might not be such a bad thing.

Today’s quiet city waterfront is being redeveloped for recreation and parkland. But Newark’s whalers are well worth remembering. They once brought light to millions and made Newark’s factories hum.