Posted on November 29, 2016 by Jenny ONeill
Whaling was a dangerous business. On long voyages so many things could go wrong. Men got sick far from land. They fell overboard. Boats were stove by whales. Ships were wrecked, or simply never heard from again. And sometimes, men went to great extremes to survive. The following stories are all true, and all happened […]
Continue ReadingPosted on January 20, 2009 by Jenny ONeill
The following account is a transcript of dictation by 12-year-old Elizabeth Ann Mills of Fall River and Westport Harbor to her family doctor after she survived the 1938 hurricane. “It was September 21, 1938, and we were having a bad wind storm. The ocean was making a lot of noise and the tide was high. […]
Continue ReadingPosted on January 20, 2009 by Jenny ONeill
The following account combines two letters that Mrs. Marion Jennings Waring of Fall River, a Westport Harbor summer resident, wrote to her brother, Oliver Jennings in Pittsburgh, PA in early October 1938. “It is awfully hard to write about the horrible experience that we went through. You can’t imagine it – you can’t believe it. […]
Continue ReadingPosted on January 20, 2009 by Jenny ONeill
Account of the Hurricane of September 21 written on September 24, 1938 It is my purpose to write down what occurred on September 21 while the scenes are still fresh in my mind. It is the most overwhelming event that I have been familiar with, in which I actually took part. On the morning of […]
Continue ReadingPosted on January 13, 2009 by Jenny ONeill
Horseneck Beach 9/21/1938 The first warning I had of the storm was about 2 P.M. while driving down the Horseneck Road. Half way between Waldo’s place and the Island View Farm, I heard, so I thought, a truck roaring down the hill behind me and I swerved quickly to the right and slowed to allow […]
Continue ReadingPosted on January 13, 2009 by Jenny ONeill
When the bottom first dropped out of the barometer (and soon after the roof) I suspected a blow, and at noon I removed all loose things from the yard and took down the tennis net. I directed my man Friday of the moment (Many changes in personnel) to keep all shed and barn doors shut, […]
Continue ReadingPosted on April 28, 2008 by Greg Stone
The following is a list of masters on whaling vessels out of Westport Point. Many of these individuals lived in Westport. Allen Allen, David E. Allen, George E. Allen, Hezekiah Allen, John Milk Allen, Timothy C. Baker, Daniel Ball, Charles Barker, John E. Barns Beebe, John A. Beebe, George W. Bennett, A. Blake, Davis Active […]
Continue ReadingPosted on April 28, 2008 by Greg Stone
These photographs are a sample of the imposing characters who served as master on whaling voyages out of Westport. . . .
Continue ReadingPosted on April 28, 2008 by Greg Stone
Dear Brothers, I now take the third opportunity to inform you that our little number is well and hope that you are the same. Our mother and Caroline and Mary and George P. Dyer last fall with the disintery. It was very syckly a grate many dyed. John was vay sick but now is well […]
Continue ReadingPosted on April 28, 2008 by Greg Stone
Dear Brother We received a letter from you last October and informed us that you had fifty barrels of oil and I sat myself down to write you a letter to inform you how we got along. We had a schoolmaster from Newhamshire. He was not very good teacher. When he turned his back the […]
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