Maritime Activities

Maritime activities in Westport were necessarily centered around the coastal region, although the deep reaches of the Westport River allowed shipbuilding and other activities to occur well into the central portion of the town.  This research category includes shipbuilding as well as offshore activities such as whaling, fishing, and coastal trade that relied on Westport […]

Continue Reading

Herman Melville in Westport?

Did Herman Melville ever visit Westport? We will probably never know, but the following item from The Melville Log (Edited by Jay Leyda, NY:Gordian Press, 1969) suggests that he may have: “NEW YORK Late April? M writes to Henry Willcox in Westport. (We are looking out for Tom to return every day his ship [Theophilus […]

Continue Reading

Harbinger Poetry

There are a number of poems (or parts of poems) in the logs of the ship Harbinger, and we thought it might be a good idea to print them here. The final one, as you will observe, is incomplete: we hope that some of you will be minded to complete it (or indeed write a […]

Continue Reading

Alewives

The April 10, 2003 issue of Shorelines contains two articles on alewives. These small fish typically return to Westport in the Spring, and are of interest to humans (for bait) and birds (for food). Because of pollution in the rivers they have been long absent, but are now returning to spawn. They are to be […]

Continue Reading