"How Frought with Sorrow and Heartpangs"

IN his well-known Letters from an American Farmer, first published in 1782, J. Hector St. John de Crbvecoeur praised how effectively Nantucket families had adapted to the demands of the whaling industry. Crbvecoeur observed, as the sea excursions are often very long, [the whalers'] wives are necessarily obliged to transact business, to settle accounts, and, in short, to rule and provide for their families. . . . This employment ripens their judgment, and justly entitles them to a rank superior to that of other wives. . . The men, at their return, weary with the fatigues of the sea, full of confidence and love, cheerfully give their consent to every transaction that has happened during their absence, and all is joy and peace.'' Half a century later, another off-islander, the author Joseph Hart, found little to admire in Nantucket family life. Hart's novel Miriam Coffin; or the Whalefisherman, published in 1834, focused instead on the dangers of women's assuming power during the absence of their husbands. The

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  Open Access•Nedra K Lee•Transforming Anthropology•2019

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