[Illustration] [Illustration: _UNDER SAIL_ A Yankee whaling barque of the fifties] GREASY LUCK [Illustration: Sailor holding harpoon] A WHALING SKETCH BOOK by GORDON GRANT WILLIAM FARQUHAR PAYSON NEW YORK CARAVAN MARITIME BOOKS JAMAICA, NEW YORK _1970_ COPYRIGHT, 1932 WILLIAM FARQUHAR PAYSON NEW YORK CARAVAN MARITIME BOOKS JAMAICA, NEW YORK PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA _by_ SENTRY PRESS, NEW YORK, N. Y. 10019 [Illustration: Sea gull] TO MY WIFE _a lover of ships_ [Illustration: Whale] The author gratefully acknowledges his debt to FRANK WOOD and WILLIAM H. TRIPP of the Whaling Museum of New Bedford, for their splendid cooperation--and to CLIFFORD W. ASHLEY and his most admirable book “_The Yankee Whaler_” _FOREWORD_ Turning the pages of Gordon Grant’s pictured story of whaling, it suddenly struck me that the task of writing an introduction had certain unusual features. Acting as a liaison officer between Captain Ahab of the whaling ship _Pequod_ and the sheltered generation of 1932, it is necessary to bear in mind that most members of this generation are unaware that whaling is still an industry. They imagine it as part of the closed book of New England maritime history. They regard it romantically, and the ancient masthead shout, “Thar she blows!” is familiar to the ladies and gentlemen who patronize the fast Atlantic ferries. Whaling, in short, has become an antique interest, and visitors to New Bedford may study the whole business in the collection of the Old Dartmouth Historical Society.