“The skipper stormed and tore his hair, Hauled on his boots and roared to Marden: ‘Nantucket’s sunk, and here we are Right over old Marm Hackett’s garden!’” Another Nantucket captain always took to sea medicine bottles, each numbered and indexed to suit different complaints. Once his mate was ill, and, looking up the bottle to administer in his case, found that No. 13 contained the cure for his patient. Unfortunately, this bottle had all been used, so, after careful deliberation, he mixed the contents of bottles 6 and 7, which he gave the mate, who promptly died. Early history tells us that Thomas Macy purchased the island for thirty pounds and two beaver hats, “One for myself and one for my wife,” and to him therefore belongs the honor of the settlement of Nantucket; he had been driven away from Massachusetts for sheltering Quakers, which was at that time against the law, and with his friend Edward Starbuck fled to the island and established a colony composed of such well-known families as the Coffins, Husseys, Swaynes, Gardners, Chases, Folgers, and Starbucks. These men were not whalers, but they watched the Indians and learned much from them, and later on employed Ichabod Paddock to come over from Cape Cod and instruct them further. The character of the island and its situation far out in the ocean, its poor soil, and the number of whales along its shores, all proved an inducement to the Nantucketers to follow the sea as a calling. At first, there were so many whales that they did not find it necessary to go beyond the coast; so, under the guidance of Paddock, lookouts were erected along the South shore, and each man patrolled a certain amount of territory. Each one took his share of whales killed, and business flourished. This method of whaling continued until 1712, when Christopher Hussey, while cruising along the coast, was blown out to sea. He ran across a sperm whale, which he finally killed and brought home. This year was epoch making, as this was the first sperm whale known to have been taken by Americans. The oil from this species of whale being superior to that of all others, the Nantucketers now (1715) decided to change their methods and to whale in the “deep.” As the vessels steadily increased in size with greater and greater cargo-carrying capacity, voyages necessarily became longer, extending even to periods of four or five years. In fact, a voyage lasting but two years was considered unusually short. The point of view of most whalers regarding a two-year voyage is shown by the captain who, when boarding his ship, was reminded by a friend that he had not said “Good-by” to his wife,— “Why should I?” said he; “I am only to be gone two years.”