HUDSON'S MERCHANTS and WHALERS

This is the remarkable story of the seaport far from the sea - the City of Hudson, 120 miles from the Atlantic Ocean, founded in 1783 by seafaring Quaker emigrants from Nantucket, Marthas Vineyard, and New Bedford who transformed a sleepy boat landing at the head of navigation on the Hudson River into a booming city and a bustling port that rivaled the port of New York City. Ships sailed from Hudson on whaling and sealing voyages to the south Atlantic and Pacific oceans, and traded with ports of call in Europe and the Caribbean, returning to Hudson with exotic goods, barrels of whale oil and tons of whale bone, and harrowing tales of encounters with pirates, corsairs, slave traders, cannibals, enraged whales, and the navies of unfriendly nations. Shipyards, candle factories, rope walks, and warehouses clustered near the port, while stately mansions and glittering storefronts were raised on the hills above. Then it all came tumbling down, and by 1850 the miracle city faced a very uncertain future.

"Margaret Schram's Hudson's Merchants and Whalers allows for exactly the type of systematic documentation of people and vessels that the history of the port demands. In this book Margaret Schram has uncovered documentation of Hudson voyages in the late 18th century and in the early years of the 19th. This information about these voyages has never before been published in any other whaling history, making Hudsons Merchants and Whalers a valuable reference tool and important addition to any whaling history library." Michael P. Dyer, Librarian, New Bedford Whaling Museum