Maritime heritage archaeologists working with the US National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA's) Office of National Marine Sanctuaries have found the wreckage of a famous 1800s Nantucket whale ship, 'Two Brothers', on a reef off French Frigate Shoals, nearly 1,000 kilometres northwest of Honolulu, in the remote Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument.
This rare archaeological discovery is the first discovery of a wrecked whaling ship from Nantucket, Massachusetts, the birthplace of America's whaling industry. All of America's whaling ships are now gone, broken up or sunk, except one, the National Historic Landmark 'Charles W. Morgan' at Mystic Seaport Museum in Connecticut.
'Two Brothers' was captained by George Pollard Jr, whose previous Nantucket whaling vessel, 'Essex', was rammed and sunk by a whale in the South Pacific, inspiring Herman Melville's famous book, Moby-Dick. Pollard gained national notoriety after the 'Essex' sinking, when he and a handful of his crew resorted to cannibalism in order to survive their prolonged ordeal drifting on the open ocean. The story of Pollard, 'Essex' and 'Two Brothers' was reintroduced to American audiences by author Nathaniel Philbrick's In the Heart of the Sea.
Capt. Pollard went to sea again as the master of 'Two Brothers' and was likely the last person to think "lightning would strike twice," but it did on the night of February 11, 1823, when 'Two Brothers' hit a shallow reef off French Frigate Shoals. Pollard did not want to abandon ship but his crew pleaded with him and they clung to small boats for survival during a long and harrowing night. The next morning they were rescued by the crew of another Nantucket whaler.
For the past 188 years, the wreckage of 'Two Brothers' has been lost on the ocean floor. The vessel was part of a fleet of several hundred whaling ships that were part of America's economic and political expansion into the Pacific, transforming the region, including Hawaii, both economically and culturally, and resulting in the near extinction of many whale species. The whaling fleets were also largely responsible for early exploration of the Indian Ocean and the polar regions.
A 2008 NOAA-led expedition to the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands to study marine life, remove floating marine debris and look for cultural resources resulted in the initial clues about the resting place of the 'Two Brothers'. Maritime archaeologists first spotted a large anchor, followed by three trypots (cast iron pots for melting whale blubber to produce oil), another large anchor, hundreds of bricks and the remains of the ship's rigging. Those artifacts conclusively indicated the wreckage was from a whaler dating to the early 19th century. Subsequent expeditions in 2009 and 2010 resulted in researchers discovering more artifacts including blubber hooks, five whaling harpoon tips, three whaling lances, four cast-iron cooking pots and ceramics and glass indicating a US origin. This helped confirm the dating of the wreckage. Additional scholarly research provided first-hand accounts from 'Two Brothers' crew members, including an approximate location of where the ship grounded, which matched the location of the wreckage.
"Shipwreck sites like this are important in helping tell the stories of the early days of sailing, including whaling and maritime activities both in the Pacific and around the world," said Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument maritime archaeologist Kelly Gleason, who led the on-site expeditions using NOAA ship 'Hi'ialakai'.
"Discoveries like the 'Two Brothers' serve an important role in connecting geographically separated regions and communities (New England and the Pacific), the past to the present, and provide context and better understanding human decisions that have altered the planet," said James Delgado, director, NOAA's Office of National Marine Sanctuaries' Maritime Heritage Programme.
