Whaling barque CANTON

Photographer Nathaniel Livermore Stebbins (1847 - 1922)

Date1835 - 1874

Object number00033617

NamePhotograph

MediumGelatin silver print, framed

DimensionsOverall: 575 × 675 × 20 mm, 3.32 kg

ClassificationsPhotographs

Credit LineANMM Collection Purchased with USA Bicentennial Gift funds

Terms

DescriptionA photograph by Nathaniel Stebbins depicting the New Bedford whaling barque CANTON from port side, full sail at sea. The CANTON was active in the southern ocean fisheries after the New England whaling fleet had been severely reduced during the civil war. Kanton Island in the South Pacific Ocean got its permanent name from the CANTON, which ran aground on the atoll on 4 March 1854, while under the command of Captain Andrew Wing.The crew managed to escape on whaleboats and after an open-water voyage of 49 days, reached Tinian Island in the Marianas, without the loss of a man. Three of the survivors, including Captain Wing and Thomas Braley settled in Acushnet, Massachusetts.HistoryLOSS OF THE WALESHIP "CANTON," OF NEW BEDFORD - WONDERFUL PRESERVATION OF THE CREW. We had an interview, yesterday, with Capt. Wing, late master of the whaleship CANTON, of New Bedford, which vessel was wrecked one year ago, upon a reef in the Pacific, not laid down in the charts. It seems almost a miracle that so large a number of men should have survived the sufferings they had to encounter. The CANTON was owned by Swift & Perry, of New Bedford, and had 1400 barrels of oil when she was wrecked. From a letter to Messrs. Morgan, Hathaway &. Co., of this city, and from Capt Wing's statement to ourself, we are enabled to give the following account of the shipwreck and the subsequent events. The ship CANTON left Otaheite on the 3d January, on a whaling cruise on the Line. The Captain had great confidence in his chronometers, having verified their correctness by several observations of land, viz : Starbuck's Island, Jarvis's Island, and Bunker's Rock. Up to the 4th of March all went well. On that evening sail was shortened at sunset, as usual with vessels on whaling ground, and the watch below "turned in" with that feeling of security which sailors possess when they have a good ship and plenty of sea room. About one o'clock, (the deck at that time being in command of the second mate,) the "look-out"', cried out "hard-up," but before the wheel could be got " up," the ship struck in the midst of the heaviest breakers that, says Capt. Wing, he ever saw. The ship at once came broadside to the surf, on her beam ends, the breakers making a clean sweep over her. The foremast was cut away, and the main and mizen topmasts followed. The larboard quarter, from abreast of the main hatch to the stern of the vessel, immediately came off and washed away. All hands clung to the wreck till daylight, when they conveyed themselves to the shore, (a low sand bank about 400 yards wide,) with what provisions and water could be got at. The reef on which the CANTON struck is not laid down on any chart. By observation of Capt. Wing, it is ascertained to be in lat 2° 45' S., and longitude 173° W. Finley, in his "Narrative," speaks of a reef, supposed to be between Favorite and Mary's Islands, and says the latitude and longitude are unknown. As this reef lies between the two islands mentioned, it is undoubtedly the one alluded to in "Finley's Narrative." Capt. Wing and his crew remained on the reef nearly four weeks, repairing the boats and waiting for the ship to break up, in order to obtain provisions and water. A tent was erected of the sails which were saved from the wreck, which procured them some shelter from the burning sun. During the day, under the best shade that could be made, the thermometer stood at 135°, and at night 95°. All told, they numbered thirty-three ; eight of them landed in one of the boats, and with a tow-line hauled the others through the surf. They all landed nearly naked, but fortunately one of the first articles washed ashore from the wreck was a slop-cask, from which a good supply of clothing was obtained. On the 30th March, Capt. Wing with his crew divided in four boats, started for the King's Mill group, about 800 miles distant, having no other instrument with which to take an observation than a quadrant, which was made by lashing a portion of the captain's sextant to a part of the mate's. All hands were put upon an allowance of half a pint of water and half a biscuit per day. The boats were kept together at night, (Capt Wing's boat carrying a light,) and in the day-time separated as much as possible, to look out for land or a sail. The boats encountered much bad weather. They weathered one gale in which the Sea, of Warren, lost her sails and spars (within fifty miles, as was afterwards ascertained, of Capt. Wing's boats.) Not striking the King's Mill group, having probably gone to the leeward, Capt. Wing kept on for the Ladrone lslands, or if these were not found, hoping to reach the coast of China. On the forty fifth day they landed at Sypan, (one of the Ladrone Islands,) where they added a few birds to their scanty stock of provisions. The halfpint of water per day to each man had now, saving a few gallons, exhausted their supply. Of the thirty-three men in the boats, not one was able to stand, to such a condition had they been reduced by the short allowance, and being so long a time in open boats under a tropical sun. They procured some fish which refreshed them considerably, and afterwards some cocoa nuts, but there being no water to be found at Sypan, they kept on to Tinian, about thirty miles distant. At Tinian, the commander of the island prepared to receive them as pirates, and called his soldiers together to fire into them if they attempted to land. Fortunately, Capt. Wing deemed it prudent to anchor off the island over night, and in the morning the Governor had changed his mind concerning the character of the men, and when he ascertained their distressed condition, he supplied them with everything the island afforded — water, fruit and bread— sufficient to enable them to reach Guam, which they did four days afterwards, having been forty-nine days in open boats, forty-five days upon an allowance of half a pint of water and half a sea-biscuit, and performed a voyage of 3,800 miles. At Guam they remained sixty days, when the Swedish brig Knuit Bonde, Capt. Kollinus, put in there, and on this vessel Capt Wing, his first mate, and two of the crew were taken to Hong Kong, from which place they obtained passage to Honolulu, in the bark What Cheer. Capt. Wing and Mr. Carroll, the first officer, came passengers from Honolulu in the schr. Vaquero, which arrived on Sunday. The twenty-nine men who were left at Guam have undoubtedly found berths ere this, on board of whale ships, as many of them stop in there for supplies. Capt. Wing desires us to express his feelings of gratitude to Capt. Kollinus, of the Knuit Bonde, and to Capt. Edw. Howland, of the clipper ship Sea Serpent, also to Capt. Harris, of the Vaquero, for their hospitable treatment of himself and brother seamen." - Daily Alta California, 6 March 1855SignificanceNathaniel Stebbins was a skilled maritime photographer with an eye for capturing the romance and drama of an age when sailing ships dominated the seas. This particular ship, CANTON, would have its own dramatic story to tell.