The following named Vineyarders are officers of the whaling fleet for the season of 1901 sailing out of San Francisco:

Steamer Narwhal - Alonzo M. Ripley, second mate.

Steamer Balaena - Ward P. Vineen, first mate.

Steamer Beluga - H. H. Bodfish, master; Andrew W. Look, first mate; Thomas G. Fisher, fourth mate.

Bark Gay Head - Charles W. Fisher, master; Tisdale S. Pease, first mate; Abram L. Joab, fourth mate.

Steamer Alexandr - B. T. Tilton, master.

Men of color were full participants in the whaling industry, a business so difficult and dangerous that most people only went out once.

It’s a testament to Tom Dresser’s storytelling gifts that a subject as big as whaling on the Vineyard can be told so well in only 150 pages.

Whaling schooner Hattie E. Smith, Capt. John E. Johnson, Jr., arrived at Edgartown late Saturday evening, with a catch of 450 barrels sperm oil to Samuel Osborn, Jr. The Smith sailed May 21st, 1894, therefore absent less than six months. The vessel was in all the severe October gales, and was blown off, sustaining some damage to rigging and sails, and was running short of provisions. Sunday morning at about 11 o’clock the Smith sailed for New Bedford, where she will discharge her oil.

Of the 2,500 masters who captained whaling ships during three centuries of whaling, at least 63 were men of color, five with Martha’s Vineyard ties, Skip Finley told a rapt audience Wednesday night.

Next week Alaskans and New Englanders will gather for a conference about whaling in the Arctic, with events in New Bedford, Nantucket, and on the Vineyard.