June 2013

Neighbors in Time

Cape Cod Life  /  June 2013 / ,

Writer: Bill Tramposch

Neighbors in Time

June 2013

Cape Cod Life  /  June 2013 / ,

Writer: Bill Tramposch

The executive director of the Nantucket Historical Association talks about the whaling-age ties that still bind Nantucket and New Zealand.

Butler also forged a relationship with the local Maori that provided an antidote to the desertion problem, one that would ensure a whaling captain who entered Mangonui Harbor could leave with his crew intact. If sailors deserted, Butler would pay Maori a bounty for finding them. In fact, this system was so sophisticated that more than a few whale ships would depart over the horizon, pretending to bid Mangonui farewell. Once out of sight, the deserters, still on shore and infused with a sense of inevitable freedom, would come out of hiding. Then, Maori—partners in this pretense—would round up these final deserters and return them to the whale ship, which would suddenly reappear on the horizon. This arrangement with Maori is what made Mangonui a “safe” harbor.

Today, Butler Point Whaling Museum introduces modern visitors to the amazing fact that this quiet little harbor was once a vibrant center of international trade. Its owners, the Ferguson family, offer an experience in history and nature that, from my extensive experiences in New Zealand, is hard to beat. A day here does wonders for one’s imagination, reminding us of the “mystic chords of memory” (as Abraham Lincoln might say) that bind our two countries historically.
Nantucket’s relationships with New Zealand began in Mangonui and the Bay of Islands and continue today, but under very different circumstances. Whaling, for example, has been replaced by whale-watching: The mighty sperm whale is no longer hunted but held in the highest esteem and reverence. New Zealand, like Nantucket, has become an international center for tourism fueled not by exploitation, but by an interest in history and in the beauty of its natural surroundings.
The waka on the wall of the Nantucket Whaling Museum is believed to have been a token of appreciation from a Maori chief to a whaling captain. For me, it is a symbol of the deep and continuing cultural connections between two countries whose histories are intertwined.

Bill Tramposch is the executive director of the Nantucket Historical Association (NHA). His wife, Peggy, and he were married at the Town Building on Nantucket in 1976 because they wanted to be wed in a place where “great voyages began.” Thirty years to the day of their wedding, Tramposch began his job as executive director at the NHA, just across the street.

Bill Tramposch