The Last Voyage of the Whaleship Tamerlane

Introduced as a theme, part of the moving poem by William Whiting, "perils on the Sea," directs the reader to the hazardous occupation of commercial fishing, particularly the nineteenth-century whaling industry. The dangers somewhat unique to this enterprise led to several serious incidents and subsequent calamities. Some are well known, such as the loss of the Nantucket whaler Essex in the Pacific, an event that inspired Herman Melville's classic novel Moby Dick . Others are less well known, such as the loss of the English whaleship Diana and the Canton and later the Lagoda , both of New Bedford. Next is the demise of the whaling fishery due to the discovery of lubricating and lighting oil in Pennsylvania. Despite this, their whale products were still in demand. The fishery survived, but in a greatly diminished state. This led to one of the greatest single-loss-of-life disasters connected to the whaling industry, the 1892 loss of the whaleship Tamerlane not far from Hilo. The detailed account of the calamity and subsequent heroism of the third mate "Will" Pardee is the ultimate Hawaiian focus, a shipwreck that also poignantly illustrates the "perils of the sea."