New Bedford’s Whaling Fleet Relied on Wampanoag Harpoon Skills

There is no escaping that the city of New Bedford is and likely always will be known for whaling.

We have come to learn the role that so many ethnic groups played in making the whaling industry and the Whaling City so successful.

Explore New Bedford.org says, "In the mid-1800s New Bedford was the largest whaling port and richest city in the world per capita."

The site says, "The whaling industry's decline brought economic uncertainty until the textile boom in the early twentieth century, with New Bedford becoming among the leading cities in the nation in cotton textiles."

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The New Bedford Whaling National Historic Park cites the contributions of the African American, West Indian, St. Helenian, Azorean and Cape Verdean people in whaling and shoreside whaling industries. The National Park Service also acknowledges the significant contributions of the Wampanoag Indians.

The National Park Service says, "Wampanoag Indians were the first inhabitants of the area that would become New Bedford." The NPS says the Wampanoag "practiced drift-whaling, harvesting the dying or dead whales that washed ashore."

"The Wampanoags also used harpoons to catch fish for bait- which sharpened the techniques that would make them so valuable aboard whaleships," says the Park Service.

The NPS cites Wampanoag oral history, "The captain deemed himself fortunate to have a Gay Head Aquinnah Wampanoag aboard his whaleship as the harpooner, because of his keen eyesight, strength of arm, and unique balance."

Several Wampanoag Indians who rose through the ranks to become successful in New Bedford's whaling industry include Amos Haskins, Amos Smalley, Paul Cuffee and William Powell.