Total Number Of Pages: 1
Source: Scanned from the original photograph which is 10 inches in width and 8 inches in height.
Language: English
Coverage: Freetown, East Hampton, N.Y. (Town)
Creators:
Red Thunder Cloud [Cromwell Ashbie Hawkins West]
Rights: No Known Copyright Restrictions
Description: The reverse reads:
"The Montauk Indians who like the other Indians of Long Island and New England had been experts at off shore whaling, taught the early East Hampton settlers how to whale. The whaling skill of the Long Island and New England Indians became known the world over when they began to ship out as deep sea whalers.
The Indian communities of Mohegan, Narragansett, Shinnecock, Gay Head, Mashpee, Eastville, and Freetown became subjects of conversations all over the world. From Sagg Harbor to New Bedford, the whaling skill of the Eastern Algonkian peoples was undisputed.
Uncle John as he was known to members of the Montauk Tribe was the last Montauk who shipped on whaling vessels that sailed around the Horn. Many a Montauk youth spent evenings in his cozy home around a crackling fire listening with eagerness to the exciting stories of the whale hunt and the orama that followed when the cry of "Whale Off" was heard.
This is a rare photo of the Montauk whaler and his wife in front of their home probably around the turn of the century.(20th)"