A Nantucket sleighride is the dragging of a

whaleboat A whaleboat is a type of open boat that was used for catching whales, or a boat of similar design that retained the name when used for a different purpose. Some whaleboats were used from whaling ships. Other whaleboats would operate from the sh ...

by a

harpoon A harpoon is a long spear-like instrument and tool used in fishing, whaling, seal hunting, sealing, and other marine hunting to catch and injure large fish or marine mammals such as seals and whales. It accomplishes this task by impaling the t ...

whale Whales are a widely distributed and diverse group of fully aquatic placental marine mammals. As an informal and colloquial grouping, they correspond to large members of the infraorder Cetacea, i.e. all cetaceans apart from dolphins and ...

while

whaling Whaling is the process of hunting of whales for their usable products such as meat and blubber, which can be turned into a type of oil that became increasingly important in the Industrial Revolution. It was practiced as an organized industry ...

. It is an archaic term from the early days of open-boat whaling, when the animals were harpooned from small open boats. Once harpooned, the whale, in pain from its wound, attempts to flee, but the rope attached to the harpoon drags the whalers' boat along with it. The term refers to

Nantucket Nantucket () is an island about south from Cape Cod. Together with the small islands of Tuckernuck and Muskeget, it constitutes the Town and County of Nantucket, a combined county/town government that is part of the U.S. state of Massachuse ...

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett language, Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut assachusett writing systems, məhswatʃəwiːsət'' English: , ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is the most populous U.S. state, state in the New England ...

, the center of the American whaling industry; as well as the speed associated with riding in a horse-drawn sleigh. The term wasn't used by whalemen themselves, but was probably invented by a late 19th-century journalist.Dolin, Eric Jay. (2007). ''Leviathan: The History of Whaling in America'', p. 391. New York, W. W. Norton & Co. A Nantucket sleighride was extremely dangerous. The speed would vary depending on the species of the whale;

humpback whale The humpback whale (''Megaptera novaeangliae'') is a species of baleen whale. It is a rorqual (a member of the family Balaenopteridae) and is the only species in the genus ''Megaptera''. Adults range in length from and weigh up to . The hump ...

s, for example, gave a faster ride. The

sperm whale The sperm whale or cachalot (''Physeter macrocephalus'') is the largest of the toothed whales and the largest toothed predator. It is the only living member of the genus ''Physeter'' and one of three extant species in the sperm whale famil ...

caused the longest drag events, reaching speeds of 23 mph (37 km/h). The length of the drag lasted until the animal had no more energy.

Fin whale The fin whale (''Balaenoptera physalus''), also known as finback whale or common rorqual and formerly known as herring whale or razorback whale, is a cetacean belonging to the parvorder of baleen whales. It is the second-longest species of cet ...

s and

blue whale The blue whale (''Balaenoptera musculus'') is a marine mammal and a baleen whale. Reaching a maximum confirmed length of and weighing up to , it is the largest animal known to have ever existed. The blue whale's long and slender body can ...

s were the most dangerous species, as they would dive scores of fathoms deep, trying to take the whaleboat and its occupants beneath the surface. Once the whale had exhausted its energy, the sailors pulled in the rope, killed the animal, and rowed it back to the

whaling ship A whaler or whaling ship is a specialized vessel, designed or adapted for whaling: the catching or processing of whales. Terminology The term ''whaler'' is mostly historic. A handful of nations continue with industrial whaling, and one, Japa ...

, where they would butcher the carcass, remove its blubber, and render its oil. Towards the turn of the twentieth century, the development of the whaling industry led to large

factory ship A factory ship, also known as a fish processing vessel, is a large ocean-going vessel with extensive on-board facilities for processing and freezing caught fish or whales. Modern factory ships are automated and enlarged versions of the earlier wh ...

s with a fleet of steam-driven whale catchers armed with

harpoon gun A harpoon cannon is a whaling implement developed in the late 19th century and most used in the 20th century. It would be mounted on the bow of a whale catcher, where it could be easily aimed with a wide field of view at the target. Powered by b ...

s. Sailors no longer needed to risk their lives in whaleboats, and so the Nantucket sleighride came to an end. A few countries still allow

aboriginal whaling Indigenous whaling is the hunting of whales by indigenous peoples recognised by either IWC (International Whaling Commission) or the hunting is considered as part of indigenous activity by the country. It is permitted under international regu ...

, which takes place from small boats.

Gallery

File:FMIB 35832 Towed by a Whale.jpeg, Towed by a Whale File:Walfang mit der Duncan Grey.jpg, A steam-powered whaleship with a bow-mounted harpoon (circa 1907) was in much less danger. File:Whaling-dangers of the whale fishery.jpeg, Dangers of the "whale fishery" in 1820. Note the taut ropes on the right, lines leading from the open boats to the harpooned animal.

References

External links

An engraving from ''The cruise of the Cachalot.''
{{Whaling Whaling in the United States Sleighride Nautical terminology