Customer Reviews

Final Voyage: A Story of Arctic Disaster and One Fateful Whaling Season

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

First off, "caveat emptor", as the saying goes. (Geez, I hope I spelled that right. My Latin is a little rusty!) If you are looking for "just" a straight-forward adventure story this may not be quite what you expected and you might be a bit disappointed. However, if you are the sort of reader who doesn't mind an author meandering wherever his curiosity might lead him, then I think you will enjoy this book. The "trapping" of the 1871 fleet in the ice off of the Alaskan coast actually takes up a minor portion of the book. (Northeast winds blew ice away from the coast and opened up a narrow channel so the ships could pursue whales to the north. Unfortunately, the favorable winds only lasted a short while. When they shifted and blew from the southwest, the ice moved back in and trapped the fleet.) Most of the book deals with other topics that capture the author's fancy: Religious persecution of Quakers in New England; the rise and fall of the Quaker community in New Bedford, Massachusetts; mini-biographies of the seafaring/merchant Williams and Howland families of New Bedford; a brief history of the whaling industry; the discovery of oil in Pennsylvania and the start of Standard Oil; etc. Personally, I didn't mind all the digressions from the main topic of the book. Mr. Nichols writes very well and a lot of this stuff was fascinating. (Did you know that Quakers could be, and were, whipped or executed for failure to remove a hat?!.....Also, one reason Quakers were so successful in business, besides hard-work, was their reputation for scrupulous honesty. Apparently nice guys can sometimes finish first.) However, I could also see that if you had your heart set on reading a rip-roaring adventure story set in stormy seas you might feel a tad bit "cheated". That being said, I found this to be a first-rate read... very interesting and enjoyable. Please just be aware that, depending on your expectations, you may be getting more or less than you bargained for.

You should be warned that this is rather less a tale of maritime disaster and Arctic suffering than it is a history of whaling in Nantucket and New Bedford, mixed with an account of the prominence of Quakers in that industry, with a focus on a couple of particular families. I suspect most readers want to get to the "good part" where the unlucky whalers get trapped in the Alaskan ice, but if so, they will be frustrated, as the author endlessly delays reaching that point.

There's a great deal of cutting from one locale to another and jumping back and forth in time. And way too much of "The aptly-named Sir Not-Relevant-to-this-Tale once lived near Boston, and was the grandson of So-and-So, and married the fifth cousin of What's-Her-Face. He owned a wharf. This...is not his story."

My advance copy had all of two illustrations and no maps. More of the former and some of the latter would've substantially improved the book.

The author did significant research, it appears, and is clearly enthusiastic about the topic, but this is a workman-like effort at best, and given the nature of the actual denouement, I think the marketing of the book is rather misleading. It's all right for what it is--as long as you're looking for a general survey of 19th century American whaling.

I bought this book on my travels without first having had the opportunity to review the comments by the consumers (readers) on Amazon. I enjoyed the brief history of the whaling industry and its place in New England's rich history during the 18th and 19th centuries. I particularly enjoyed the author's interposing in the narrative comments taken from the actual logbooks of some of the whale ships to corroborate his historical research. However, Nichols wandered from the whaling history to the religious persecution of the Quakers in New England in the 17th century to the discovery of oil in Western Pennsylvania, and the human interest story of the Howland family in New Bedford.

The back of the book's dust cover is very misleading and if one is anticipating this is going to be an exciting, hair-raising, spine tingling adventure of the final voyage of a 19th century whaling ship and crew on the open seas, you will be disappointed. The narrative of the incarcerated whale fleet in the Arctic Ice in 1871 doesn't even come into focus until the 15th and 16th chapters,(the book has 18 chapters)a grand total of 20 pages!

The book can hardly be construed as "one of the most gripping sea stories....", "a haunting story on the grandest scale", or "a terrifyingly relevant historical narrative". Quotes taken from the back of the dust cover!

As a dedicated maritime reader, I found this book very disappointing, especially after all of the trouble I took to purchase it (and at hardcover prices). If you want to know the history of New Bedford, MA and the fall of the whaling industry, this book is for you. If you are buying this book for a chilling read on maritime stories and survival (In the Heart of the Sea, Perfect Storm, Fatal Storm, Rough Water, The Seas Bitter Harvest, the Last Run ect)this book is a complete disappointment--and very boring to boot!! This is a history book with a Pacific whaleboat stuck in the ice thrown in, not the other way around as it was presented.

If you live in New Bedford, MA this is for you. Otherwise, don't get stuck in the ice of this boring book.

Final Voyage is a good book for what it is, but it did not turn out to be at all what I had expected or wanted. I ordered this book because the product description led me to think that it would be an incredible story of personal challenge, sacrifice, and survival in the Arctic. Don't get me wrong, this book has hints of those dimensions, but the book is mainly about the history of the New England whaling industry and the establishment, rise, and economic fall of whaling ports like Nantuckett and New Bedford.

The author sets the stage for the climax of the book in which a fleet of whaling ships is trapped between the encroaching ice pack and shoal waters along Alaska's northwest shore. The setting of the stage, however, takes up what seemed like about 90% of the book, and the actual struggles and events surrounding the trapped fleet and its crews makes up the meager remains of the book.

This book does tell the tale of the rise and fall of the square-rigger whaling industry mainly from the perspective of New England Quakers such as the Howland family. There are also references to accounts of early American religious intolerance and how those events contributed to the story.

The author accurately points out the interplay between the twilight of the whale oil (oyl) industry and the rise of the petroleum industry, and that the whaling industry was already on its way out before this set of tragic events took place.

As a piece of history, historical ecomonics, and even family history of the Howlands I found this to be a somewhat intruiging read, but as an historical tale of Arctic disaster and human endeavor (such as you can find in the amazing telling of the tragic events of Shakelton's ill fated expedition in Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage) I found it sadly lacking.

As a marine biologist I found it notable that the author took neither an apologetic nor a condemning stance on whaling itself (an emotionally charged issue among coastal nations), and perhaps for that reason this book lacked a a strong emotional dimension from which it could have benefitted.

One other thing. I was somewhat disturbed by the author's references to Darwinian theory to the economics of the whaling industry - that smacked of the tired old and outmoded application of Darwinism to social contexts, a.k.a. Social Darwinism of the late 1800s and early 1900s.

The mixture of a misplaced set of expectations and the author's lack of emphasis on the actual Arctic disaster and its conclusion leads me to award only 3 stars (which according to Amazon's scale = It's OK).

Interesting to read book, but the author strays from the main subject so often that the title should really be something else as details of the "Final Voyage" just doesn't seem to be the main subject of the book. This may be a better book for someone who has never read anything about the times this book takes place, but for me it just became a bit tedious. As a book it isn't bad. As an "adventure" book, it just isn't that good. It certainly is not a "page-turner" that kept me up reading it at night. While it is not a terrible book, and I am glad I read it, I was also glad when I was done reading it.

Peter Nichols's "Final Voyage: A Story of Arctic Disaster and One Fateful Whaling Season" arrived in the mail today in early afternoon. I had not intended on reading it immediately, as I was already deep into something else, but I took a quick look at the first few pages. Which turned into reading the first chapter which stretched into reading the first few chapters. Which became reading the whole book before suppertime. I think it safe to say that I found it compelling.

Although the centerpiece of Nichols' narrative is the disastrous year of 1871 when a fleet of 32 American whaling ships was lost in the Arctic Ocean when unexpected weather conditions failed to clear a needed path through the ice, the scope of his book is much broader, covering the rise and fall of the American whaling industry from the 17th century to the 1890s, and providing a vivid portrait of the manifold dangers and hardships involved. Along the way he examines schisms among the Quakers (a dominant force among Nantucket and New Bedford whaling families), Jewish candle manufacturers of Newport, Rhode Island, and the rise of such competing technologies as petroleum. And as might be expected for a book of the current era, he delves into the ecological impact of whaling and even the disastrous development of "walrusing" (as a profitable sideshow) upon Arctic native peoples, and Nichols draws sharp parallels to the oil industry of our modern era.

Nichols's narrative acquires particular force through its concentration upon the fortunes of the Howland brothers' whaling concern which in a remarkably short time went from abundant affluence to utter ruin. He draws heavily upon diaries, letters, and memoirs to give his narrative a remarkable immediacy, and explaining the economic and cultural role of whaling in mid-19th century America.

All in all, a fascinating volume, certain to engage the interest of its readers.

The subtitle is a "story of Artic Disaster and one Fateful Whaling Season." this work is far more than that. True it is about whaling, but in a way whaling is but a small aspect of the book. Unexpectedly, I leared about the men who started it all. About their Quaker faith, and the development of New Bedford, MA. as a whaling center thar rivialed Nankucket. The book shifts between the period of the 1850's, 60's and 70's to the seventeenth century to map out a family history of those who would ultimately play a role in the fateful whaleing season of 1871. The book quotes liberally from logs that were kept during that period of time, including those from the sailing wifes of the masters of these vessels. The fact that were we so many wifes went to sea with their hudbands was a fact I was not aware of, including the number of children that were born when at sea. The book is both educational, informative, and in general a very good read. Nichols is also the author of A Voyage for Madman, which is likewise worth time time to read.

I love a good adventure or survival story, and I'll admit I got hooked on whaling stories, fiction or non-fiction after I read "Moby Dick." Even more so after reading Nathaniel Philbrick's gut-wrenching "Into the Heart of the Sea."

I do appreciate reading some biographical details, especially in that person's own words, and I commend the author for including this information.

However, the book lurches back and forth between tidbits of the fateful voyage and an extensive and anachronistic history of New Bedford, particularly of the Quakers. Only after reading the tedious details of who bought what property, why Quakers were good at earning money (they worked hard and lived frugally, in case you didn't know), more than enough about the Friends' meetings, and for some reason, a controversy between the "New Lights" and the "Old Lights," does Nichols finally reveal the details of the titled voyage and its fallout. And those details are gritty and in some cases, shocking.

Nichols writes well, and this is a well-researched book. The title is misleading because the whaling season is given so little attention. I would not recommend this book unless you have not learned any whaling history of Nantucket and New Bedford. The book is a good introduction to those who don't yet know the beliefs and character of those who founded the whaling industry in the United States.

Philbrick's "Into the Heart of the Sea" is both page-turning and enlightening about the whaling industry overall and the terrific risks involved. "Final Voyage" is extremely non-linear and a bit tedious.

I feel as though the title of the book is a bit of a misnomer. Though nominally about a whaling ship disaster in 1871, the book is far more a history of the rise and fall of the American whaling industry. In itself this is a very readable story, and Peter Nichols writes in a casual narrative that makes easy and enjoyable reading.

The narrative fateful 1871 trip that sailed in search of depleted whales and ended up icebound in the Arctic is woven within the story of whale oil boom that put New Bedford on the historical map. Whether it was due to lack of materials, which I suspect, or something else, the detail of the rise of the whaling industry is well-told and in-depth, but the "Final Voyage" itself feels glossed-over. There are a few bits and pieces, but it's very impersonal and left me with the "oh yeah, I forgot about that" kind of feeling. I ended up not caring terribly much and I think that is the fault of the author trying to make a story without embellishing it but without enough to fill more than a few pages.

I think the story might have been better told as the narrative of the whaling industry with a couple of chapters covering the "Final Voyage". I don't think the book would have been any less interesting for that, though it may have lacked the appeal that a disaster-oriented title and tag line give it.

Overall a good book and a worthwhile read, but not for the reasons one might expect.