(WHALING) Group of Cook family whaling letters

Sale 2533 - Lot 264

Price Realized: $ 625

?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price

Estimate: $ 500 - $ 750

(WHALING.) Group of Cook family whaling letters. 9 Autograph Letters Signed from various parties to Luther D. Cook of Sag Harbor, NY and his son Benjamin Augustus Cook; generally minor wear. Vp, 1829-49

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Luther Dutton Cook (1794-1866) was a whaling merchant and ship owner of Sag Harbor, NY. These letters by three authors addressed to him and his son all include some discussion of whaling or whale oil. Robert F. Hand writes from Sag Harbor regarding his efforts to recruit a new whaling crew, and suggests some detailed specifications for the timber needed for a new ship, citing 'the general opinion here that they ought to be 3 or 4 feet longer than the Americans. . . . For the beams you had better get a three-inch plank' (3 June 1829). Elias W. Jones writes from Baltimore upon returning from a long trip, about to embark on his final leg to New York: 'Don't mention whaling when I get there! 5 years surely ought to extinguish all love for whaling. You know we have been unsuccessful, God help us! We are not the only ones, I hear' (22 July 1845). Luther D. Cook writes to his son: 'The Plymouth turned out 4873 bbs of whale oil! Probably the largest ever brought in the U.S. in any one vessel' (24 May 1849).