Dolin discusses whaling history book

MARBLEHEAD – Like every other seaside community in Massachusetts, Marblehead is proud of its whaling community.An enthusiastic crowd of more than 100 packed the Abbot Public Library meeting room Tuesday to hear local author Eric Jay Dolin discuss his book,”Leviathan: A History of Whaling in America,” and heard Dolin describe the way the islands of Nantucket and Martha’s Vineyard jockeyed for whaling history recognition.Nantucket, as Dolin pointed out to his audience, was the center of the New England whaling industry during the early days of the 19th Century and even seceded from the United States briefly during the War of 1812, in hopes that England would not interfere with the lucrative business of a neutral country as they had with mainland Massachusetts.”That didn’t last and once the War of 1812 was over everyone conveniently forgot,” he said. Eventually whaling became the third largest industry in Massachusetts and the fifth largest in the United States, and the center of that industry moved from Nantucket to New Bedford.On the other hand Dolin said he mentions Martha’s Vineyard five times in his book, once referring to it as “an island 15 miles away from Nantucket.” When he visited Martha’s Vineyard on his book tour the island newspaper coverage was critical but “They did invite me back,” Dolin said.Salemites have also claimed to be the place where the whaling industry began. No surprise, then, that Dolin pointed out to his audience that there are two recorded whaling voyages that set out from Marblehead, one in the 1820s and the other in the 1830s.That tidbit justifies the hand-carved whale Dolin placed over his front door as a souvenir of his book project – seven months to write the proposal, two years to write the book, making time in the mornings and evenings.While the work schedule was intense, Dolin found that he chose his subject well. “There were lots of little surprises and ‘aha’ moments,” he said.Since the book’s publication, experts in the field have thanked him for helping them to tell their story.Dolin has an answer for the reporter who heard that his current book was about whaling and his next book will be about the fur trade and concluded that, “You write about killing animals.””I love animals,” he said, “and in my next book after the fur trade – I have a two-book contract – there will not be a single animal death.”