According to historian Shannon Butler, between 1832 and 1833 two whaling companies were formed on the Hudson River in Poughkeepsie, NY: the Poughkeepsie Whaling Company and the Dutchess Whaling Company.
“Trained sea captains and sailors were imported from New Bedford [Mass.] and the first ship to be fitted and sent off in search of whales was The Vermont, which sailed in both the Atlantic and the Pacific for a few years before coming back in 1835 with $16,000 worth of oil,” Butler writes. “However, her captain had died under mysterious circumstances (sickness or murdered by a mutinous crew are apparently both possibilities).”
The Dutchess County Historical Society recently acquired a 36-page ship log covering the dates of February 10, 1839 to March 7, 1840, a portion of the Barque Vermont’s journey as a whaling ship out of Poughkeepsie.
“Another ship, The Sirco, was wrecked off the coast of Chile. Despite the occasional mishap (which happened with some frequency in a brutal business such as this), both companies appeared to be doing well by 1836, with about half a dozen ships out that returned large cargos, like The New England, which sent word all the way from Peru that ‘she had 1,100 barrels of oil and expected a full cargo soon.’”
The Poughkeepsie Whale Dock
Anthony P. Musso, writing for the Poughkeepsie Journal explored the history of the whaling dock area:
“At one time, the Dutchess Company was overseeing the operation of six ships and the ‘whale dock’ grounds included cooperages, repair shops, a blacksmith shop and other ship-building operations. Henry Finch purchased the ‘whale dock’ shipping yard of Tooker and Haight in 1846 and began to build barges, steamboats, schooners and sloops. That year he built the M. Vassar, which was promptly chartered by the U.S. government and dispatched to Vera Cruz with supplies for American troops fighting in the Mexican War.”
Poughkeepsie whaling was hit hard by the Panic of 1837, when the whale oil price fell from 50 to 28 cents a gallon and demand fell with the recession of the economy.
“The Poughkeepsie Whaling Company was the first to falter, selling its ships and equipment in 1837 to the Dutchess Whaling Company, which managed to stay afloat for several years,” according to Butler.
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Ultimately, though, the company began to sell off land in order to make ends meet. It proved challenging to pay off debts and the books got even tighter if a ship was wrecked. To wit, in 1842 the Elbe was wrecked near New Zealand, costing the company well over $25,000. That year appears to have been the end of the Dutchess Whaling Company, though several ships did not return from their hunts until 1845.”
The Poughkeepsie Glass Works moved to the site of the old whale dock. “An 1837 map shows the whaling dock to be the embayment to the north of Hoffman Street,” Roy Budnik, founder of the Mid-Hudson Heritage Center in Poughkeepsie, told the Journal.
“It was subsequently filled, probably as the glass works expanded. Later the entire area was the site of Dutton Lumber Company, a site presently being redeveloped for condos.”
1830s Newspaper Mentions
The following newspaper excerpts referencing Poughkeepsie whaling companies were contributed by Hudson River Maritime Museum volunteer scholar George A. Thompson.
September 10, 1832, Boston Courier (Boston, Massachusetts)
The Poughkeepsie Whaling Company have purchased the ship Vermont, 3,000 tons burthen, which they will proceed immediately to fit out for a voyage to the Pacific Ocean.
November 1, 1832, Newburgh (NY) Telegraph
The Whale ship Vermont, owned by the Poughkeepsie Whaling Company, left this place yesterday morning for her voyage. She was saluted by the firing of cannon on her departure. We hope her voyage will be short and prosperous, and her master and crew return in health. — Poughkeepsie Tel.
November 10, 1832, Charleston Courier (South Carolina)
Whale Ship – The Vermont, a fine ship, and the first fitted out by the Poughkeepsie Whaling Company, took her departure for a three years voyage in the Pacific, under a National Salute from an eminence adjacent to the village of Poughkeepsie, (NY).
June 13, 1833, Newburgh (NY) Telegraph
The Poughkeepsie Whaling Company have purchased the ship Elbe, and intend to fit her out immediately for the South Atlantic.
August 10, 1833, Columbian Register (New Haven, Connecticut)
The ship Elbe, owned by the Poughkeepsie Whaling Company, came down from that place on Monday, and will sail in a day or two on a three years cruise in the Pacific. She was provisioned and manned at Poughkeepsie, and we hope the company may be remunerated for their enterprize by a profitable voyage. – N.Y. Gazette
Read more about whaling in New York State.
Illustrations, from above: Detail of a painting of a Barque of similar design to the whaler Vermont; a detail from an 1852 lithograph by E. Whitefield showing the old Whale Dock buildings at the extreme left (NYPL); and the later Poughkeepsie Glass Works, on the site of the old Whale Dock.
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