Home » All Great Easy Ways To Save Tax And Good Deductions » The Ballad of the Pickled Whaling Captain from Connecticut

The Best Sellers



COVID-19 Solutions & Effective Tips

COVID-19
HOW TO DEFEAT DEADLY CORONAVIRUS?

The Greatest Emergency Virus Surviving 10 Steps Guide

Risk Responses COVID-19 Solutions

EFFECTIVE FIRST AID KIT

For Use When Travel FIRST AID KIT

 

Amazon Impress Gifts 50% Off HOLIDAYS&CHRISTMAS Only!

Christmas&Holidays50%OffGifts


RSS Top Internet Today News

THE Best Sellers




Amazon Best Sellers

Arts & Entertainment

 Architecture
 Music
 Photography
 Radio
 Theater
 Art
 Body Art
 Dance
 Fashion
 Film & Television
 General
 Humor
 Magic Tricks

Travel

 Africa
 Asia
 Canada
 Caribbean
 Europe
 General
 Latin America
 Middle East
 Specialty Travel
 United States

Sports

 Individual Sports
 Martial Arts
 Mountaineering
 Other Team Sports
 Outdoors & Nature
 Racket Sports
 Running
 Soccer
 Softball
 Training
 Volleyball
 Water Sports
 Winter Sports
 Golf
 Hockey
 General
 Football
 Automotive
 Baseball
 Basketball
 Coaching
 Cycling
 Extreme Sports

Betting Systems

 Casino Table Games
 Football
 General
 Horse Racing
 Lottery
 Soccer
 Poker

Spirituality, New Age & Alternative Beliefs

 General
 Astrology
 Hypnosis
 Magic
 Numerology
 Paranormal
 Psychics
 Religion
 Tarot
 Witchcraft

Business / Investing

 Derivatives
 Economics
 Equities & Stocks
 Foreign Exchange
 General
 International Business
 Management & Leadership
 Marketing & Sales
 Outsourcing
 Personal Finance
 Real Estate
 Small Biz / Entrepreneurship
 Commodities
 Debt
 Careers, Industries & Professions

As Seen On TV

 General
 Backyard Living
 Auto
 Health and Beauty
 Kitchen Tools and Gadgets

E-business & E-marketing

 SEM & SEO
 Consulting
 Copywriting
 Domains
 E-commerce Operations
 E-zine Strategies
 Email Marketing
 General
 Market Research
 Marketing
 Niche Marketing
 Paid Surveys
 Pay Per Click Advertising
 Promotion
 Social Media Marketing
 Blog Marketing
 Submitters
 Video Marketing
 Classified Advertising
 Banners
 Auctions
 Affiliate Marketing
 Article Marketing

Employment & Jobs

 Cover Letter & Resume Guides
 General
 Job Listings
 Job Search Guides
 Job Skills / Training

Fiction

 General

Games

 Console Guides & Repairs
 General
 Strategy Guides

Green Products

 Alternative Energy
 Conservation & Efficiency
 General

Computers / Internet

 System Analysis & Design
 Databases
 Email Services
 General
 Graphics
 Hardware
 Networking
 Operating Systems
 Programming
 Software
 System Administration
 Web Hosting
 Web Site Design

Cooking, Food & Wine

 Baking
 BBQ
 Cooking
 Drinks & Beverages
 General
 Recipes
 Regional & Intl.
 Special Diet
 Special Occasions
 Vegetables / Vegetarian
 Wine Making

Languages

 English
 Arabic
 Chinese
 French
 German
 Hebrew
 Hindi
 Italian
 Japanese
 Other
 Russian
 Sign Language
 Spanish
 Thai

Education

 Test Prep & Study Guides
 K-12
 Student Loans
 Higher Education
 Educational Materials
 Admissions

Home & Garden

 Animal Care & Pets
 Crafts & Hobbies
 Entertaining
 Gardening & Horticulture
 General
 Homebuying
 How-to & Home Improvements
 Interior Design
 Sewing
 Weddings

Mobile

 Apps
 Developer Tools
 General
 Security
 Ringtones
 Video

Health & Fitness

 Women's Health
 Spiritual Health
 Strength Training
 Yoga
 Dietary Supplements
 Addiction
 Beauty
 Dental Health
 Diets & Weight Loss
 Exercise & Fitness
 General
 Meditation
 Men's Health
 Mental Health
 Nutrition
 Remedies
 Sleep and Dreams

Software & Services

 3D Printing
 Internet Tools
 Anti Adware / Spyware
 Background Investigations
 Communications
 Dating
 Developer Tools
 Digital Photos
 Drivers
 Education
 Email
 Foreign Exchange Investing
 General
 Graphic Design
 Hosting
 MP3 & Audio
 Networking
 Operating Systems
 Other Investment Software
 Personal Finance
 Productivity
 Registry Cleaners
 Reverse Phone Lookup
 Screensavers & Wallpaper
 Security
 System Optimization
 Utilities
 Video
 Web Design

Self-Help

 Time Management
 Survival
 Success
 Stress Management
 Abuse
 Dating Guides
 Eating Disorders
 General
 Male Dating Guides
 Marriage & Relationships
 Motivational / Transformational
 Personal Finance
 Public Speaking
 Self Defense
 Self-Esteem

Parenting & Families

 Divorce
 Education
 Genealogy
 General
 Marriage
 Parenting
 Pregnancy & Childbirth
 Special Needs

Reference

 Gay / Lesbian
 Automotive
 Catalogs & Directories
 Consumer Guides
 Education
 Etiquette
 General
 Law & Legal Issues
 The Sciences
 Writing

Politics / Current Events

 General

The Ballad of the Pickled Whaling Captain from Connecticut

By in All Great Easy Ways To Save Tax And Good Deductions on .

The Ballad of the Pickled Whaling Captain from Connecticut

Follow us

Facebook

YouTube

Twitter

Pinterest

This whale of a tale from the 19th century is actually true. At the close of the Civil War, a whaling ship captain died at sea thousands of miles from his home in Lebanon, Connecticut. To preserve his body, they sealed his corpse in a barrel of rum, where it remained for more than a year until it was finally interred, barrel and all, in a Connecticut cemetery.

Captain Sluman Gray was 51 years old when he, his wife Sarah and three of their eight children set sail on the James Maury from New Bedford, Connecticut in June 1864. Whaling voyages could take years and Gray, known as a demanding and borderline cruel captain, was a softie for his family, who he liked to take along on his far-flung expeditions.

After nine months at sea, Capt. Gray took ill with “an inflammation of the bowels” in the South Pacific near Guam. Two days later he was dead. It was Sarah who decided to preserve his body in a barrel of rum rather than giving him a burial at sea. The ship’s log for March 24, 1864, read simply, “Light winds from the Eastward and pleasant weather, made a cask and put the Capt. in with spirits.”

If the body-in-a-barrel story wasn’t strange enough, the James Maury was then captured by a Confederate warship tasked with disrupting Yankee shipping and whaling routes. This was June 1865, two months after Robert E. Lee surrendered at Appomattox Court House in Virginia, but Lieutenant Commander James Waddell of the CSS Shenandoah either didn’t get the news that the war was over or didn’t care. He captured and burned 24 whaling vessels in June 1865 alone.

Waddell spared Sarah and the James Maury — “Men of the South did not make war on women and children,” he said — transporting the ship and its pickled human cargo to Hawaii, from which Capt. Gray’s barrel continued its long journey home.

The story goes that Capt. Gray was buried in his rum barrel in March 1866, but nothing at the Liberty Hill Cemetery indicates anything unusual. New England historian Alicia Wayland told Damned Connecticut that there are no records of Sarah buying a casket or paying a carpenter to construct one. The only way to confirm the barrel story would be to dig up poor old pickled Capt. Gray.


Citation & Date |
Reprint


Citation & Date |
Reprint

Culture · Previous Story

Next Story · Animals

NASA’s InSight Mission Detects Its First Marsquake

Marijuana Edibles: Not Such a Treat

Oak Ridge, Tennessee: America’s Secret Atomic City

HowStuffWorks

Copyright © 2019 HowStuffWorks, a division of InfoSpace Holdings LLC, a System1 Company

Newsletter

Get the best of HowStuffWorks by email. Keep up to date on:

Sign Up Now!

Newsletter Policy & Terms

The Ballad of the Pickled Whaling Captain from Connecticut

Research & References of The Ballad of the Pickled Whaling Captain from Connecticut|A&C Accounting And Tax Services
Source

89 Comments

Leave a comment