HYANNIS – The Cape Cod Whaling Museum has announced the publishing debut of “The Whaling Art Journal of Abigail M. Case”.
The book tells the dramatic story of a 12 year old girls’ five year adventure sailing the Oceans of the world with her father, a Nantucket Whaling Captain, during the 1850’s.
The book is for sale at the Museum gift shop and Titcomb’s, with a book signing scheduled for July 15, from 2-3 p.m.
It was not uncommon for whaling captains to include their families on voyages that could last for more than four years, as they sailed beyond their home waters in search of the elusive whale oil that could make them rich or destroy them.
For an artist’s journal like the one to lie hidden for well over a century in a Nantucket attic corner, nestled in a wooden box containing the personal belongings of a young girl, is easy to imagine, and early readers will find the fictional drama and rich drawings compelling.
Abigail’s adventure captures the emotions of a child growing to young adulthood, lost and lonely while confined to a floating home full of strange men, hunters of whales across the oceans and cultures of the world.
All on the eve of the American Civil War.
The scrimshaw depicted in the finely illustrated color pages, bound in embossed leatherette, depicts actual scrimshaw on display at the museum.
The collaborative project, is a way for the museum to reach beyond its immediate community to tell the story of whaling that was a critical part of the economic and social fabric of Cape Cod.
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