Photographic Portrait of Benjamin Lawrence

Identifier: GPN971
Title: Photographic Portrait of Benjamin Lawrence
Creator: Unknown
Measurements: 7.6 x 11.4 cm (3 x 4 1/2 inches)
Materials: wet plates
Technique: wet collodion process; photography (process)
Date Created: ca. 1860
Location: Nantucket Historical Association Library
Subject: Whalers (Persons)--United States; Portrait photography--United States
Description: A photograph of Benjamin Lawrence in which he is seated at a small table. Lawrence served aboard the Essex as a boatsteerer/harpooner in first mate Owen Chase’s whaleboat on her fateful voyage. As a boatsteerer, Lawrence was responsible for pulling the oar at the front, or “bow,” of the whaleboat and for harpooning the whale. However, during the first hunt three months into the Essex’s voyage, Lawrence, a novice boatsteerer/harpooner, hesitated to harpoon a whale, during which time another whale surfaced underneath Chase’s whaleboat, badly damaging it and allowing both whales to escape. It is unclear whether Lawrence ever succeeded at harpooning a whale before Chase relegated him to pulling the steering oar when the Essex reached the Offshore Ground.