Mayhew Folger
Encyclopedia
Mayhew Folger was an American whaler
Whaling
Whaling is the hunting of whales mainly for meat and oil. Its earliest forms date to at least 3000 BC. Various coastal communities have long histories of sustenance whaling and harvesting beached whales...

 who captained the sealing ship Topaz that rediscovered the Pitcairn Islands
Pitcairn Islands
The Pitcairn Islands , officially named the Pitcairn, Henderson, Ducie and Oeno Islands, form a group of four volcanic islands in the southern Pacific Ocean. The islands are a British Overseas Territory and overseas territory of the European Union in the Pacific...

 in 1808. Only one of 's mutineers was still alive: Alexander Smith, whose alias was John Adams
John Adams (mutineer)
John Adams was the last survivor of the Bounty mutineers who settled on Pitcairn Island in January 1790, the year after the mutiny. His real name was John Adams; He used the name Alexander Smith until he was discovered in 1808 by Captain Mayhew Folger of the ship Topaz...

.

Early life

Mayhew was born on March 12, 1774 , in Nantucket, Massachusetts
Nantucket, Massachusetts
Nantucket is an island south of Cape Cod, Massachusetts, in the United States. Together with the small islands of Tuckernuck and Muskeget, it constitutes the town of Nantucket, Massachusetts, and the coterminous Nantucket County, which are consolidated. Part of the town is designated the Nantucket...

 to William Folger and Ruth Coffin. Mayhew was a member of the Folger whaling family of Nantucket, Massachusetts
Nantucket, Massachusetts
Nantucket is an island south of Cape Cod, Massachusetts, in the United States. Together with the small islands of Tuckernuck and Muskeget, it constitutes the town of Nantucket, Massachusetts, and the coterminous Nantucket County, which are consolidated. Part of the town is designated the Nantucket...

, prominent Quakers. He was a first cousin three times removed of Benjamin Franklin
Benjamin Franklin
Dr. Benjamin Franklin was one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. A noted polymath, Franklin was a leading author, printer, political theorist, politician, postmaster, scientist, musician, inventor, satirist, civic activist, statesman, and diplomat...

 on his father's side. He married his second cousin, Mary Joy on March 7, 1798 on Nantucket. Mayhew was the uncle of Lucretia Coffin Mott
Lucretia Mott
Lucretia Coffin Mott was an American Quaker, abolitionist, social reformer, and proponent of women's rights.- Early life and education:...

, daughter of his sister Anna Folger and Thomas Coffin.
he was born as the second child of his fsmily.

Rediscovery of the Pitcairn Islands

Mayhew Folger captained the ship Topaz that left Boston on April 5, 1807 hunting for seals. They rediscovered the Pitcairn Islands
Pitcairn Islands
The Pitcairn Islands , officially named the Pitcairn, Henderson, Ducie and Oeno Islands, form a group of four volcanic islands in the southern Pacific Ocean. The islands are a British Overseas Territory and overseas territory of the European Union in the Pacific...

 on February 6, 1808. Only one of the original mutineers, Alexander Smith, whose real name was John Adams
John Adams (mutineer)
John Adams was the last survivor of the Bounty mutineers who settled on Pitcairn Island in January 1790, the year after the mutiny. His real name was John Adams; He used the name Alexander Smith until he was discovered in 1808 by Captain Mayhew Folger of the ship Topaz...

, was still alive. The Topaz remained at the island for only ten hours.

The Bountys Chronometer

Captain Folger was given the Bountys azimuth compass and Larcum Kendall
Larcum Kendall
Larcum Kendall was a British watchmaker.-Commission:The Board of Longitude asked Kendall to copy and develop John Harrison's ingenious fourth model of a clock useful for navigation at sea...

 K2 marine chronometer
Marine chronometer
A marine chronometer is a clock that is precise and accurate enough to be used as a portable time standard; it can therefore be used to determine longitude by means of celestial navigation...

 by Adams. The K2 was the third precision marine chronometer made after the H4, designed by John Harrison
John Harrison
John Harrison was a self-educated English clockmaker. He invented the marine chronometer, a long-sought device in solving the problem of establishing the East-West position or longitude of a ship at sea, thus revolutionising and extending the possibility of safe long distance sea travel in the Age...

. The chronometer was taken by the Spanish governor at Juan Fernandez Island
Robinson Crusoe Island
Robinson Crusoe Island , formerly known as Más a Tierra , or Aguas Buenas, is the largest island of the Chilean Juan Fernández archipelago, situated 674 kilometres west of South America in the South Pacific Ocean...

. The chronometer was later purchased by a Spaniard named Castillo. When he died, his family conveyed it to Captain Herbert of HMS Calliope, who had it conveyed to the British Museum
British Museum
The British Museum is a museum of human history and culture in London. Its collections, which number more than seven million objects, are amongst the largest and most comprehensive in the world and originate from all continents, illustrating and documenting the story of human culture from its...

 around 1840. The chronometer is now in Greenwich, London.

Accounts of the rediscovery

The discovery was reported by Folger to the Royal Navy
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...

 1808, a report of which reached the British Admiralty
Admiralty
The Admiralty was formerly the authority in the Kingdom of England, and later in the United Kingdom, responsible for the command of the Royal Navy...

 on May 14, 1809. It was published in the Quarterly Review
Quarterly Review
The Quarterly Review was a literary and political periodical founded in March 1809 by the well known London publishing house John Murray. It ceased publication in 1967.-Early years:...

in 1810. Captain Folger also related an account of the discovery to his friend Captain Amasa Delano, who published the account in his book A Narrative of Voyages and Travels in 1817. This account is also included in the book Pitcarin Island, written by Charles Nordoff and James Hall.

Later years

Folger and his family migrated to Kendal, Ohio
Kendal, Ohio
The plat for the town of Kendal, in Stark County, Ohio was entered on April 20, 1812. It was named by its founder, Thomas Rotch , after the town of Kendal, in Cumbria, England. Kendal was absorbed into the town of Massillon, Ohio in 1853.-History:...

 in 1813. He became the first postmaster of neighboring Massillon, Ohio
Massillon, Ohio
Massillon is a city located in Stark County in the U.S. state of Ohio, approximately 8 miles to the west of Canton, Ohio, 20 miles south of Akron, Ohio, and 50 miles south of Cleveland, Ohio. The population was 32,149 at the 2010 census....

 when the post office was created there in 1828. He died September 1, 1828 in Massillon.

See also

  • History of the Pitcairn Islands
    History of the Pitcairn Islands
    The history of the Pitcairn Islands begins with the colonization of the islands by Polynesians in the 11th century. The Polynesians established a culture that flourished for four centuries and then vanished...

  • A quote about the Folger family from Herman Melville
    Herman Melville
    Herman Melville was an American novelist, short story writer, essayist, and poet. He is best known for his novel Moby-Dick and the posthumous novella Billy Budd....

     is in the entry for Mary Morrill
    Mary Morrill
    Mary Morrill was the grandmother of Benjamin Franklin, American printer, journalist, publisher, author, philanthropist, abolitionist, public servant, scientist, librarian, diplomat, statesman and inventor.Mary immigrated to Massachusetts Bay Colony as an indentured servant probably belonging to...

    .

External references

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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