Samuel E. Cook

Samuel Cook was the son of Samuel Edgar Cook and Nancy Ann Padelford, of Massachusetts, North America. Samuel was born in Taunton, Massachusetts on 4 October 1812. He had two brothers and five sisters. Samuel’s mother died in 1817, and his father in 1823.His twin sister Ann died when she was only 33 years of age.

Samuel was a whaling man. He started life at sea aboard the whaleship Almy when he was 16 years of age. By 1860, he had voyaged with no less than 12 whaling vessels and had been in command of eight of them. He was considered a fair and reasonable captain, who took full holds of oil and bones back to New Bedford.

Samuel married Rebecca Becket in Salem in 1821.There is no record of the couple having children. Rebecca sailed with Samuel on his long whaling voyages, although it does not appear she was with him on the voyage in 1860, when he commanded the 348-ton Benjamin Tucker with a crew of 30 men.

Benjamin Tucker was one of 60 ships built by John Mashow, renowned ship builder of New Bedford, and the first Negro American (and ex-slave) to build ships.

America’s civil war spread to the oceans, where the Union ran a blockade to prevent Confederate armies receiving arms and supplies. Ships declared fealty to one side or the other and engaged in open warfare on the high seas.

The First Mate on Benjamin Tucker was Leander Smith. He kept the ship’s log and daily wrote navigation coordinates, weather conditions and any happenings aboard ship. Leander was also a competent mate, skilled, experienced and respected by the crew.

On 15 March 1860 Samuel sailed from Vasse to Fremantle to resupply from settler farmers, acquiring fresh meat and produce. She had 100 barrels of oil on board. A pilot boat met her near Rottnest Island to guide her safely to Fremantle moorings. It was a windy day with a notable cross sea. The open pilot boat filled with water.

After two days she put out with three other whaleships to the whaling grounds to the Northwest, out into the deep of the Indian Ocean.

The Benjamin Tucker soon found whale and took her share. By 26 October she had sailed approximately 1800 kms northwest from Fremantle. It was not a calm day, and the water made the chaser boats rock.

Samuel was the boat steerer on the first of the ship’s four whaleboats. He stood at the bow of the small boat and threw his harpoon into a whale. Latched to it by the rope on the harpoon, the small boat was towed by the injured whale.

When the whale ran out of energy, it slowed and then stopped. The whaleboat remained attached. Samuel had skilfully steered the boat, avoided capsizing or fouling the rope. The whale found energy for one last protest. It threw its tail in the air, raking a fluke over the whaleboat’s crew.

Samuel was struck by the fluke of the tail. Standing, he was the only crew member at the height of the swiping tail. He was thrown into the water. The whaleboat rocked crazily from the water thrashed by the whale, and the crew tried to see Samuel in the water.

The whale died then, and the boat stopped moving. The crew took up their oars and rowed to the ship, towing the whale back to the waiting crew for flensing.

The whaleboats searched for Samuel for hours, without finding any trace of him. Meanwhile, the whale was processed and the oil barrels stowed. Then the crew decided what to do. Loss of their captain was a serious matter.

Leander Smith took command. The first step was to take the flag to half mast. Then he turned the ship and started the long sail back to Fremantle to report the loss of Captain Samuel Cook and get directions from the ship owners on how to proceed.

The Benjamin Tucker made Fremantle on 28 November 1860 with her flag half-mast advising the pilot and other vessels she was in distress. Leander Smith reported the details of Samuel’s death and cables were sent to his family and the ship’s owners in America.

Leander Smith was instructed to take command and finish the voyage, returning with a full hold. Benjamin Tucker left Fremantle to return to the whaling grounds. She arrived back in New Bedford in 1862 with 495 barrels of sperm whale oil, 77 barrels of other types of whale oil and 650 whale bones.

In 1863 Captain Semmes of the Confederate ship Alabama reported capturing and burning 15 Union ships, including the Benjamin Tucker. She was destroyed on 14 September 1862. Her crew was put into two whaleboats to row to the nearest shore.

A year after Samuel’s death probate administration was complete and Rebecca inherited Samuel’s property. She and his remaining family raised a memorial stone in his memory in the Captain Nathaniel Briggs section of the cemetery at Tiverton, Rhode Island. The now faded epitaph reads “Watch Therefore for Ye Know Not What Hour Your Lord Doth Come”.