The Daniel Webster's Last Voyage - 1832 Barrels of Sperm Oil
Four years at sea, 1,832 barrels of sperm oil — the Daniel Webster's great voyage under Captain Joseph Plaskett.
Captain Joseph N. Plaskett never married. He devoted his life to the sea.
On December 16, 1838, he sailed from Nantucket as master of the ship Daniel Webster. For nearly four years, he hunted sperm whales across the Pacific Ocean.
He returned on October 15, 1842 with 1,832 barrels of sperm oil — a successful voyage worth a small fortune. A portrait was painted; it hangs today on the North Wall of the Nantucket Whaling Museum with a wall plaque identifying him.
But Captain Joseph’s luck would not hold. He died of fever at Cape de Verde in December 1845, just months after his brother William died in Tahiti. Two whaling captain brothers, both lost to foreign shores within the same year.