Amos Smalley

"Reader's Digest" article about Amos Smalley.

In 1902, Amos Smalley lived through a real-life Moby Dick when he harpooned a white whale. Smalley told a magazine reporter that the whale "was 90-feet long, three times the length of our boat, and he was unnatural."

A Wampanoag man, Smalley felt that he was given the honor of harpooning the whale because of his tribe's special relationship with the creatures.

Smalley had shipped out on a whaleship as a cabin boy at 12 years old. When the whaling industry came to a close, Smalley worked as a fisherman for the remainder of his career. He died in 1961.