An adventuresome tale... an entertaining and informative read.

Society for the History of Discoveries

Seaforth Publishing has recently added another very fine, attractive and readable title to it's maritime series "Seafarers Voices." Nelson Cole Haley's 'Whale Hunter' is the sixth in the series of titles intended to "unveil the extraordinary and unfamiliar world of our seafaring ancestors" with abridged texts describing seafaring between 1700 and 1900.
Haley's text itself remains an exciting first-hand description of one of the world's great maritime enterprises.

The Northern Mariner

For those interested in the specific nature of American whaling, from the logistics of being a boat steerer to the collection of the oil, this account is a perfect first-hand tale of how this was accomplished. Also, if interested in the dynamics of shipboard life in the nineteenth century, Haley's account provides tales of laughter, danger, and maritime culture and activity.

Nautical Research Journal

In 1849, at the height of the Golden Age of American whaling, 17 year old Nelson Cole Haley joined the crew of a 33 metre wooden whaler. Whale Hunter is Haley's account of the ensuing four year voyage. The result is not only a stirring tale of adventure on the high seas but a thoughtful take on the moral complexities involved in opening up the Pacific. There's everything you might hope for in a 19th century sailor's yarn.

Geographical Magazine

The importance of Haley’s account is the door it opens into the heyday of American whaling ships, when seamen sailed as far as the South Pacific to hunt these mammals to bring back their baleen (whale bone) and sperm and whale oil, which were in great demand during the Industrial Age. The voyage recounted here began in 1849 and lasted four years.
Haley’s account brings to life a whaler’s life a whaler’s life and the dangers and hardships such men faced.
This wonderful and engrossing narration opens the door to a past way of life, one in which the reader can literally step through afterwards with a visit aboard Haley’s ship and a tour through a 19th-century whaling community in Connecticut.

Pirates and Privateers

This is one of those special interest books that deserve and demands a very much wider audience...a book to rush out and buy whatever your primary reading interests

Fire Trench