The Religious Community Behind the Whaling Empire Robert J. Leach In 1702 Nantucket Island was swept by a spiritual tidal wave called Quakerism. In the following century and a half, Nantuckets Religious Society of Friends created not only one of the worlds most successful Quaker communities but also a whaling empire that was the envy of the world. Based on Quaker records long thought lost and never before fully examined, Quaker Nantucket tells how this Quaker community arose, prospered, and eventually collapsed. Along the way we meet the individuals who built this remarkable community: Great Mary Coffin Starbuck, founder of the Nantucket Quaker Meeting; the self-destructive reformer David Gardner; whaling magnate William Rotch; and Eunice Paddack, the last Quaker, who died in 1900. We also learn of the men and women who keep Quakerism alive on Nantucket to this day. Quaker Nantucket explores the role of religion in defining one of Americas most fascinating societies. Insatiable whale-killers, stubborn pacifists, intolerant neighbors, and passionate abolitionists. Nantuckets Quakers were a quintessentially American phenomenon.