Brewster Ladies' Library A Whaler at Twilight with Author Alexander Brash

Buried at the bottom of an old leather trunk lay an incredible manuscript. Over 160 years after one man’s soul-searching odyssey across the South Pacific, his compelling story was discovered; and the author’s great great grandson has brought it to light.

At the heart of A Whaler at Twilight is the true story of an American whaler who embarked on a harrowing adventure in the mid-nineteenth century in search of redemption. After the death of his parents, young Robert Armstrong lived with a successful uncle—a well-respected Methodist shopkeeper in Baltimore. But Armstrong threw his future away, drinking himself into oblivion. Devoured by guilt and shame, in 1849 he sold everything he possessed, and signed on for a whaling voyage leaving New Bedford for the South Pacific.

Armstrong wrote an eloquent autobiographical account based on the logbooks he kept, chronicling his thrilling experiences during ten years away. His memoirs describe his encounters with other whalers, Peruvian villagers, Pacific islanders, Maori warriors in New Zealand, cannibals on Fiji, and the impacts of American Expansionism. He also recounted his struggles with drink, his quest for God, and his own redemption.

Armstrong’s personal account is bookended by historical context compiled by his great-great-grandson, co-author Alexander Brash. A noted professional conservationist, Brash fills out Armstrong’s tale by shedding further light on a turbulent period, whaling and its impacts, his ancestor’s religious milieu, and the importance of marine conservation today. A Whaler at Twilight is a fascinating dive into both human morality and American history, and a perfect non-fiction partner to Melville’s works.

The Authors:

Alexander R. Brash was born and raised in New York, NY. An early love for birds evolved into a passion for quantitative community ecology and then a devotion to conservation. A graduate of Buckley, Hotchkiss, Connecticut College, Yale School for the Environment, he also worked on Great Gull Island, in the Ornithology Department at the American Museum of Natural History, and on a PhD at Rutgers University. After a hurricane wiped out his study site, he took a job with NYC Parks and rose to be the Chief Park Ranger, managing the agency’s uniformed officers, Natural Resource Group, Communications, Historic House Trust, and Special Events. At NYC Parks he initiated the Forever Wild Project, now 47 park preserves covering over 8,700 acres, Project X, the city’s first program to re-introduce extirpated species, and he was a first responder on 9/11. After nearly two decades at NYC Parks, he joined the National Parks Conservation Association as the Northeast Regional Director lobbying for our national parks, bringing attention to the system’s urban parks and cultural icons, and initiating the effort to establish Katahdin Woods, Stonewall Inn, and Patterson Falls as new National Parks. Alex then spent three years as President of Connecticut Audubon, which he re-invigorated by moving its finances into the black, tripling its endowment, and doubling the size of its nature preserves. Now living in Riverside, Connecticut, he has been consulting, writing, traveling, birding, and spending time with family. Happily married to Jane, they have two great children, Ian and Emily.

Robert W. Armstrong was born in Baltimore, Maryland, in 1828, the only child of William and Rebecca Armstrong. After attending the esteemed Baltimore College of Dental Surgery, the world’s first dental school, he served for a short while as a dentist in the Midwest and the South. He then spent ten years in the South Pacific as a whaler and a logger before returning to Baltimore and starting a second career as a store clerk. He worked at his uncle’s well known millinery store, rather like a Macy’s today, Armstrong, Cator and Co. Soon after, he married Eudocia Muller and together they opened their own, and ultimately quite successful, millinery store on Lexington Street in Baltimore. With Eudocia ultimately managing the store, Robert became more involved in church and community affairs later in his life. Robert and Eudocia had eight children. He died peacefully in 1902 and lies with his family on a hillside in Mt. Olivet Cemetery, south of Baltimore Harbor.