A Nantucket origin story

Nantucket from a satellite. Martha’s Vineyard’s Chappaquiddick Island is on the left.

“Look now at the wondrous traditional story of how this island {Nantucket} was settled by the red-men. Thus goes the legend. In olden times an eagle swooped down upon the New England coast, and carried off an infant Indian in his talons. With loud lament the parents saw their child borne out of sight over the wide waters. They resolved to follow in the same direction. Setting out in their canoes, after a perilous passage they discovered the island, and there they found an empty ivory casket --the poor little Indian's skeleton.’’

-- From Moby-Dick (1851), by Herman Melville (1819-91)