Coffin

The Coffin family was prominent in the history of whaling in the United States, operating ships out of Nantucket, Massachusetts, from the 17th to 19th centuries. Some members of the family gained wider exposure due to their discovery of various islands in the Pacific Ocean. Family history Tristram Coffin, born in 1609 in England, sailed for America in 1642, first settling in Newbury, Massachusetts, then moving to Nantucket. The Coffins, along with other Nantucket families, including the Gardners and the Starbucks, began whaling seriously in the 1690s in local waters, and by 1715 the family owned three whaling ships (whalers) and a trade vessel. In 1763, six Coffin men were captains of Nantucket ships which sailed as far as South America and Greenland.<ref name="shoes2">[http://www.islandregister.com/rcoffin/pg26_50.html My Father's Shoes: Our Coffin Story, pp 26-50]</ref> James J. Coffin On 31 May 1823, the British whaler arrived in Batavia, on the island of Java, having lost its master, Captain Alexander, to a whale near Christmas Island. James Coffin was on Java at the time and was appointed as captain. Later that year, while working in the central Pacific, James is said to have discovered Enderbury Island in the Phoenix group, naming it after the London whaling firm Samuel Enderby & Sons. However, when he described his own discoveries of the Bonins to Arrowsmith and other geographers, he did not mention Enderbury.