Charles Frederick Briggs
(1804-77)

In 1840, humorist Harry Franco wrote an article for the Knickerbocker about ’Sconset, beginning with the story of Thomas Macy of Salisbury, who was one of the first settlers of the island, and ending with a lengthy homage to the famous fare of the village, chowder. Harry Franco was the pen name of Charles Frederick Briggs, a Nantucket and ’Sconset native who had moved to New York City to pursue a writing career. There he became a member of the bohemian literati of the day, and a friend of Edgar Allan Poe’s. After writing several novels based on an early career as a mariner, Briggs became an influential journalist and New York editor.

Although his prose is both flowery and philosophical, his knowledge of ’Sconset was firsthand and enthusiastic:

So Siasconset! Let me direct the admiration of mankind to thy quiet hamlet, where it stands frowned upon, but guarded, by Sancoty and Tom Nevers, the Gog and Magog of the Ocean.... But the chief glory of Siasconset, and what serves to embalm it in the memories of all those who visit it, is neither its solitary grandeur, its unique customs, nor the charms of its society, but its fish. To appreciate them, they must be eaten....

There are other kinds of fish, besides cod, caught at Siasconset; but the sojourners at that fascinating spot, like the emperor Geta, have their fish served up in alphabetical order; and it so happens that they never get beyond the third letter. It would literally be descending too far, to go below c. The chromatic scale of their culinary conceptions cannot go beyond cod. But the charmed circle of their appetite is by no means a narrow one. First comes chowder, then fried tongues and sounds [lungs], then fried cheeks, next corned cod, then boiled sounds, and lastly dried cod. Who would ever wish to leave such a round of enjoyment! What were the lampreys of Julius Caesar, compared with the cod-fish of Siasconset!

1978.0019.001

A digital exhibition by the Nantucket Historical Association