Ganges (whaler)

Ganges (whaler)

The Ganges was a whaleship from Nantucket, Massachusetts operating in the Pacific Ocean during the mid-nineteenth century. It was probably the vessel reported to have found Gardner Island in the Phoenix group. Although Barzillai Folger, the master of the ship during its voyage of 1835-39, is sometimes credited with being the first to discover the right whales of the Northwest coast, he was preceded by the Frenchman Narcisse Chaudiere in the Ganges. Chaudiere cruised on this ground during the summer of 1835, while Folger didn’t leave port until October 26 of the same year.