DOUGHNUTS AT SEA

By Nomi Dayan, Executive Director ​

I enjoyed it mightily."
Henrietta Dublois, 1858

​Friday, June 7, 2019 is National Doughnut Day. Taking place the first Friday of June, the day’s origins began in 1938 as a fundraiser for The Salvation Army.

Different cultures have made varying versions of fried dough balls for millennia. Today, 10 billion doughnuts are baked annually in the US alone – enough pastries to stretch around the earth 19 times.
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No American whaling journey was complete without the ceremonial serving of donuts. To Yankee whalers, these fritters were more than a sweet treat. Doughnuts were served as a special reward when the crew reached the milestone of having produced 1,000 barrels of whale oil. 

19th century doughnut recipes typically contained milk, sugar, eggs, yeast, and a dash of spice, such as cinnamon. All of these ingredients were typically unavailable on a whaleship. Instead, the ship’s cook would have fashioned a simple dough from flour, water and molasses. To leaven the dough, he would have added pearlash or saletarus, two precursors to baking soda. He would then form the dough into little balls. The characteristic donut hole was not yet present in early doughnuts, which more closely resembled a nut of dough, hence the title “dough nut.” ​

Doughnut-eating contest on May 20, 1922. Courtesy Library of Congress Prints & Photographs.

19th C Skimmer, a tool used to lift blubber in and out of vats of oil - and perfect for donuts! See one on display at the Whaling Museum. Photo Courtesy of National Museum of American History.

The cook would have then passed the dough on to the crew on deck, who took care of the cooking.  The fritters were deep-fried in none other than whale oil in trypots - enormous, black cauldrons filled with shimmering whale oil rendered from whale blubber. The dough balls were lowered into these vats of oil, the crew watching them bob in the boiling gold before lifting them out with a skimmer. This long-handled strainer was designed to separate blubber from oil, but was perfectly suited for lifting doughnuts out as well. The crew would have wiped their dirty hands on the backsides of their pants and closed their eyes as they bit into these fresh, hot, puffy doughnuts, literally eating their bounty - a welcome change from the monotonous, paltry fare normally served on a whaleship.
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Several whaling wives who traveled with their husband-captains at sea recorded the serving of doughnuts. On Sunday, July 26, 1846, Mary Brewster wrote in her journal, “At 7PM boats got fast to a whale, at 9 got him to the ship. Men all singing and bawling [boiling] Doughnuts, Doughnuts tomorrow, as this will certainly make us 1000 bbls [barrels] and it is custom among the whaleman a bache [batch] of doughnuts to every thousand. Thus ends with good weather.” The next day, she noted, “This afternoon the men and frying doughnuts in the try pots and seem to be enjoying themselves merrily.”

Detail from Diary of Mary Brewster describing Doughnuts on July 20, 1846

On another occasion, Henrietta Deblois stepped in to help with the cooking process. She recorded on the Merlin in 1858: “Today has been our doughnut fare, the first we have ever had. The Steward, Boy, and myself have been at work all the morning. We fried or boiled three tubs for the forecastle [sleeping area for crew] - one for the steerage. In the afternoon about one tub full for the cabin and right good were they too, not the least taste of oil – they came out of the pots perfectly dry. The skimmer was so large that they could take out a 1/2 of a peck at a time. I enjoyed it mightily."
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While whale oil was typically off-tasting, those who ate the donuts described only deliciousness. One exception was missionary Betsey Stockton, who sailed on a whaler to Hawaii in 1822. She wrote, “The crew [is] engaged in making oil of two black fish [whales] killed yesterday… we have had corn parched in the oil; and doughnuts fried in it. Some of the company liked it very much. I could not prevail on myself to eat it.”

Keep an eye out for special offers from local donut shops in celebration of this day! 

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1845 Recipe for Dough Nuts

Two eggs, one cup of sugar, half a pint of sour milk; a little saletarus [baking soda]; salt and spice to your taste; a small piece of butter or cream is better, if you have it; mix the articles together one hour before you fry the cakes; mould with flour.

New England Economical Housekeeper,
by Mrs. E. A. Howland,
​1845

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​Read More:

• Saltwater Foodways: New Englanders and Their Food, at Sea and Ashore in the Nineteenth Century, by Sandra Louise Oliver
• The Donut: History, Recipes, and Lore from Boston to Berlin, by Michael Krondl
• Donuts: An American Passion, by John T. Edge
• Petticoat Whalers, by Joan Druett