The Ganges was a whaleship from Nantucket, Massachusetts

Nantucket, Massachusetts

Nantucket is an island south of Cape Cod, Massachusetts, in the United States. Together with the small islands of Tuckernuck and Muskeget, it constitutes the town of Nantucket, Massachusetts, and the coterminous Nantucket County, which are consolidated. Part of the town is designated the Nantucket...

 operating in the Pacific Ocean

Pacific Ocean

The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic in the north to the Southern Ocean in the south, bounded by Asia and Australia in the west, and the Americas in the east.At 165.2 million square kilometres in area, this largest division of the World...

 during the mid-nineteenth century. It was probably the vessel reported to have found Gardner Island

Nikumaroro

Nikumaroro, or Gardner Island, is part of the Phoenix Islands, Kiribati, in the western Pacific Ocean. It is a remote, elongated, triangular coral atoll with profuse vegetation and a large central marine lagoon. Nikumaroro is approximately 6 km long by less than 2 km wide...

 in the Phoenix group

Phoenix Islands

The Phoenix Islands are a group of eight atolls and two submerged coral reefs, lying in the central Pacific Ocean east of the Gilbert Islands and west of the Line Islands. They are a part of the Republic of Kiribati. During the late 1930s they became the site of the last attempted colonial...

. 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.

Discovery of Gardner Island

Capt. Joshua Gardner, reportedly on board the whaleship Ganges, discovered an island in 1825, located at 4°20' S, 174°22' W, and named it "Gardner's Island"

Nikumaroro

Nikumaroro, or Gardner Island, is part of the Phoenix Islands, Kiribati, in the western Pacific Ocean. It is a remote, elongated, triangular coral atoll with profuse vegetation and a large central marine lagoon. Nikumaroro is approximately 6 km long by less than 2 km wide...

. His discovery was reported in the Nantucket Enquirer, December 1827. However, contemporary Joshua Coffin (also reportedly on the Ganges) is sometimes credited with the discovery, naming the island after his ship's owner, Gideon Gardner

Gideon Gardner

Gideon Gardner was a U.S. Representative from Massachusetts.Born in Nantucket, Massachusetts, Gardner received a limited schooling.Gardner was a successful ship master, and later became a shipowner....

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