William Henry Whitfield

William H. Whitfield (November 11, 1804 – 14 February 1886) was an American sea captain and politician who was a member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives. Born in Fairhaven, Massachusetts, he is primarily remembered today for having rescued the 14-year-old Manjirō Nakahama from a shipwreck in 1841 and acting as his foster father until Manjirō could return to sea in 1847.

Life and career Whitfield was born on November 11, 1804, in Fairhaven, Massachusetts. His mother, Sybil Whitfield, was unmarried, and he was raised by his maternal grandmother, Parnel Whitfield. Like his uncle George (1789–1882), he became a whaling captain, starting his career in 1819 at age 15 when he signed on as a crewman on the Martha, a ship commanded by his uncle. He subsequently served as the boat steerer of the Pacific, second mate on the Missouri, and first officer of the William Thompson. In 1835, Whitfield married Ruth C. Irish of Fair Haven, Connecticut. He then sailed for the Pacific as captain of the Newark. During that voyage he learned that Ruth had died in May 1837. Devastated by his wife's death, Whitfield went into a year of seclusion on his return to Fairhaven in 1838.

In 1839, Whitfield became engaged to Albertina Keith of Bridgewater, Massachusetts. Shortly thereafter, he set sail once again for the seas of Japan as the captain of the whaler John Howland. On June 27, 1841, the ship encountered five Japanese fishermen who had been cast away on the small uninhabited island of Tori-shima, one of whom was the 14-year-old Manjirō Nakahama. Whitfield took them aboard. Manjirō acted as his cabin boy and quickly began to learn basic English. When the whaling season ended, the John Howland sailed into Honolulu in October 1841. Manjirō's four friends found employment there, but he begged to remain with Whitfield, and continue on the voyage back to Fairhaven. Whitfield had also grown attached to the boy and regarded him as a foster son. The John Howland arrived back in Fairhaven in May 1843. Manjiro spent his first night in America at the Whitfield family house on Cherry Street. Shortly thereafter Whitfield left for his uncle George's home in Scipio, New York, where he and Albertina were married on May 31, 1843. In the interim, he arranged for Manjirō to board with the family of his friend Eben Akin and asked Jane Allen, a local teacher, to tutor Manjiro in preparation for formal schooling in the autumn. Twenty years after his death, Nakahama's eldest son gifted a 14th-century samurai sword to the people of Fairhaven in gratitude for his father's rescue and the education he had received in the town. After a wreath-laying on Whitfield's grave, the Japanese Ambassador to the United States presented the sword in a ceremony on July 4, 1918. A delegation from Fairhaven journeyed to Tosashimizu, Manjirō's native city, in December 1987 and signed a Sister City agreement between the two towns which in turn led to the establishment of the Whitfield-Manjiro Friendship Society. By 2007, Whitfield's old house on Cherry Street was in ruins and up for sale. On hearing this, Japanese members of the society began raising funds to buy and renovate it as a gift to Fairhaven. The house, now a museum dedicated to Manjirō Nakahama and his life in Fairhaven, was officially opened on May 7, 2009, in a ceremony attended by 100 of the Japanese donors, the Japanese Consuls General to New York and Boston, and members of the 5th and 6th generations of both the Whitfield and Nakahama families.