Rare Nantucket Lightship Basket

7 ½”  in diameter and made with thick oak staves, double lashed
 Oak rim and shaped handle and chamfered     
 Ears. One side of the handle is marked “J.I.  
 Bowditch” in ink. The base is turned from  
 maple. Attributed to Elijah Alley (1819-1888) 
 Owned by Jonathan Ingersoll Bowditch (1807-     
 1889).  
Jonathan Ingersoll Bowditch was the son of Nathaniel Bowditch. J. I. Bowditch was a successful Boston merchant that engaged in trade with India and China. In 1836 he became president of the American Insurance Office. After the death of his father, Nathaniel Bowditch, he became editor and publisher of successive editions of The New American Practical Navigator, referred to as the “Bowditch”. He was also elected an overseer of Harvard College in 1867.