| National Museum of American History

After a horrific battle with the British frigate Endymion in early October 1814 that the Prince de Neufchatel barely won, the American privateer returned to Boston for a refit. Around that time the vessel changed hands, and a new set of articles was drafted.

Description: After a horrific battle with the British frigate Endymion in early October 1814 that the Prince de Neufchatel barely won, the American privateer returned to Boston for a refit. Around that time the vessel changed hands, and a new set of articles was drafted. Delivered on 30 November 1814, these articles laid out the terms and conditions of employment between the vessel’s owners and crew for a four-month cruise.; The owners paid for all the initial armaments and provisions; the privateer was expected to replenish its supplies from captured vessels. The owners received half of the proceeds from any vessels taken, known as prizes. The crew divided up the other half by rank. The ship’s commander earned 12 shares. The doctor was paid six shares; the chief cook earned two shares. The drummer and fifer were each paid a single share, and the ship’s boys were at the bottom of the scale with ½ share each.; The first crewman to spot a ship that became a prize received an extra half share in that vessel’s prize money. The first two crewmen to board an enemy warship each received six extra shares; if the prize was a merchant vessel, two extra shares were earned by the first two crew aboard. Any compensation for losing an arm or leg in the line of duty was at the captain’s discretion.

date made: 1814; 1814
associated date: 1813

ID Number: AF.59977-N(2)
catalog number: 59977-N(2)
accession number: 1978.2467

Patriotic scenes were among the most popular for amateur scrimshaw artists in the 19th century American whaling fleet. On the front of this sperm whale tooth is a large, intricately detailed eagle with a shield in its midsection marked "USA".

Description: Patriotic scenes were among the most popular for amateur scrimshaw artists in the 19th century American whaling fleet. On the front of this sperm whale tooth is a large, intricately detailed eagle with a shield in its midsection marked "USA". His talons clutch a pennant inscribed "MASSACHUSETTS". Above is flying another pennant marked "BENJ GRAY 1857": likely the scrimshaw artist. The other side of the tooth is carved with a tall, slender urn marked "HOPE" on its lip, out of which large leaves are sprouting. The etching on this tooth is entirely freehand, attesting to a high level of artistic skill.; There are two Ben or Benjamin Grays in the New Bedford Whaling Museum Whaling Crew List Database, but their dates and ships do not match the date or ship on this tooth.
Location: Currently not on view

date made: 19th-20th century

ID Number: 1978.0052.24
accession number: 1978.0052
catalog number: 1978.0052.24

Most scrimshaw images are engraved lines in the surface of a whales’ teeth that are then filled in with lamp black, leaving a one-dimensional effect. Many artists used a pin to pricked through a drawing which lay agianst the tooth.

Description: Most scrimshaw images are engraved lines in the surface of a whales’ teeth that are then filled in with lamp black, leaving a one-dimensional effect. Many artists used a pin to pricked through a drawing which lay agianst the tooth. The lines were then connected in a “fill in the dots” picture. This allowed even unskilled craftsmen to create fine carvings.; By contrast, the artist of this eagle was a skilled engraver, who drew his bird freehand and then modeled the surface of the tooth to achieve depth. He also used cross hatching for the same effect. However, the bird may have been drawn from the artist’s memory or imagination, in that the head and body are scrawny, but the feathers are extremely accurate. The wings and talons are oversized, and the talon on the left is sprouting lightning bolts. More commonly on the American eagle, the left talon grasps leaves of peace and the right side talon holds arrows of war.; Scrimshaw began in the late 18th or early 19th century as the art of carving whale bone and ivory aboard whale ships. The crew on whalers had plenty of leisure time between sighting and chasing whales, and the hard parts of whales were readily available on voyages that could last up to four years.; It could be decorative, like simple sperm whale teeth, or they could be useful, as in ivory napkin rings, corset busks (stiffeners), swifts for winding yarn or pie crimpers. The sailor’s hand-carved scrimshaw was then given to loved ones back on shore as souvenirs of the hard and lonely life aboard long and dangerous voyages.
Location: Currently not on view

ID Number: 1978.0052.19
accession number: 1978.0052
catalog number: 1978.52.19

This handmade wooden trunk has a hinged wooden lid, a metal keyhole plate, and rope handles on the sides. The top and front of the trunk are decorated with hand-painted red and white tulips and roses.

Description: This handmade wooden trunk has a hinged wooden lid, a metal keyhole plate, and rope handles on the sides. The top and front of the trunk are decorated with hand-painted red and white tulips and roses. The initials “ABAD” are painted in white scrollwork above the date “1867” on the face of the trunk. The trunk was found around 1910 in the attic of the donor’s grandparents in Jamestown, New York. An elderly Swedish couple, who had been renting the upstairs, left the trunk behind when they moved out of the house.; Although the Swedes who came to the United States with their belongings in this trunk are not known, they were part of a mass migration out of Sweden that began in the 1860s. A combination of population pressure, limited agricultural land, and political and religious unrest had driven many Swedes to the United States since the 1840s. But disease and famine beginning in the late 1860s forced many more to leave Sweden. Between 1868 and 1914, more than a million Swedes emigrated, mostly to America. After arriving in New York, many went west to farmland in Iowa, Illinois, Minnesota, and Wisconsin. Swedes also settled in urban areas such as Chicago and Minneapolis.

Date made: 1867

ID Number: 2002.0362.01
catalog number: 2002.0362.01
accession number: 2002.0362

The obverse of this large, flat sperm whale tooth is etched with a large, full-rigged ship with all sails set, driving from left to right towards the viewer. The yards or horizontal spars are deeply pinpricked, but the rest of the ship was carved freehand.

Description: The obverse of this large, flat sperm whale tooth is etched with a large, full-rigged ship with all sails set, driving from left to right towards the viewer. The yards or horizontal spars are deeply pinpricked, but the rest of the ship was carved freehand. The scene has an oval frame with a running vine along its centerline. On the back, an elegant compass rose marked with the four compass directions N, S, E & W is carved, surmounted by a banner with "EMERALD/JOBE HICKS" etched into its surface. Above is the date 1867.; The ship lacks boat davits or any other whaling attributes and the last whaling ship named Emerald completed its final whaling voyage in 1866, so the vessel is identified as a merchant vessel. Jobe Hicks was likely the artist who carved the tooth.; Scrimshaw began in the late 18th or early 19th century as the art of carving whale bone and ivory aboard whale ships. The crew on whalers had plenty of leisure time between sighting and chasing whales, and the hard parts of whales were readily available on voyages that could last up to four years.; In its simplest form, a tooth was removed from the lower jaw of a sperm whale and the surface was prepared by scraping and sanding until it was smooth. The easiest way to begin an etching was to smooth a print over the tooth, prick the outline of the image with a needle and then “connect-the-dots” once the paper was removed. This allowed even unskilled craftsmen to create fine carvings. Some sailors were skilled enough to etch their drawings freehand. After the lines were finished, they were filled in with lamp black or sometimes colored pigments.; Scrimshaw could be decorative, like simple sperm whale teeth, or it could be useful, as in ivory napkin rings, corset busks (stiffeners), swifts for winding yarn or pie crimpers. The sailor’s hand-carved scrimshaw was then given to loved ones back on shore as souvenirs of the hard and lonely life aboard long and dangerous voyages.
Location: Currently not on view

ID Number: 1978.0052.27
accession number: 1978.0052
catalog number: 1978.52.27

The pictures carved on whales’ teeth by scrimshaw artists commonly fall into a group of simple categories, like ships, whales, patriotic scenes, women, shorelines, and the like. Sometimes a tooth’s carving will tell a simple story about danger, loneliness, love or war.

Description: The pictures carved on whales’ teeth by scrimshaw artists commonly fall into a group of simple categories, like ships, whales, patriotic scenes, women, shorelines, and the like. Sometimes a tooth’s carving will tell a simple story about danger, loneliness, love or war. Other times, the tale that a tooth tells is lost in time, perhaps forever. This little tooth may be one of the latter. On the top of one side are two outlined flags: on the left is an American flag, and on the right is a flag with a large “M” on it. Both are waving in the wind. Below are the words “OUR COMPROMISE” in two lines. At the bottom is a small cannon on a truck, or carriage. The truck construction indicates that it is a land weapon rather than a ship armament. The depth of the gun etching is much deeper than the flags, perhaps indicating a different artist. Although it is polished and prepared for carving, the other side of the tooth is not decorated. The lack of a date or any other identifying factors makes it almost impossible to decipher the artist’s message to us from an earlier time. Was it a private message to a friend or lover, a political statement, a military event.
Location: Currently not on view

ID Number: 1978.0052.39
accession number: 1978.0052
catalog number: 1978.52.39

The obverse of this small sperm whale tooth has a shallow engraving of a young noblewoman directly gazing at the viewer.

Description: The obverse of this small sperm whale tooth has a shallow engraving of a young noblewoman directly gazing at the viewer. Her fashionable outfit and hairdo are accessorized by an intricate necklace, a brooch at the décolletage of her gown and what appears to be some sort of medal or order (Bath?) on her left breast. Her headband contains crenellated towers and her shoulders are covered with an elegant ermine shawl. On the reverse, a youth in a sailor outfit with a kite in his hand is gesturing to go outside to another youth seated on a bench inside a house. The seated youth has his hand up in a negative gesture. Unfortunately, the story that the artist of this tooth intended to tell is lost in time.; Scrimshaw began in the late 18th or early 19th century as the art of carving whale bone and ivory aboard whale ships. The crew on whalers had plenty of leisure time between sighting and chasing whales, and the hard parts of whales were readily available on voyages that could last up to four years.; In its simplest form, a tooth was removed from the lower jaw of a sperm whale and the surface was prepared by scraping and sanding until it was smooth. The easiest way to begin an etching was to smooth a print over the tooth, prick the outline of the image with a needle and then “connect-the-dots” once the paper was removed. This allowed even unskilled craftsmen to create fine carvings. Some sailors were skilled enough to etch their drawings freehand. After the lines were finished, they were filled in with lamp black or sometimes colored pigments.; Scrimshaw could be decorative, like simple sperm whale teeth, or they could be useful, as in ivory napkin rings, corset busks (stiffeners), swifts for winding yarn or pie crimpers. The sailor’s hand-carved scrimshaw was then given to loved ones back on shore as souvenirs of the hard and lonely life aboard long and dangerous voyages.
Location: Currently not on view

date made: mid 19th century

ID Number: DL.374492
catalog number: 374492
accession number: 136263

In the center, the American clipper ship Coeur de Lion sails from left to right in the standard pose of the classic portrait of a ship entering port. The main and topsails are set, except for the mizzen mainsail, which is furled to air the spanker (for steerage).

Description: In the center, the American clipper ship Coeur de Lion sails from left to right in the standard pose of the classic portrait of a ship entering port. The main and topsails are set, except for the mizzen mainsail, which is furled to air the spanker (for steerage). At the ships head flies the inner jib; all other sails are either furled or being taken in. House, signal, and American flags fly from all three masts and the spanker gaff. Six crew are visible on deck; whimsically, one is waving to the artist (or viewer) from his post amidships. In the left foreground, a small, two-masted Chinese boat approaches Coeur de Lion; in the background is the port of Hong Kong. Numerous Western sailing vessels and steamships are anchored at port in the background.
Location: Currently not on view

ID Number: TR.309517
catalog number: 309517
accession number: 103202

This small porcelain cup was recovered by a sport diver from the wreck of the steamer Indiana. Its findspot was not recorded, so it is not known whether it belonged to a crewman or was aboard for use by passengers at mealtimes.

Description: This small porcelain cup was recovered by a sport diver from the wreck of the steamer Indiana. Its findspot was not recorded, so it is not known whether it belonged to a crewman or was aboard for use by passengers at mealtimes.

Date made: ca 1858

ID Number: 1993.0441.01
catalog number: 1993.0441.01
accession number: 1993.0441

One side of this sperm whale tooth is dominated by a Turk’s Cap lily growing out of a striped footed urn. On either side is a single-stem red rose bush in full bloom.

Description: One side of this sperm whale tooth is dominated by a Turk’s Cap lily growing out of a striped footed urn. On either side is a single-stem red rose bush in full bloom. The flowers of both types of plants are infilled with red pigment, now faded; the leaves, stems and urn are in black pigment. The back side of the tooth is polished but undecorated. The presence of a large number of shallow pinpricks throughout the composition on the surface of the tooth indicates that an illustration was pasted on the polished surface and then outlined with a pin.; Scrimshaw began in the late 18th or early 19th century as the art of carving whale bone and ivory aboard whale ships. The crew on whalers had plenty of leisure time between sighting and chasing whales, and the hard parts of whales were readily available on voyages that could last up to four years.; In its simplest form, a tooth was removed from the lower jaw of a sperm whale and the surface was prepared by scraping and sanding until it was smooth. The easiest way to begin an etching was to smooth a print over the tooth, prick the outline of the image with a needle and then “connect-the-dots” once the paper was removed. This allowed even unskilled craftsmen to create fine carvings. Some sailors were skilled enough to etch their drawings freehand. After the lines were finished, they were filled in with lamp black or sometimes colored pigments.; Scrimshaw could be decorative, like simple sperm whale teeth, or they could be useful, as in ivory napkin rings, corset busks (stiffeners), swifts for winding yarn or pie crimpers. The sailor’s hand-carved scrimshaw was then given to loved ones back on shore as souvenirs of the hard and lonely life aboard long and dangerous voyages.
Location: Currently not on view

ID Number: DL.374500
catalog number: 374500
accession number: 136263

The obverse of this large sperm whale tooth is carved with the image of a strange warship of unknown type, as though the scrimshaw artist had never seen a real vessel in the water but was perhaps using an illustration for inspiration.The vessel sits deep in the water, but the top

Description: The obverse of this large sperm whale tooth is carved with the image of a strange warship of unknown type, as though the scrimshaw artist had never seen a real vessel in the water but was perhaps using an illustration for inspiration.; The vessel sits deep in the water, but the top of the rudder is showing. Nine gunports adorn the starboard (right) side of the vessel, but the ports are compressed into horizontal slits close to the waterline, where they would have flooded in even moderate seas. The sails are all rigged but have deep cutouts along the bottom edges, and all the rigging lines are slack. Each of the three masts has a fighting top, and each mast is capped with a long, fluttering pennant reminiscent of a medieval jousting tournament. The ship is framed with a rope motif and beneath is the name "Eliza 1863" in an ornate beribboned panel.; The reverse is decorated more conventionally, with an eagle with spread wings atop a shield containing stars and stripes. A ribbon below proclaims "United States of America" and a pennant above the eagle says "Mighty Eagle". Around the top of the tooth is written "NEW LONDON".
Location: Currently not on view

date made: 19th-20th century

ID Number: 1978.0052.14
accession number: 1978.0052
catalog number: 1978.52.14

One of the signature events of Hurricane Katrina in August 2005 was the failure of the levees of New Orleans.

Description: One of the signature events of Hurricane Katrina in August 2005 was the failure of the levees of New Orleans. Seemingly impregnable earthen walls surmounted by concrete barricades turned out to be no match for the surging flood waters that turned Lake Pontchartrain into a force that devastated one of the nation's major cities.; From the earliest years of the city's establishment several feet below sea level, New Orleans has been at risk of catastrophic flooding. And yet the city's vital location at the mouth of the Mississippi River, taking in raw materials and finished goods and distributing them to the world, was too strong an economic force to be turned away. The threat of water inundation was nothing that good engineering and a few pumps could not overcome.; But some of the largest drainage pumps in the world were rendered useless on the morning of August 30th when some eighty percent of New Orleans became a part of Lake Pontchartrain. The great pump houses stood silent beneath many feet of flood water. The city that depended upon strong walls and the pumps behind them in order to stay dry had encountered a force of nature unlike anything it had experienced before: a large, strong hurricane sweeping vast quantities of ocean water into the lake at high tide.; Geological studies would later reveal that some of the earthen levees of New Orleans had been built on soft, peaty soils and that many of the concrete flood walls that topped the levees were poorly anchored. Several of these levees and their walls were undercut and then destroyed by the ponderous weight and power of the lake water.; To acknowledge the key role of the levees and walls in the flooding of New Orleans by Hurricane Katrina, the Smithsonian selected several decorative chunks of concrete from the damaged floodwall along the London Avenue Canal at Mirabeau Street.; This floodwall's attractive concrete ribbing faced houses that stood within several feet of the canal, houses later destroyed by waters the levee intended to keep at bay.
Location: Currently not on view

Associated Date: 2005-08-2005-09

ID Number: 2006.3059.02
nonaccession number: 2006.3059
catalog number: 2006.3059.02

A large three-masted oceangoing Chinese junk is etched on the front of this sperm whale tooth, complete with elaborate stern carvings of dragons and floral motifs.

Description: A large three-masted oceangoing Chinese junk is etched on the front of this sperm whale tooth, complete with elaborate stern carvings of dragons and floral motifs. Along the stern is written vertically in cursive "this here boat is a chinese junk, such as seen in chinese seas 1847." The other side is decorated with a cameo bust portrait of a neatly dressed man with a well-tended beard; in cursive he is identified as "Capt. Josiah Ellison." The oval portrait is framed with a leafy vine. The carving and writing are freehand, indicating an experienced artist, but the degree of detail in the ship and captain's portraits indicates that the artist worked from illustrations for his images rather than memory.; Scrimshaw began in the late 18th or early 19th century as the art of carving whale bone and ivory aboard whale ships. The crew on whalers had plenty of leisure time between sighting and chasing whales, and the hard parts of whales were readily available on voyages that could last up to four years.; In its simplest form, a tooth was removed from the lower jaw of a sperm whale and the surface was prepared by scraping and sanding until it was smooth. The easiest way to begin an etching was to smooth a print over the tooth, prick the outline of the image with a needle and then “connect-the-dots” once the paper was removed. This allowed even unskilled craftsmen to create fine carvings. Some sailors were skilled enough to etch their drawings freehand. After the lines were finished, they were filled in with lamp black or sometimes colored pigments.; Scrimshaw could be decorative, like simple sperm whale teeth, or it could be useful, as in ivory napkin rings, corset busks (stiffeners), swifts for winding yarn or pie crimpers. The sailor’s hand-carved scrimshaw was then given to loved ones back on shore as souvenirs of the hard and lonely life aboard long and dangerous voyages.
Location: Currently not on view

date made: 19th century

ID Number: 1978.0052.23
accession number: 1978.0052
catalog number: 1978.52.23

On the obverse of this large sperm whale tooth is a big three-masted ship sailing from right to left in a high sea against a hilly shoreline. A light or beacon shines from a tower on the shore behind the ship, which has 12 gunports cut or painted on its port or left side.

Description: On the obverse of this large sperm whale tooth is a big three-masted ship sailing from right to left in a high sea against a hilly shoreline. A light or beacon shines from a tower on the shore behind the ship, which has 12 gunports cut or painted on its port or left side. A sketchy American flag on the mizzenmast identifies the ship’s nationality. The even depth of the carving, uniform shading and overall quality of this freehand composition and infill suggest that it was carved by a land-based artist in the 20th century rather than a 19th century whaleman.; Scrimshaw began in the late 18th or early 19th century as the art of carving whale bone and ivory aboard whale ships. The crew on whalers had plenty of leisure time between sighting and chasing whales, and the hard parts of whales were readily available on voyages that could last up to four years.; In its simplest form, a tooth was removed from the lower jaw of a sperm whale and the surface was prepared by scraping and sanding until it was smooth. The easiest way to begin an etching was to smooth a print over the tooth, prick the outline of the image with a needle and then “connect-the-dots” once the paper was removed. This allowed even unskilled craftsmen to create fine carvings. Some sailors were skilled enough to etch their drawings freehand. After the lines were finished, they were filled in with lamp black or sometimes colored pigments.; Scrimshaw could be decorative, like simple sperm whale teeth, or they could be useful, as in ivory napkin rings, corset busks (stiffeners), swifts for winding yarn or pie crimpers. The sailor’s hand-carved scrimshaw was then given to loved ones back on shore as souvenirs of the hard and lonely life aboard long and dangerous voyages.
Location: Currently not on view

date made: 20th century

ID Number: DL.65.1131
catalog number: 65.1131
accession number: 256396

One side of this sperm whale tooth is completely covered by a large bouquet of batchelors’ button flowers on three stems. The leaves and stems are black, but the large flower blossoms are pink.

Description: One side of this sperm whale tooth is completely covered by a large bouquet of batchelors’ button flowers on three stems. The leaves and stems are black, but the large flower blossoms are pink. An open frame between the stems and blooms is inscribed “SOUVENIR.” The heavily pinpricked surface indicates that the artisan pasted an illustration on the surface of the polished tooth and then pushed a pin through to outline the features. The pink color originally may have been a deeper red that has faded with age. The back side of the tooth is polished but undecorated.; Scrimshaw began in the late 18th or early 19th century as the art of carving whale bone and ivory aboard whale ships. The crew on whalers had plenty of leisure time between sighting and chasing whales, and the hard parts of whales were readily available on voyages that could last up to four years.; In its simplest form, a tooth was removed from the lower jaw of a sperm whale and the surface was prepared by scraping and sanding until it was smooth. The easiest way to begin an etching was to smooth a print over the tooth, prick the outline of the image with a needle and then “connect-the-dots” once the paper was removed. This allowed even unskilled craftsmen to create fine carvings. Some sailors were skilled enough to etch their drawings freehand. After the lines were finished, they were filled in with lamp black or sometimes colored pigments.; Scrimshaw could be decorative, like simple sperm whale teeth, or they could be useful, as in ivory napkin rings, corset busks (stiffeners), swifts for winding yarn or pie crimpers. The sailor’s hand-carved scrimshaw was then given to loved ones back on shore as souvenirs of the hard and lonely life aboard long and dangerous voyages.
Location: Currently not on view

ID Number: DL.374491
catalog number: 374491
accession number: 136263

Parallel rules were part of a mariner’s basic navigational tool kit, along with dividers and a compass.

Description: Parallel rules were part of a mariner’s basic navigational tool kit, along with dividers and a compass. This device was used for finding a ship’s bearing (compass direction), plotting a course and then transferring it to different sections of a ship’s navigational chart for wayfinding purposes. This pair is made of thin slices of ivory resembling piano keys in size and thickness. The metal hinge pieces are machined and turned.
Location: Currently not on view

date made: 19th-20th century

ID Number: 1978.0052.09
accession number: 1978.0052
catalog number: 1978.52.9

Danger was never far away for the crew of a whale ship out in the middle of the ocean. One side of this large tooth is engraved with a ship in the middle of a storm. The waves are high, and most of the ship’s sails have been taken in.

Description: Danger was never far away for the crew of a whale ship out in the middle of the ocean. One side of this large tooth is engraved with a ship in the middle of a storm. The waves are high, and most of the ship’s sails have been taken in. Many of the sails that are left out are tattered and torn, and the rigging lines are slack, indicating strong winds.; The other side of the tooth has a whale on the surface of the ocean with two harpoons sticking out of its back. It has just knocked a whaleboat out of the water and into the air, breaking it in half. Two hapless crew are about to land in the water to swim or drown. In the distant background sails the mother ship, too far away to rescue the whaleboat’s crew.
Location: Currently not on view

ID Number: DL.65.1130
catalog number: 65.1130
accession number: 256396

Only one side of this little sperm whale tooth is carved, and the freehand carving is compressed into only a small area of the available polished surface. The other side is blank.

Description: Only one side of this little sperm whale tooth is carved, and the freehand carving is compressed into only a small area of the available polished surface. The other side is blank. On the left is a classic whaleboat with the standard six crew: four rowers, a boatsteerer at the stern and a harpooner at the bow. All of them are wearing hats. The harpooner holds up a harpoon and is ready to throw the dart into the whale. The scrimshaw artist has cleverly incorporated a crack in the tooth's surface into a line from the boat to the first harpoon, which is sticking out of a whale's back, for what is called a "Nantucket Sleigh Ride". This was slang for when a whale towed a whaleboat until it tired and rose to the water surface.; After the tow or sleigh ride, the whaleboat would row up to the exhausted whale and kill it. It was normal to use two harpoons to fasten to a whale, in case one was lost or twisted out by the whale's movements. The boat, crew and whale are in light black or brown pigment. By contrast, the water surface is pale blue, which is a rare pigment in the art of scrimshaw.
Location: Currently not on view

date made: 19th century

ID Number: 1978.0052.35
accession number: 1978.0052
catalog number: 1978.52.35

The ship’s steam whistle was powered by a steam line from the boiler. It was used to signal other ships or the shore, to let them know of its presence or its intentions. It was especially useful when approaching or leaving port, or in foggy or dark waters.

Description: The ship’s steam whistle was powered by a steam line from the boiler. It was used to signal other ships or the shore, to let them know of its presence or its intentions. It was especially useful when approaching or leaving port, or in foggy or dark waters.

Date made: 1848

ID Number: 1982.0241.01
accession number: 1982.0241
catalog number: 82.0241.01

Made of whalebone and copper, this candle lantern was designed to hold a single candle, the stub of which is still visible in the turned socket on the base.

Description: Made of whalebone and copper, this candle lantern was designed to hold a single candle, the stub of which is still visible in the turned socket on the base. The base is pierced with four square holes to introduce a draft; the glass sides prevented the outside air from blowing out the candle. Each of the bone corner posts has shallow, faint wavy lines engraved into its sides, and the top is made of four curved and pierced sections of bone covered and pinned together by narrow strips of copper, like the ridge of a house. The little copper top is pierced to let the candle smoke out.; All four roof panels are engraved differently. One side has an unidentified ship engraved into its surface; the panel to the right is engraved with the double-entendre “•HAPPY•IS•HE•WHO•FINDETH•LIGHT•” The panel opposite the ship is carved “+JOHN+DENTON+” and the last panel is engraved “*1859.*”; Although there is a candle stub in the lantern, the absence of smoke inside the roof suggests that the lantern was too precious to its owner(s) to see much use.
Location: Currently not on view

ID Number: 1978.0052.04
accession number: 1978.0052
catalog number: 1978.52.4

Sailors not only decorated the surfaces of whales’ teeth; they could also carve them into utilitarian objects for daily use back home. Jagging wheels were designed to run around the perimeter of a pie before it went into the oven to bake.

Description (Brief): Sailors not only decorated the surfaces of whales’ teeth; they could also carve them into utilitarian objects for daily use back home. Jagging wheels were designed to run around the perimeter of a pie before it went into the oven to bake. They sealed the edges of the crust against the edge of the pan or bottom crust and held in the steam heat for better, more even cooking. They could be made in any shape; this example is in the shape of the mythical hippocamp, or half-horse, half-fish. The imaginary sea creature is probably derived from the miniature sea horse found in the shallow tropical waters of North and South America.
Location: Currently not on view

ID Number: TR.59.423
accession number: 219034
catalog number: 59.423

This Empire 120 box camera was made by the Emmerling and Richter Co. of Berlin, Germany during the 1930s. Flossie Haggard used this camera to document the family’s trip from Oklahoma to California during relocation of home by car and trailer via Route 66, 1935.

Description: This Empire 120 box camera was made by the Emmerling and Richter Co. of Berlin, Germany during the 1930s. Flossie Haggard used this camera to document the family’s trip from Oklahoma to California during relocation of home by car and trailer via Route 66, 1935. Once in California, the Haggards and their children, Lillian and James Lowell, made their home near Bakersfield, and James found work with the Santa Fe Railway. Another son, Merle, was born in Bakersfield and began his singing career there.

Date made: unknown

maker: Emmerling and Richter Co.

ID Number: 2003.0183.04
accession number: 2003.0183
catalog number: 2003.0183.04

This section of oval bone was sliced from a large sperm whale’s pan or jaw bone, then shaved thin, smoothed, and polished. It is extremely unusual, in that the carved scene details a specific event with names and a date.

Description: This section of oval bone was sliced from a large sperm whale’s pan or jaw bone, then shaved thin, smoothed, and polished. It is extremely unusual, in that the carved scene details a specific event with names and a date. An engraved three-line inscription across the top of the plaque reads:; Joachn Pereiz July 20th 1839,; Fast to a whale got a foul line which took the boat down; American ship Averick in sight; Below the inscription the large whaler Averick sails with four whaleboats in the foreground. The boat on the right is halfway underwater. On the left, smaller, more distant whaleship sails in the background behind a pod of five whales. The inscription describes a common mishap aboard whaleboats sent out from the mother ship to dart and kill a whale. After a whale was hooked with a harpoon, it would commonly sound, or dive deep, to get away from the whaleboat. Aboard the whaleboat, the harpoon line had to run free as long as the whale was active. In this incident, the line fouled and the sounding whale dragged the boat underwater. Since few whalemen knew how to swim in the 19thcentury, this sort of accident meant almost certain drowning. However, the proximity of the Averick and the other whaleboats, along with the existence of the plaque commemorating the incident, suggest a happier ending for the story. In the absence of other information, Joachn Pereiz is presumed to be a boat crew of the Averick in the center of the picture. The Averick belonged to John Avery Parker & Son of New Bedford, MA and is best known for transporting the Fifth Company of Boston Protestant missionaries to Hawaii in June 1832. It was sold into the Chilean whaling fleet in 1845.
Location: Currently not on view

ID Number: DL.385967
catalog number: 385967
accession number: 177718

Pound for pound, ambergris was the most valuable product produced by the whale. It was—and is—also the rarest and most enigmatic whale product.

Description: Pound for pound, ambergris was the most valuable product produced by the whale. It was—and is—also the rarest and most enigmatic whale product. An opaque, waxy substance from a sperm whale’s intestines, it was found occasionally in the stomachs of whales being processed on whale ships. More commonly, it was found floating on the surface of the world’s oceans or washed up on the shore in pieces that could weigh several hundred pounds. It was used by western cultures as a fixative to prolong the scent of perfumes into the later 20th century.; But why it is formed—and from which end of a sperm whale it is expelled—remains unknown. Fragments of squid beaks are often found inside the pieces, and some scientists believe that ambergris forms around the sharp, indigestible squid beaks to prevent irritating or cutting a whale’s intestines. Others consider it the cetacean equivalent of human gallstones.

ID Number: 1991.0083.01
catalog number: 1991.0083.01
accession number: 1991.0083

Cultures & Communities

Articles of Agreement for American privateer Prince de Neufchatel

Scrimshaw Sperm Whale Tooth, 19th-20th Centuries

Scrimshaw Sperm Whale Tooth, 19th Century

Swedish Immigrant’s Trunk

Scrimshaw Sperm Whale Tooth, 1867

Scrimshaw Sperm Whale’s Tooth, Mid-19th Century

Scrimshaw Sperm Whale Tooth, mid 19th Century

Painting of the American Clipper Ship Coeur de Lion

Cup from Propeller Indiana

Scrimshaw Sperm Whale’s Tooth, Mid-19th Century

Scrimshaw Sperm Whale Tooth, 19th-20th Century

Levee Wall Fragment

Scrimshaw Sperm Whale Tooth, 19th Century

Scrimshaw Sperm Whale Tooth, 20th Century

Scrimshaw Sperm Whale’s Tooth, Mid-19th Century

Ivory Parallel Rules, 19th-20th Centuries

Scrimshaw Sperm Whale’s Tooth, Mid-19th Century

Scrimshaw Sperm Whale Tooth, 19th Century

Propeller Indiana’s Steam Whistle

Scrimshaw Candle Lantern

Scrimshaw Jagging Wheel or Pie Crimper, 19th Century

Empire 120 Box Camera

Scrimshaw Sperm Whale Pan Bone Plaque, Mid-19th Century

Ambergris