Natural Resources

Lithograph of

The natural resources collections offer centuries of evidence about how Americans have used the bounty of the American continent and coastal waters. Artifacts related to flood control, dam construction, and irrigation illustrate the nation's attempts to manage the natural world. Oil-drilling, iron-mining, and steel-making artifacts show the connection between natural resources and industrial strength.

Forestry is represented by saws, axes, a smokejumper's suit, and many other objects. Hooks, nets, and other gear from New England fisheries of the late 1800s are among the fishing artifacts, as well as more recent acquisitions from the Pacific Northwest and Chesapeake Bay. Whaling artifacts include harpoons, lances, scrimshaw etchings in whalebone, and several paintings of a whaler's work at sea. The modern environmental movement has contributed buttons and other protest artifacts on issues from scenic rivers to biodiversity.

Place: United States

Framed Photograph of an Andaman Padauk Tree

This photograph of an Andaman padauk tree is one of forty-nine framed black and white photographic prints bequeathed to the Smithsonian by William F. Bucher of Washington, D.C.
Description (Brief)
This photograph of an Andaman padauk tree is one of forty-nine framed black and white photographic prints bequeathed to the Smithsonian by William F. Bucher of Washington, D.C. Bucher, a cabinetmaker, framed each photograph in wood of the same species as the tree depicted in the print. The photos were displayed in a special exhibition, Our Trees and their Woods at the United States National Museum in 1931.
This photo was taken by the Forest Research Institute in Dehra Dun, India. The frame has a veneer made of Andaman padauk on a tulip poplar back, the glass bead is satin wood and the back bead is stained black Andaman padauk.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1908
1932
frame maker
Bucher, William F.
photographer
Forest Research Institute
ID Number
AG.124450.02
catalog number
AG*124450.02
accession number
124450
maker number
14

Framed Photograph of Peirce Mill

This photograph of Peirce Mill is one of forty-nine framed black and white photographic prints bequeathed to the Smithsonian by William F. Bucher of Washington, D.C. Bucher, a cabinetmaker, framed each photograph in wood of the same species as the tree depicted in the print.
Description (Brief)
This photograph of Peirce Mill is one of forty-nine framed black and white photographic prints bequeathed to the Smithsonian by William F. Bucher of Washington, D.C. Bucher, a cabinetmaker, framed each photograph in wood of the same species as the tree depicted in the print. The photos were displayed in a special exhibition, Our Trees and their Woods at the United States National Museum in 1931.
The oak tree depicted in this photograph was located by Peirce Mill in Rock Creek Park, and the image was made by William Bucher. The frame is made from oak taken from the sluice box of the mill that had been in the water for more than 100 years.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1927
frame maker
Bucher, William F.
photographer
Bucher, William F.
ID Number
AG.115767.19
catalog number
AG*115767.19
accession number
115767
maker number
22

Whaler's Hand Lance

After harpoons fastened the whale and whaleboat together, a whale was given plenty of time and rope to dive, try to swim away, and otherwise wear itself out.
Description
After harpoons fastened the whale and whaleboat together, a whale was given plenty of time and rope to dive, try to swim away, and otherwise wear itself out. Once the exhausted animal returned to the surface to breathe, the whaleboat approached it, and a hand lance, also known as a killing iron, was used to actually dispatch the animal.
Hand lances had long shafts, to allow the point to penetrate deep into the whale’s body in search of the thick neck arteries. The tips of the killing irons were leaf or oval shaped and extremely sharp, so that they cut on the way in and on the way out, and were easier to remove and stab repeatedly. Cutting the neck arteries prevented the animal from deep diving and hastened its bleeding to death.
This nickel-plated example was manufactured and donated by Luther Cole of Fairhaven, Mass.
Date made
1880s
maker
Cole, Luther
ID Number
AG.056357
accession number
012326
catalog number
056357

Dory Scoop, 1880s

Scoops and bailers are essential tools for fishermen who work out of small boats. Water inevitably finds its way into vessels and bailing becomes a frequent but necessary chore.
Description
Scoops and bailers are essential tools for fishermen who work out of small boats. Water inevitably finds its way into vessels and bailing becomes a frequent but necessary chore. This scoop, carved out of one piece of wood, was used prior to 1883 by cod fishermen from Gloucester, Massachusetts, to bail out their dories.
Small, flat-bottomed dories were not used in the American commercial cod fishery until after 1850, when trawl-line fishing expanded. Dories were ideal for the purpose: they could be nested together on the deck of the larger, fishing schooner until needed. On the water, they were light and easy to handle, as well as stable. When fishing long trawl lines, fishermen would leave the relative comforts of the schooners to work in pairs as dorymates. Because they were away from the schooners for many hours, the fishermen carried provisions and gear in the dories, including water, food, oars, a mast and sail, anchors, buoys and markers, several trawl tubs, pen boards for holding the fish, several scoops and bailers, fog horns, a compass, and more.
This dory scoop was displayed at the 1883 International Fisheries Exhibition in London. The United States’ portion of the display was organized by the U.S. Fish Commission and included a wealth of gear, models, photographs, fishery products, and everyday objects used by American fishermen. The international exhibition was on view between May 12 and November 1, during which a daily average of 18,545 people toured the buildings and grounds. When the exhibition closed, the collections that represented the United States were sent to the Smithsonian Institution and a catalog was published: Descriptive Catalogues of the Collections Sent from the United States to the International Fisheries Exhibition, London, 1883, Constituting A Report Upon the American Section. Prepared under the direction of G. Brown Goode, U.S. Commissioner, and a staff of associates. Washington: Government Printing Office, 1884.
Location
Currently not on view
ID Number
AG.025222
catalog number
025222

Framed Photograph of Live Oak Tree

This photograph of an oak tree is one of forty-nine framed black and white photographic prints bequeathed to the Smithsonian by William F. Bucher of Washington, D.C.
Description (Brief)
This photograph of an oak tree is one of forty-nine framed black and white photographic prints bequeathed to the Smithsonian by William F. Bucher of Washington, D.C. The collection represents a labor of love for Bucher, a cabinetmaker, who framed each photograph in wood of the same species as the tree depicted in the print. The photos were displayed in a special exhibition, Our Trees and their Woods at the United States National Museum in 1931.
The tree depicted in this photograph was located in Middleton Place, South Carolina. The image was Photo by courtesy of George W. Johnson and the Chamber of Commerce, Charleston, South Carolina. The frame is made of quarter-inch oak veneer on an ash back frame.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1930
frame maker
Bucher, William F.
photographer
Johnson, Geo. W.
ID Number
AG.115767.21
catalog number
115767.21
accession number
115767
maker number
24

Cast Iron Whale

The words “BAKER NEW BEDFORD.” appear on the back of this cast-iron sperm whale, which has two mounting lugs on the bottom for fastening to a flat surface.
Description
The words “BAKER NEW BEDFORD.” appear on the back of this cast-iron sperm whale, which has two mounting lugs on the bottom for fastening to a flat surface. These features suggest that it was a shop sign for one of the many stores in New Bedford, Massaschusetts that provided items to whalers needed for their dirty and dangerous business. In the 1878 New Bedford city directory, the only person listed with the surname Baker was Ansol Baker, a machinist.
New Bedford was the largest American whaling port in the industry, which flourished until the Civil War and lasted into the early 20th century.
Date made
19th century
possible owner of sign
Baker, Ansol
ID Number
CL.25052
catalog number
25052
accession number
2009.0157
catalog number
2009.0157.01

Gold Nugget

This small piece of yellow metal is believed to be the first piece of gold discovered in 1848 at Sutter's Mill in California, launching the gold rush.James Marshall was superintending the construction of a sawmill for Col.
Description
This small piece of yellow metal is believed to be the first piece of gold discovered in 1848 at Sutter's Mill in California, launching the gold rush.
James Marshall was superintending the construction of a sawmill for Col. John Sutter on the morning of January 24, 1848, on the South Fork of the American River at Coloma, California, when he saw something glittering in the water of the mill's tailrace. According to Sutter's diary, Marshall stooped down to pick it up and "found that it was a thin scale of what appeared to be pure gold." Marshall bit the metal as a test for gold.
In June of 1848, Colonel Sutter presented Marshall's first-find scale of gold to Capt. Joseph L. Folsom, U.S. Army Assistant Quartermaster at Monterey. Folsom had journeyed to Northern California to verify the gold claim for the U.S. Government.
The gold samples then traveled with U.S. Army Lt. Lucien Loeser by ship to Panama, across the isthmus by horseback, by ship to New Orleans, and overland to Washington. A letter of transmittal from Folsom that accompanied the packet lists Specimen #1 as "the first piece of gold ever discovered in this Northern part of Upper California found by J. W. Marshall at the Saw Mill of John A. Sutter."
By August of 1848, as evidence of the find, this piece and other samples of California gold had arrived in Washington, D.C., for delivery to President James K. Polk and for preservation at the National Institute. Within weeks, President Polk formally declared to Congress that gold had been discovered in California.
In 1861, the National Institute and its geological specimens, including this gold and the letter, entered the collections of the Smithsonian Institution. The Marshall Nugget remains in the collections as evidence of the discovery of gold in California.
Date made
1848
Associated Date
1848
referenced
Sutter, John
Polk, President James K.
Loesser, Lucian
ID Number
CL.135(1861).01
accession number
135
catalog number
135(1861).01

Framed Photograph of an American Black Walnut Tree

This photograph of a black walnut tree is one of forty-nine framed black and white photographic prints bequeathed to the Smithsonian by William F. Bucher of Washington, D.C.
Description (Brief)
This photograph of a black walnut tree is one of forty-nine framed black and white photographic prints bequeathed to the Smithsonian by William F. Bucher of Washington, D.C. Bucher, a cabinetmaker, framed each photograph in wood of the same species as the tree depicted in the print. The photos were displayed in a special exhibition, Our Trees and their Woods at the United States National Museum in 1931.
The tree depicted in this photograph was located in Georgia and the image was made by U.S. Forestry Service. The frame is made of quarter-inch walnut veneer on white pine.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1931
frame maker
Bucher, William F.
photographer
U.S. Department of Agriculture. Forest Service
ID Number
AG.115767.41
catalog number
115767.41
accession number
115767
maker number
44

Framed Photograph of American Linden

This photograph of an American linden is one of forty-nine framed black and white photographic prints bequeathed to the Smithsonian by William F. Bucher of Washington, D.C.
Description (Brief)
This photograph of an American linden is one of forty-nine framed black and white photographic prints bequeathed to the Smithsonian by William F. Bucher of Washington, D.C. Bucher, a cabinetmaker, framed each photograph in wood of the same species as the tree depicted in the print. The photos were displayed in a special exhibition, Our Trees and their Woods at the United States National Museum in 1931.
The tree depicted in this photograph was located on the grounds of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., and the image was made by William Bucher. The frame is made of linden wood.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1929
frame maker
Bucher, William F.
photographer
Bucher, William F.
ID Number
AG.115767.35
catalog number
AG*115767.35
accession number
115767
maker number
38

Framed Photograph of California Redwoods

This photograph of California redwoods is one of forty-nine framed black and white photographic prints bequeathed to the Smithsonian by William F. Bucher of Washington, D.C.
Description (Brief)
This photograph of California redwoods is one of forty-nine framed black and white photographic prints bequeathed to the Smithsonian by William F. Bucher of Washington, D.C. Bucher, a cabinetmaker, framed each photograph in wood of the same species as the tree depicted in the print. The photos were displayed in a special exhibition, Our Trees and their Woods at the United States National Museum in 1931.
The trees depicted in this photograph were located in California and the image was made by A. Gaskill, courtesy U.S. Forest Service. The frame is made of solid California redwood.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1929
frame maker
Bucher, William F.
photographer
U.S. Department of Agriculture. Forest Service
ID Number
AG.115767.38
catalog number
AG*115767.38
accession number
115767
maker number
41

Framed Photograph of a Chestnut Tree

This photograph of a chestnut tree is one of forty-nine framed black and white photographic prints bequeathed to the Smithsonian by William F. Bucher of Washington, D.C. Bucher, a cabinetmaker, framed each photograph in wood of the same species as the tree depicted in the print.
Description (Brief)
This photograph of a chestnut tree is one of forty-nine framed black and white photographic prints bequeathed to the Smithsonian by William F. Bucher of Washington, D.C. Bucher, a cabinetmaker, framed each photograph in wood of the same species as the tree depicted in the print. The photos were displayed in a special exhibition, Our Trees and their Woods at the United States National Museum in 1931.
The tree depicted in this photograph was located in Howard County, Maryland. The image was made by the United States Forest Service. The frame is made of solid chestnut wood.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1914
1926
frame maker
Bucher, William F.
photographer
U.S. Department of Agriculture. Forest Service
ID Number
AG.115767.24
accession number
115767
catalog number
AG*115767.24
maker number
27

Framed Photograph of Brazilian Walnut Logs

This photograph of Brazilian walnut wood is one of forty-nine framed black and white photographic prints bequeathed to the Smithsonian by William F. Bucher of Washington, D.C.
Description (Brief)
This photograph of Brazilian walnut wood is one of forty-nine framed black and white photographic prints bequeathed to the Smithsonian by William F. Bucher of Washington, D.C. Bucher, a cabinetmaker, framed each photograph in wood of the same species as the tree depicted in the print. The photos were displayed in a special exhibition, Our Trees and their Woods at the United States National Museum in 1931.
The logs shown in this photograph were located in New York, New York. The Bureau of American Republics gave the image in the frame to William Bucher. The frame is made of Brazilian Walnut (Imbuya) veneer on spruce, and the back band is made of ebony.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1915
frame maker
Bucher, William F.
photographer
Pan American Union
ID Number
AG.115767.44
catalog number
AG*115767.44
accession number
115767
maker number
49

Framed Photograph of Pine Trees

These four photographs of pine trees are one of forty-nine framed black and white photographic prints bequeathed to the Smithsonian by William F. Bucher of Washington, D.C.
Description (Brief)
These four photographs of pine trees are one of forty-nine framed black and white photographic prints bequeathed to the Smithsonian by William F. Bucher of Washington, D.C. Bucher, a cabinetmaker, framed each photograph in wood of the same species as the tree depicted in the print. The photos were displayed in a special exhibition, Our Trees and their Woods at the United States National Museum in 1931.
The upper left photo shows a white pine tree in the Adirondack Mountains of New York that was taken by A. Varela. The upper right photo is a loblolly pine from North Carolina taken by “Lindsey.” The lower left photo is of a longleaf pine tree near Ocilla, Georgia taken by E. Block. The bottom right photo shows a balsam pine and white spruce that was taken by H.H. Chapman. All photographs come courtesy of the U.S. Forest Service. The frame is made from four woods; the top is made of white pine, the bottom is made of long leaf pine, the left hand side of common pine, and the right side is made of spruce.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1926
frame maker
Bucher, William F.
photographer
Bucher, William F.
U.S. Department of Agriculture. Forest Service
Lindsey
Varela, A.
Block, E.
ID Number
AG.115767.32
catalog number
AG*115767.32
accession number
115767
maker number
35

Whaler's Harpoon with Toggle Head

The first step in catching a whale was throwing at least two sharp harpoons into its back, to ensure that the whaleboat was securely fastened to its prey.
Description
The first step in catching a whale was throwing at least two sharp harpoons into its back, to ensure that the whaleboat was securely fastened to its prey. Harpoon shafts were made of soft wrought iron, so that they would bend and not break off when twisted, which risked losing the wounded whale.
A line at the bottom of the harpoon’s wooden handle attached it to the whaleboat. Once in the whale’s flesh, the sharp toggle tip swiveled sideways, making it harder for the tip of the weapon to pull out. Whales normally dove deep after the first prick, to try and escape the sharp jab from the surface of the ocean. This harpoon shaft was twisted by a descending whale.
date made
1882
maker
D. & D.
ID Number
AG.056237
catalog number
056237
accession number
012284

Whaleman’s Pitch Dipper, 1882

This hand-made tool was used for holding the pitch (tar) used for paying (caulking) the deck seams on a wooden whaling ship. Made from a whelk shell attached to a short, wooden stick, the dipper was displayed at the 1883 International Fisheries Exhibition in London.
Description
This hand-made tool was used for holding the pitch (tar) used for paying (caulking) the deck seams on a wooden whaling ship. Made from a whelk shell attached to a short, wooden stick, the dipper was displayed at the 1883 International Fisheries Exhibition in London. The dipper was given to the exhibition by Lawrence & Co., a whaling, sealing, and commercial firm in New London, Connecticut.
The United States’ portion of the display was organized by the U.S. Fish Commission and included a wealth of gear, models, photographs, fishery products, and everyday objects used by American fishermen. The international exhibition was on view between May 12 and November 1, during which a daily average of 18,545 people toured the buildings and grounds. When the exhibition closed, the collections that represented the United States were sent to the Smithsonian Institution and a catalog was published: Descriptive Catalogues of the Collections Sent from the United States to the International Fisheries Exhibition, London, 1883, Constituting A Report Upon the American Section. Prepared under the direction of G. Brown Goode, U.S. Commissioner, and a staff of associates. Washington: Government Printing Office, 1884.
Location
Currently not on view
ID Number
AG.056875
catalog number
56875
accession number
12328

Ship Model, Columbia River Salmon Boat

This model represents the type of small boat used for gill-netting salmon on the lower Columbia River around 1876.
Description
This model represents the type of small boat used for gill-netting salmon on the lower Columbia River around 1876. Known as sailing gillnetters, these vessels were well suited to the tasks of fishermen working drift nets, which were walls of netting set across the path of salmon swimming upstream. The round-bottom hull is sharp on both ends, a feature that allowed the boat to ride more easily while the net was adrift. Its sprit rig was used for sailing to and from the fishing grounds and was easily stowed while fishing. The boats ranged between 23 and 28 feet in length. This model represents a vessel of 25 feet 6 inches in length, 6 feet 3 inches abeam, and 2 feet 3 inches in depth.
The sailing gillnetter type was introduced to the Columbia River region between 1869 and 1872 and quickly replaced the smaller skiffs then in use. The early gillnetters were shipped north from boat builders in San Francisco, but by 1875 the type was being built locally. While a few fishermen purchased their own boats, the vast majority were owned by salmon canneries, which rented the vessels to local fishermen. When this model was made in 1876, there were about 500 sailing gillnetters on the river. By 1905 there were some 2,700.
This model was donated by Livingston Stone, an early advocate of fish hatcheries, who served as Deputy Commissioner of Fisheries for the Pacific coast from 1872 to 1898, and senior fish culturist of the U.S. Fish Commission from 1898 to 1903.
Date made
before 1876
ID Number
TR.22216
accession number
5201
catalog number
22216

Ship Model, Bugeye Lillie Sterling

The bugeye was a type of sailing work boat unique to the Chesapeake Bay. Designed for oyster dredging, it was also used for hauling freight in the Bay’s shallow waters. This model, like the bugeye it represents, was built in 1885 by E.
Description
The bugeye was a type of sailing work boat unique to the Chesapeake Bay. Designed for oyster dredging, it was also used for hauling freight in the Bay’s shallow waters. This model, like the bugeye it represents, was built in 1885 by E. James Tull, a boatbuilder in Pocomoke City, Maryland. Tull displayed this model of the Lillie Sterling at the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair as part of an exhibit organized by the U.S. Bureau of Fisheries. He won a medal for the vessel’s practical design.
Bugeyes were first built after the Civil War, when the Maryland state legislature repealed an 1820 ban on oyster dredging. Dredges--heavy iron frames holding long mesh bags--were introduced in the bay by New Englanders seeking to replenish northern oyster beds with Chesapeake oysters. Maryland lawmakers banned dredging and restricted oyster harvesting to residents of the state. But as markets expanded in the 1860s, the ban was lifted to allow dredging in certain areas of the bay. Fearful that dredging would deplete the bay’s oysters, lawmakers sought to limit the dredge’s efficiency by restricting its use to sailing vessels. This law ensured that sailing craft, not steamers, would dominate the Chesapeake’s oyster industry. To this day, oyster dredging is still carried out by sail-powered boats in Maryland.
The first bugeyes were large log canoes, built of seven or nine logs that were hollowed out, shaped, and pinned together lengthwise. They were built with full decks, which provided a working platform for the crew to empty the dredges and sort through the catch. By the 1880s, bugeyes like the Lillie Sterling were constructed with full framing and planking instead of logs. Although bugeyes were widely used in the oyster trade for several decades, they were gradually replaced by skipjacks, an easier and cheaper vessel to build. The origin of the name "bugeye" remains unknown.
date made
1885
maker
Tull, E. James
ID Number
TR.76256
accession number
28022
catalog number
76256

New England Whale Ship

This model represents a typical Massachusetts whaleship of the mid-19th century, fully rigged and ready for a long cruise that might last for as much as four years. The name “U.S.
Description
This model represents a typical Massachusetts whaleship of the mid-19th century, fully rigged and ready for a long cruise that might last for as much as four years. The name “U.S. Grant, Edgartown” on the ship’s stern is fictional—no ship by that name ever sailed for the whaling fleet. The ship’s bottom is lined with copper sheathing, to keep out the teredo navalis, a tropical worm that bored into the wood of ship’s hulls and weakened the structure, as the termite does to wooden structures on land.
The whaleboats are the most prominent features. After whales were sighted by lookouts perched at the mast tops, the boats were dropped over the sides of the mother ship to chase them. Also over the side are the cutting stages, where the whale’s fat, or blubber, was sliced off the body in long strips.
The main feature on the ship’s deck is the try-works, or giant pots set into a brick framework, where the whale’s blubber, was boiled down into oil. After the blubber became liquid, it was drawn off to cool and then poured into heavy barrels and stored below in the ship’s cargo hold.
This model was purchased in 1875 at Edgartown, on the island of Martha’s Vineyard, Mass.; it was one of the first objects in the Smithsonian’s National Watercraft Collection.
Date made
1875
model was purchased
1875
ID Number
TR.025726
catalog number
025726
accession number
4353

Shipbuilder's Half Hull Model, Whaleship Jireh Swift

Half hull ship models were carved by shipwrights to a shape negotiated with the future owners of the ship.
Description
Half hull ship models were carved by shipwrights to a shape negotiated with the future owners of the ship. Once finished, the builder lifted the curved shape of the outer hull off the model and scaled it up to the dimensions of the full-sized ship on the floor of the molding loft. Then the ship’s timbers were cut to fit the lines drawn on the floor and lifted into position in the ship’s framework.
African American shipwright and former slave John Mashow built the whaler Jireh Swift in 1853 at Dartmouth, Mass. near New Bedford. The vessel measured 122 feet in length and 454 tons. Its first voyage was to the northern Pacific and lasted nearly four years. The ship collected 45 barrels of sperm oil, 2,719 barrels of whale oil and 14,900 lbs of whalebone. Swift’s second voyage, to the same grounds, lasted more than four years and netted much more oil and bone for her owners. Nearly three years into her third voyage, on 22 June 1865 she was captured in the Arctic by the Confederate raider Shenandoah and burned, for a loss of more than $40,000.
Date made
1853
maker
Mashow, John
ID Number
TR.076323
catalog number
076323
accession number
015358

Ship Model, Chesapeake Bay Log Canoe

This model of a Chesapeake Bay log canoe was built in 1880 and displayed at the Great International Fisheries Exhibition in London in 1883. It shows a two-masted log canoe with a mustard-colored hull.
Description
This model of a Chesapeake Bay log canoe was built in 1880 and displayed at the Great International Fisheries Exhibition in London in 1883. It shows a two-masted log canoe with a mustard-colored hull. Although this model may look more like a recreational sailboat than a traditional paddling canoe, its roots can be traced back to the dugouts built and used by American Indians. Native Americans along the bay used dugouts, made by hollowing out a single tree trunk, to spear fish, gather oysters, and travel from one village to another. Europeans adopted the log-canoe technology shortly after arriving in the region in the early 1600s. By the start of the 18th century, colonists had modified the standard, single-log dugout, by hewing and shaping several logs and fitting them together to enlarge the craft. They added masts and sails, providing the means to travel farther and giving the vessels their distinctive appearance.
Despite the widespread use of frame-and-plank shipbuilding techniques around the Chesapeake, watermen continued building and using log canoes well into the 20th century. The canoes were ideal for oyster tonging in the many protected creeks and rivers that flow into the bay. This model includes a pair of hand tongs of the sort made by local blacksmiths for oystermen. A waterman would anchor his canoe over an oyster bed and lower the tongs into the water. With a scissoring motion, he would rake the tongs together until the iron basket was full and ready to be lifted onboard.
In terms of construction, the log canoe is the forerunner to the bugeye, which is essentially an enlarged canoe built of seven or nine logs with a full deck added over the hold. While log canoes are no longer used in commercial fishing, they can still be seen in special sailboat races on the Eastern Shore of the Chesapeake.
date made
1880
Date made
1875
ID Number
TR.25003
catalog number
025003
accession number
4586

Pacific Steam Whaleship Orca

The steam whaler Orca was built at San Francisco in 1882 specifically for the Pacific and Arctic whale fisheries.
Description
The steam whaler Orca was built at San Francisco in 1882 specifically for the Pacific and Arctic whale fisheries. By the late 19th century, the Atlantic whale was too scarce due to overhunting, and whaling had moved almost completely to distant western waters to exploit the remaining whales.
Measuring 177 feet in length and 628 tons, Orca had a 280-HP steam engine for propulsion. It also had a full suit of auxiliary sails for backup and fuel conservation. When built, Orca was the largest auxiliary steam whaler in the United States.
The bark-rigged vessel was heavily built and braced, with a strongly raked bow to work in the Arctic ice pack. The heavy timbers and bow shape allowed it to be driven up onto the ice, where its weight helped to break through. Orca’s propeller had two blades so it could be aligned vertically with the stern timbers when not in use in order to protect it from the ice.
Information collected by Mystic Seaport Museum in Mystic, Conn. indicates that Orca, along with many other Pacific whalers, resorted to shanghaiing, or acquiring crewmen from agents ashore who forced potential crewmen onto their ships in various ways. With around two dozen whaleships clearing San Francisco each year for the Pacific whaling grounds, the need for crewmen was great.
Date made
1894
reference material
Mystic Seaport Museum
ID Number
TR.076237
catalog number
076237
accession number
028022

Ship Model, Containership Emma Mærsk

At launching in 2006, the Emma Mærsk was the world’s largest containership, a distinction held until her seven sister ships Estelle, Ebba, Edith, Eleonora, Elly, Evelyn, and Eugen Mærsk, were launched in 2007–08.
Description
At launching in 2006, the Emma Mærsk was the world’s largest containership, a distinction held until her seven sister ships Estelle, Ebba, Edith, Eleonora, Elly, Evelyn, and Eugen Mærsk, were launched in 2007–08. Built at the Odense Steel Shipyard in Denmark, the ships are owned by the A. P. Moller-Maersk Group, the world’s largest global shipping company, whose beginnings date to 1904. Emma Mærsk is named for the late wife of Mærsk Mc-Kinney Møller, the son of the company’s founder, who served as the CEO from 1965 to 1993 and on its board until 2003.
Containers are standardized, reinforced steel boxes that can be packed with a wide array of products and materials and transported on ships, trains, and trucks. Loaded into the vast holds and onto the massive decks of containerships, they can be used time and again to carry goods between manufacturing centers and consumer markets around the world.
As globalized commerce expanded in the last half of the 20th century and into the first years of the 21st, ocean carriers grew as well. The first containerships in the 1950s were adapted freighters, the largest of which could carry about 800—1,000 containers. The standard designation for containers is teus—twenty-equivalent-units—or containers measuring either 20 or 40 feet in length. Ships specially constructed in the 1970s to carry containers in cellular sections of the hold could carry between 1,000 and 2,500 teus.
The third generation ships were built to the maximum size that could be accommodated by the Panama Canal, an important throughway on global shipping routes. Built in the 1980s, these ships, called Panamax vessels, could carry between three and four thousand teus. Subsequent generations—the Post Panamax vessels of the 1990s (4,000–5,000 teus) and the Post Panamax Plus ships built between 2000 and 2005 (5,000–8,000 teus)—are too large to travel through the Panama Canal. With the increasing volume of global shipping during this period, other ocean routes became more important, especially those connecting Asian ports with the U.S. West Coast. However, as containerships increased in size, the number of ports worldwide that could accommodate them also decreased.
The Emma Mærsk represents the sixth generation of containership, also called the New Panamax class, because it will be able to travel through the new Panama Canal after it opens around 2014. The vessel, with a capacity of 11,000 teus, is the first to be launched in Maersk’s PS-class. The ship has a waste heat recovery system, which uses exhaust gasses to generate some of the electricity needed aboard the vessel. Its hull is also covered with silicone-based paint, which improves fuel efficiency. The Emma Mærsk entered service on the Europe to Asia route in 2006.
date made
2007
ship launched
2006
late wife of founder and CEO of the company
Maersk, Emma
ship's namesake
Maersk, Emma
built the ship
Odense Steel Shipyard
maker
Modelos Navales Riera, S.L.
ID Number
2008.0039.01
catalog number
2008.0039.01
accession number
2008.0039

Chart Book, Upper Mississippi River

This book of navigation charts for the Upper Mississippi River was published in 1972 by the U.S. Army Engineer Division, North Central Corps of Engineers, in Chicago. It was owned and used by Capt.
Description
This book of navigation charts for the Upper Mississippi River was published in 1972 by the U.S. Army Engineer Division, North Central Corps of Engineers, in Chicago. It was owned and used by Capt. Jack Libbey, a river pilot from Lansing, Iowa, who steered tows on the Mississippi for over 25 years. He piloted many types of tows, but among the largest he handled on a routine basis were those made up of 15 barges, each measuring 200’ long, 35’ wide, and carrying about 1600 tons of cargo. Overall, these tows measured 1200’ long and 105’ wide, and took a great deal of skill and knowledge to pilot safely.
The chart book reflects Libbey’s working knowledge of the Mississippi River, still the nation’s major conduit for transporting grain and other bulk commodities. To become a pilot, Libbey was trained, tested, and licensed by the U.S. Coast Guard. But like virtually all river pilots (including Mark Twain in the 1850s), he learned the ways of the river and the skills of the pilot from his elders and from experience.
That experience is revealed on these worn and weathered charts. Virtually every page has Libbey’s own markings and notations. In bold, red ink, he meticulously printed the names of major aids to navigation on both sides of the river, as well as the distance in miles from each marker to Cairo Point, the confluence of the Ohio and the Mississippi Rivers. Libbey’s handwriting stands out from the official markings and mapmakers’ symbols, and suggests the complex history of life along the river. Names like Winnebago, Muscatine, Maquoketa Levee, Zollicoffer, Pomme de Terre, and Wabasha reflect the region’s many cultural layers.
Captain Libbey also made navigational notes on the pages as a way of reminding himself to take special care in tricky situations. Steering under bridges in the shallow waters separating Iowa and Illinois inspired a number of notes, such as this one from December 10, 1975, concerning the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway and Highway Bridge near Fort Madison, Iowa: “SB [Steering bridge] Keep stern on light and head on tank. When pilot house passes black bouy [sic] bring jackstaff around to 3rd pier out from channel span. Hold until red bouy below bridge opens up ½ way. Keep jackstaff on red bouy and stern 100 yds over from first Miss stacks. Slow ahead until lined up.”
Captain Libbey discussed being a pilot in an interview for the Smithsonian’s Festival of American Folklife in 1996. He said, “ . . . you’re moving at a pretty good clip, you have all this momentum, and you can’t just steer it on a dime. And what we do, we send the deckhands out to talk us through the bridge . . . . That’s why you have marks also, so you know, you can kind of double check what they’re saying to you. Very, very important. And that’s what makes a good pilot . . . is being able to get through the bridges.”
Date made
1972
river pilot, owned and used chart book
Libbey, Jack
trained Captain Libbey
United States Coast Guard
publisher
U. S. Army Engineer Division, North Central Corps of Engineers
ID Number
2006.0103.03
accession number
2006.0103
catalog number
2006.0103.03

Fisherman’s Sweatshirt

This heavyweight, extra-large hooded sweatshirt was worn by one of the deck hands working aboard the Alaska Ocean catcher-processer in 2007.
Description
This heavyweight, extra-large hooded sweatshirt was worn by one of the deck hands working aboard the Alaska Ocean catcher-processer in 2007. It features the logo of the Alaska Ship Supply store in Dutch Harbor, Alaska, a major commercial fishing port at the end of the Aleutian Chain. Although the Alaska Ocean’s home port is now Seattle (it was formerly Anacortes, Washington), Dutch Harbor serves as the vessel’s home base during the months it operates in the Bering Sea.
The 125-person crew of the Alaska Ocean is at sea for several weeks at a time, and they look forward to reaching Dutch Harbor where they unload the frozen fish products and resupply the ship. The captain and crew can take care of personal business while in port as well, and stores like Alaska Ship Supply cater to their needs by selling clothing, supplies, marine hardware, groceries, postage, and other items.
The Alaska Ocean is a 376-foot-long vessel in the Seattle-based catcher-processor fleet. Workers catch, process, package, and freeze groundfish—mostly pollock and Pacific whiting—in the Bering Sea and in the waters off the coast of the Pacific Northwest. The vessel can harvest about 325 metric tons of fish per day and can freeze over 250,000 pounds of fish product daily.
date made
ca 2007
maker
Alaska Ship Supply
ID Number
2007.0178.06
catalog number
2007.0178.06
accession number
2007.0178

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