Transportation

1955 Ford Country Squire

Americans have always been a people on the move—on rails, roads, and waterways (for travel through the air, visit the National Air and Space Museum). In the transportation collections, railroad objects range from tools, tracks, and many train models to the massive 1401, a 280-ton locomotive built in 1926. Road vehicles include coaches, buggies, wagons, trucks, motorcycles, bicycles, and automobiles—from the days before the Model T to modern race cars. The accessories of travel are part of the collections, too, from streetlights, gas pumps, and traffic signals to goggles and overcoats.

In the maritime collections, more than 7,000 design plans and scores of ship models show the evolution of sailing ships and other vessels. Other items range from scrimshaw, photographs, and marine paintings to life jackets from the Titanic.

Date: 1900s

Scrimshaw Ivory Whale Stamp, mid 19th Century

Generally carved from sperm whales teeth, whale stamps were used in whaleships’ official logbooks to record the type of whales captured on any given day, and the number of barrels of oil the whale yielded once its blubber or fat was boiled down into liquid.This example has an “S”
Description
Generally carved from sperm whales teeth, whale stamps were used in whaleships’ official logbooks to record the type of whales captured on any given day, and the number of barrels of oil the whale yielded once its blubber or fat was boiled down into liquid.
This example has an “S” carved on its top; around the bottom the whale ship’s name “Splendid” is engraved. Below, the initials “H.B.” and fraction “1/2” are carved. On the bottom is a schematized whale in profile, with a hole in the middle of the stamp to write the number of barrels of oil it gave up.
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
1980.0260.02
accession number
1980.0260
catalog number
80.0260.02
1980.0260.02

Model of a Brigantine

This is a three-masted, wooden planked model of an unnamed 19th century French brigantine, fully rigged and armed with six cannons.
Description
This is a three-masted, wooden planked model of an unnamed 19th century French brigantine, fully rigged and armed with six cannons. A French description of the model in the original accession file indicates that this sort of fine-lined, swift vessel was used by pirates or as messenger vessels, due to its speed and maneuverability.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 19th century
maker
unknown
ID Number
2005.0279.067
accession number
2005.0279
catalog number
2005.0279.067

Painting, Gulf of Persia

The painting shows six large ships docked in a bay in the Persian Gulf. In the background are seen a palm tree beach and mountainous terrain. To the right, smoke is emerging from a fortress. Two manned long boats are also present.
Description
The painting shows six large ships docked in a bay in the Persian Gulf. In the background are seen a palm tree beach and mountainous terrain. To the right, smoke is emerging from a fortress. Two manned long boats are also present. This painting is believed to depict a combined British land and sea force capturing and destroying the pirate stronghold Iswasnee in the Persian Gulf on July 3, 1810. Thomas L. Hornbrook (1780-1850) was born in Plymouth, England. Hornbrook specialized in scenes depicting British trading vessels. He became the official marine painter for both the Dutchess of Kent and Queen Victoria. His signature appears on a piece of wood floating in the foreground of his paintings. He possibly visited the East Indies between 1806 and 1810.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
19th century
maker
Hornbrook, Thomas L.
ID Number
2005.0279.057
accession number
2005.0279
catalog number
2005.0279.057

Refrigerator Car Model

This refrigerator car model was made by employees of the car-building and car-repair shops of the Merchant Despatch Transportation Corporation (MDT) around 1905.
Description
This refrigerator car model was made by employees of the car-building and car-repair shops of the Merchant Despatch Transportation Corporation (MDT) around 1905. The Merchant Despatch Corporation operated express freight cars carrying meat and perishable foods for approximately 128 years between the Northeast, Chicago, and other western states including California. The use of refrigerator cars with blocks of ice to preserve food began in the 1860s. From the late 1880s fast rail distribution of perishable food radically changed the American diet by allowing fresh produce to be delivered nationwide at any time of the year.
Date made
1905
ID Number
2000.0032.01
accession number
2000.0032
catalog number
2000.0032.01

Model of clipper ship Great Republic

Great Republic was built by Donald McKay in Boston in 1853. It measured 335 feet in length, 53 feet in beam, 38 feet in depth of hold and 4,555 tons.
Description
Great Republic was built by Donald McKay in Boston in 1853. It measured 335 feet in length, 53 feet in beam, 38 feet in depth of hold and 4,555 tons. The huge wooden ship was the largest extreme clipper ship ever constructed.
McKay was unable to secure financial backing for the building of Great Republic, so he built the ship on his own account. It was launched on October 4, 1853. The ship was being fitted out for its first voyage under the management of Grinnell, Minturn, and Company. The night before its maiden voyage began on the East River, Manhattan, Great Republic was destroyed by a fire that broke out on shore and spread to the ship. To save the hull, it was scuttled, or deliberately sunk in place at the pier. Despite best efforts to save it, Great Republic burned to the water surface. The wreck was sold, raised and towed to Green Point, Long Island, where it was rebuilt by Sneeden & Whitlock. During its rebuilding, it lost a deck and was reduced to 3,357 tons; its spars and area also were greatly reduced. The great clipper transported general and bulk cargoes all over the world for the next several years. It was confiscated by the North during the Civil War, since a majority of its owners were Southerners. Under Northern owners, it engaged in the California trade for the remainder of the conflict. After the war, it was sold to British owners; in 1869, it was resold to the Merchant’s Trading Company of Liverpool, England and renamed Denmark. It was lost off Bermuda during a winter 1872 hurricane.
The Insurance Company of North America (INA) insured Great Republic for $175,000.00 in 1853. However, INA never paid for the damage to the ship. The day after the fire, the premium was returned and the policy was cancelled. INA archives do not have a copy of the policy, so there is no record of the exclusions that might have prompted this action.
Built by an unknown 19th century craftsman, this model was purchased at a New York antique shop by the Insurance Company of North America (INA) in 1962. It and a painting of the Great Republic were donated to the Smithsonian by the CIGNA Corporation, the successor company to INA.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
19th century
maker
unknown
ID Number
2005.0279.092
accession number
2005.0279
catalog number
2005.0279.092

Oil Painting, The Privateer Brig Warrior Capturing The Schooner Hope

In this ca.
Description
In this ca. 1814 scene by artist Thomas Birch, the American privateer brig Warrior has just captured the English schooner Hope, which was en route from Glasgow, Scotland to Buenos Ayres, Brazil with a cargo of English manufactured goods.
A bitter offshore battle has left large jagged cannonball holes in the sails of both vessels. The Warrior's crew has removed the Hope's cargo, and is placing a prize crew aboard the Hope via the two small craft going between the two ships. The prize crew will sail the Hope to an American port, where the prize can be formally registered and auctioned off, with the proceeds shared among the Warrior's owners and crew. Prize crews manned captured enemy ships, which could otherwise escape too easily.
Contemporary sources indicate that the 430-ton armed privateer brig Warrior was built on the swift pilot boat model and carried 21 guns and 150 crew during the War of 1812. Large crews were required by privateers not only to fight enemy shipping, but to provide prize crews if successful. The Warrior's captain Guy R. Champlin was one of the American sailors most feared by the British, as he had a remarkable record of bold action, great bravery and fearless aggression.
Anglo-American artist Thomas Birch (1779-1851) began painting marine scenes in the early 19th century. He is known to have painted several War of 1812 engagements based upon eyewitness accounts—this is a rare preserved example. The British schooner Hope was insured by the oldest marine insurer in North America, the Insurance Company of North America (INA), which bought the painting. It was donated to the Smithsonian in 2005 by CIGNA, INA’s successor corporation.
Date made
ca 1814
Associated Date
early 19th century
captained the ship depicted
Champlin, Guy R.
purchased and donated the painting
CIGNA
maker
Birch, Thomas
ID Number
2005.0279.021
accession number
2005.0279
catalog number
2005.0279.021

Jupiter, Steam Locomotive

The “Jupiter” steam locomotive was built in August of 1876 by the Baldwin Locomotive Company of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Description
The “Jupiter” steam locomotive was built in August of 1876 by the Baldwin Locomotive Company of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The locomotive was commissioned by the Santa Cruz Railroad in California for light freight and passenger service in the agricultural region between Santa Cruz and Watsonville. The Santa Cruz Railroad was built to "narrow gauge" of 36-inch width, instead of the more-common "standard" gauge of 56-1/2 inches. The idea of narrow gauge was that it would reduce construction costs in the railroad-building mania of America's post-Civil War era, where miles of rails were built so quickly that tracks were often necessarily cheap and uneven tracks. This necessitated the "American" type engine that included four small steering wheels in front and four larger driving wheels in the back (commonly called a "4-4-0" layout). The four rear driving wheels have an “equalized” spring suspension, so that as the wheels on each side rock differentially up-and-down over uneven track, the weight borne by each of the wheels stays very close to equal.
The Santa Cruz Railroad used the Jupiter until 1883, when it was sold to the International Railway of Central America (IRCA), a United Fruit Company subsidiary. Jupiter was used on the IRCA's Ocos Branch rail line in northwestern Guatemala—hauling mostly bananas and some coffee, with few passengers. In the 1960s D.C. Transit owner O. Roy Chalk bought an interest in the successor to the IRCA and shipped the battered and derelict Jupiter from Guatemala up to Washington, D.C., where it made its home in a children's park he built at 7th & O Streets. Smithsonian curator John H. White, Jr. persuaded Mr. Chalk to donate the locomotive to the Smithsonian for its Bicentennial Exhibition in 1976, where Smithsonian staff then restored Jupiter to its present state.
Date made
1876
associated dates
1974 / 1974
1876 / 1876
1885 / 1885
1904 / 1904
user
Guatemala Central Railroad
International Railways of Central America
Santa Cruz Railroad
United Fruit Company
maker
Baldwin Locomotive Works
ID Number
TR.335093.01
accession number
252681
catalog number
335093.01

1904 Columbia Electric Automobile

Dr. John Oscar Skinner, superintendent of the Columbia Hospital for Women in Washington, D.C., drove this runabout from 1906 to 1932. Physicians and affluent women in many cities bought electric cars because they were clean, quiet, comfortable, and easy to operate.
Description
Dr. John Oscar Skinner, superintendent of the Columbia Hospital for Women in Washington, D.C., drove this runabout from 1906 to 1932. Physicians and affluent women in many cities bought electric cars because they were clean, quiet, comfortable, and easy to operate. Cities and larger towns had power grids that provided electricity to recharge car batteries. But electric cars were expensive, and electricity rates were high. Maintaining batteries was a complicated, hazardous task often left to a commercial garage. Low mileage between charges and the absence of electric power in rural areas further limited the market for electric cars as Americans drove longer distances.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1904
maker
Electric Vehicle Co.
ID Number
TR.310575
catalog number
310575
accession number
123348

Car Barn Capital Transit Company

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
after 1907
ID Number
PG.78.38.16
catalog number
78.38.16
accession number
2018.0225

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