Whalemen used long-handled bailers to remove hot whale oil from large try-pots into cooling tanks, and from those tanks into storage barrels. They had long handles to prevent the handler from being splashed or burned with molten oil.
This example’s wooden handle has figures of whales whittled into its surface to indicate the number and species of mammals that crossed its greasy path. The “B.H.” refers to bowhead, “S” for sperm, “H.B.” for humpback, and “W” for right whale.
After some species of whales were killed, their carcasses sank. Other species, like the right whale, floated. A whale that sank represented a major loss to the whaleship crews, who had risked their lives to capture the creatures.
To prevent this sort of loss and maximize a whaleship’s efficiency, Thomas Roys of the whaling port of Southampton, on Long Island, N.Y., patented an apparatus for “Raising Dead Whales From the Bottom of the Sea.” There is little evidence that many American whalers tried the device or that it found widespread use in the industry.
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.
While the African American blacksmith and former slave Lewis Temple did not invent the harpoon toggle, his invention made it better. The first barb at the tip of the toggle iron was designed to penetrate the whale’s flesh. The second barb also went straight in. A small wooden peg holding the lower barb in place would then break when the whale pulled away, allowing the barbed head to swivel away from the shaft. The new T-shape of the barb prevented the dart from pulling out of its wound.
It was a harpooner’s responsibility to keep his tools sharp and well lubricated, to ensure that the toggle swiveled freely. Sometimes the men fashioned covers for the heads of their harpoons to keep them clean and dry until needed for use.
One of these irons, or gigs, is shown in the closed position for entering the whale’s flesh; the other is toggled open to show how much harder it was to pull out.
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.
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.
This glazed, earthenware jug held drinking water for the use of fishermen working out of small dory boats. The jug, which holds one gallon of liquid and has a cork stopper, was used by cod fishermen from Gloucester, Massachusetts, before the early 1880s.
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.
A paper label indicates the jug 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.
After a whale was captured and killed, its carcass was towed by the whaleboat to the side of the mother ship for processing. Cutting up the whale was done by crewmen standing on a wooden plank, or cutting stage, rigged out over the side of the ship so that they could stand directly over the body. Crewmen used this canvas “monkey belt” to secure themselves while they stripped the whale of its blubber. It was dangerous and slippery work. If a sailor slid into the water he risked drowning or being attacked by sharks looking for an easy meal.
This rope-strapped thimble carved from whalebone would have had a light rope through the eye for rigging, perhaps on a whaleboat.
These miniature items also served as children’s toys or curiosities back home. Toys in the form of miniature working ship parts were easy and quick for sailors to carve, and they did not require much skill to make. They also served as potent reminders of where and what the men were doing during their long absences from their friends and families.
Simply carved and without any engraving, this food chopper, or mincer, was made in two pieces from a sperm whale’s jawbone. Its blunted, curved blade was used to chop soft foods such as bread dough, fruits, sausage, and animal fats. This example was donated by former Secretary of the Institution Spencer F. Baird (1823–1887) to the Smithsonian, where it became one of the earliest objects in the maritime collections.
After a whale’s blubber was melted down into oil in the try-pots, a few solids, like skin and gristle, remained floating on the surface of the oil. These were removed with a skimmer. The tool’s long handle helped keep the crew from being burned or splashed with hot oil. The leftover oily pieces of flesh, or “fritters,” were then tossed under the pots and recycled into fuel to keep the fires burning.
Seam rubbers were part of a sail maker’s tool kit. They were used to smooth and flatten the seams of heavy canvas sailcloth, where two pieces were joined or the edges were hemmed before they were sewn. This unusually large example was probably carved from the panbone, part of a whale’s jaw.
Once a whale was killed and its blubber was cut up and hauled aboard the ship for processing, the chunks of flesh were moved around the slippery vessel with long-handled, two-tined blubber forks. These forks were used to pitch the pieces of minced blubber into the hot try-pots to boil it down into oil. The long handles prevented sore backs from too much bending over and protected the men from getting too close to the boiling oil.
This logbook chronicles six months of a whaling voyage to the Pacific whaling grounds by the bark Virginia of New Bedford, Mass. The voyage began in late August 1840.
Most official ship logbooks record wind, weather, and sail changes, directions and ports reached and cleared. This one was filled with extra details and a few drawings by its keeper, Thomas M. Peakes. On 16 December 1840, two whales were caught and processed. The figures inside the whale stamps for those events show the number of barrels of oil taken from each whale. The last word, “Amanda,” reveals the writer’s homesickness. Her name appears often, as do the words “home sweet home.”
On 31 January 1841, crewman Henry N. North fell overboard and almost perished before being rescued. Towards the end of March 1841, log keeper Peakes was injured himself and had to go ashore at Talcahuano, Chile. Virginia’s ship’s log ended here, after noting that a kindly local widow took Peakes into her home to help him regain his health. After a three-week recovery, Peakes shipped out for home on the whaler Montano.
This odd tool was used to scrape the flesh off the bones from a freshly caught whale. It was the last step in processing the whale’s body before the bone was partially dried on deck and then stowed below in the cargo hold. Once the ship was back in port, the bone was placed on end in large yards to dry further.
The bone and baleen—rows of bony strips in a whale’s upper jaw that filter food from seawater—from a whaling voyage could yield as much as $50,000, or even greater profits than the oil itself. Baleen served a wide variety of purposes from buggy whips to umbrella ribs to women’s corset stays.
After a whale was captured, killed, and brought alongside the mother ship, its carcass had to be processed. First, a heavy hook was set into its skin and the hook’s line was taken aboard. Set on a long wooden handle, the cutting spade was used to cut “blanket pieces,” or long, thick, wide slices of skin and blubber from the body. The whale’s flesh was then hauled aboard for further processing. This example is marked “J.D. Cast Steel.”
Whaling crews used mincing knives to cut the blubber strips into thin slices down to, but not through, the thick whale skin. This process increased the surface area of the blubber and helped it melt faster in the try-pots. Cut in this fashion, the sections of whale blubber and skin were known as “bible leaves” because they resembled the pages of a book.
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.
Once a whale was caught, killed, and brought alongside the mother ship, the outer flesh and fat layer, or blubber, was peeled off the carcass. Then the remains were drawn onto the vessel’s deck for further processing.
The heavy head spade was used for decapitating the whale, by chopping through the vertebrae at the base of the animal’s skull. Then the head and bone could be further processed.