Natural Resources

• 

  Corset and Whalebone Scrimshaw Busk

  Description

  For much of the nineteenth century, ladies' fashion required very small waists. The most common way to achieve this was to wear a tight laced corset, which could be adjusted according to the specific garment it accompanied. Like this example, many of them were handmade to fit an individual, although they were also available in shops.

  One of the most intimate pieces of scrimshaw a whaleman could produce was a bone or baleen busk, or corset stiffener. These were carved and given to a crewman's loved one, who then inserted it into a matching sleeve on her corset as a unique memento of her beloved's feelings.

  One side of this whalebone busk contains three cityscapes, two of which have busy ports with lots of shipping. The other side has eight vertical pictures, topped by a full frontal portrait of a beautiful young woman. She may represent the recipient of this busk. Below her is a city scene with multiple church steeples over a flag in a precinct. A multi-colored circular geometric pattern is at the center, above a garden scene over a delicate basket of flowers. Next is a three-masted warship, and at the bottom is a large rural villa overlooking a walled garden. Can these pictures be woven into a story?

  date made

  mid-nineteenth century

  mid-1800s

  fashion

  19th century

  ID Number

  DL.374478

  catalog number

  374478

  accession number

  136263

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History

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  Scrimshaw Panbone Port Scene

  Description

  The absence of much pinpricking in this elaborate panbone picture indicates a highly skilled scrimshaw artist who was able to sketch the fantastic port scene freehand. The presence of palm trees indicates a warm climate, dominated by naval warships in a fortified harbor with its own lighthouse. Military camps dominate the land, and a smaller factory or mill town on the bottom of the scene is defended by a partial stockade.

  The artist has left no clues for the specific location of this beautifully detailed landscape, although the palm trees suggest somewhere in the vicinity of the equator.

  date made

  19th century

  1800s

  ID Number

  DL.374479

  catalog number

  374479

  accession number

  136263

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History

• 

  Ship Model, Steam Schooner Royal

  Description

  This model represents a vessel powered by both steam and sail power. An auxiliary schooner, the Royal was one of several built after 1890 for use in the Alaska salmon fishery. Tenders like the Royal transported workers and supplies, and carried fish packed at remote canneries. The model shows a deckhouse with a pilothouse forward, a fish hatch, and a slide companionway to the forecastle.

  The Royal was built in 1891 by Matthew Turner at Benicia, California. Turner, born in Ohio in 1825, grew up on the shores of Lake Erie, where he learned about fishing and the ship-building trades. In 1850 he joined the throngs of fortune-seekers heading to the California gold rush. After some success in the gold fields, he returned east but was soon back on the West Coast, where he organized a trading company that shipped lumber and other cargoes. He also began building ships, and in 1882 he moved his operations to Benicia, on Suisun Bay, northeast of San Francisco. A prolific builder, Turner launched some 228 sailing vessels in his career. The site of Turner’s Benicia shipyard was registered as a California Historical Landmark in 1987.

  date made

  1891

  maker

  Turner, Matthew

  ID Number

  TR.076238

  catalog number

  076238

  accession number

  28022

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History

• 

  Campaign speeches are useful, at that

  Description (Brief)

  This pen-and-ink comic art drawing by Rube Goldberg from 1924 features the concept of using “windy” political speeches as free energy.

  Rube Goldberg (1883-1970) was an engineer before he was a comic artist. After receiving an engineering degree, he started his career designing sewers for the City of San Francisco, but then followed his other interest and took a job as a sports cartoonist for the San Francisco Chronicle. After moving to New York in 1907 Goldberg worked for several newspapers, producing a number of short-lived strips and panels—many of which were inspired by his engineering background, including his renowned invention cartoons. In the late 1930s and 1940s he switched his focus to editorial and political cartoons and in 1945 founded the National Cartoonists Society. The Reuben, comic art’s most prestigious award, is named after him.

  Location

  Currently not on view

  date made

  1924-10-31

  original artist

  Goldberg, Rube

  ID Number

  GA.23492

  catalog number

  23492

  accession number

  299186

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History

• 

  Chromolithograph of "Colorado Desert and Signal Mountain"

  Description

  This chromolithograph of “Colorado Desert and Signal Mountain” was originally drawn by Charles Koppel and printed as Plate XI in the first report of volume V of Reports of Explorations and Surveys, to ascertain the most practicable and economical route for a railroad from the Mississippi River to the Pacific Ocean, “Explorations In California for Railroad Routes, to Connect with the Routes near the 35th and 32nd Parallels of North Latitude.” The volume was printed in 1856 by Beverley Tucker in Washington, D.C.

  Location

  Currently not on view

  date made

  1856

  original artist

  Koppel, Charles

  publisher

  U.S. War Department

  author

  Williamson, Robert Stockton

  printer

  Tucker, Beverley

  graphic artist

  unknown

  publisher

  U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Topographic Command

  ID Number

  GA.10729.26

  accession number

  62261

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History

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  Chromolithograph of "Mirage on the Colorado Desert"

  Description

  This chromolithograph of “Mirage on the Colorado Desert” was originally drawn by William P. Blake (1826–1910), the mineralogist and geologist of the expedition. It was printed as "Geology, Plate XII" in the geological report of the second part of volume V of Reports of Explorations and Surveys, to ascertain the most practicable and economical route for a railroad from the Mississippi River to the Pacific Ocean, “Routes in California, to Connect with the Routes near the Thirty–Fifth and Thirty–Second Parallels, Explored by Lieutenant R. S. Williamson, Corps of Topographical Engineers, in 1853” by William P. Blake. The volume was printed in 1857 by Beverley Tucker in Washington, D.C.

  Location

  Currently not on view

  date made

  1856

  publisher

  U.S. War Department

  printer

  Tucker, Beverley

  expedition leader

  Williamson, Robert Stockton

  author

  Blake, William Phipps

  original artist

  Blake, William Phipps

  graphic artist

  unknown

  publisher

  U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Topographic Command

  ID Number

  GA.10729.32

  accession number

  62261

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History

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  Temple Toggle Iron

  Description

  Very little is known of Lewis Temple's early life. Born around 1800 to slave parents in Richmond, Virginia , by 1829 he had moved to New Bedford, Massachusetts, where he married. By 1836, he had a blacksmith shop on a local wharf, where he made shipsmithing items like spikes, harpoons, rigging elements, cargo hooks, barrel hoop and other iron ship fittings.

  Temple developed a simple but significant refinement to the harppon: the so-called Temple toggle iron or gig. This feature at the tip of a harpoon offered a more secure way to hook into a whale. Unfortunately, Temple never patented his idea, which swiftly achieved widespread application throughout the world's whale fisheries. He died in May 1854, unrecognized and in debt.

  While Lewis Temple did not invent the toggle, his invention made it better. The first barb at the tip of the dart was designed to penetrate the whale's flesh, and 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.

  date made

  ca 1859

  inventor

  Temple, Lewis

  ID Number

  TR.330535A

  catalog number

  330535a

  accession number

  294088

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History

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  New England Whale Ship

  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

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History

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  Whaler's Shoulder or Darting Gun

  Description

  By the later 19th century, guns had replaced most hand harpoons and lances, since they were far more efficient and deadly to the prey. They also could be shot from a safer distance from the prey than the hand tools could be wielded. The darting gun was one of the more popular types. Loaded with different darts, this versatile weapon could be used both for harpooning and killing whales.

  This particular gun was displayed at the 1883 International Fisheries Exhibition in London, England. After the display ended, it was donated to the Smithsonian by its inventor, Capt. Eben Pierce of New Bedford, Mass.

  date made

  1880s

  guns replaced hand tools

  late 19th century

  displayed at the International Fisheries Exhibition

  1883

  maker

  Pierce, Eben

  ID Number

  TR.316550

  catalog number

  316550

  accession number

  66767

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History

• 

  Whaler's Fluke Lance

  Description

  The most dangerous act in the dangerous business of whaling was “spading flukes.” The whaleboat drew up close alongside a desperate, unpredictable whale on the water surface, and a crewman used a boat spade or fluke lance to sever the whale’s tail tendons. This effectively immobilized the prey, for the whale couldn’t swim without its tail.

  According to James Temple Brown, who wrote the 1883 catalog of the Smithsonian’s whaling collection, the fluke lance was exceedingly rare and was regarded as “a monstrosity by all the fraternity”. This rare inscribed example was used aboard the starboard whaleboat of the bark Sea Fox.

  Date made

  ca 1880-1889

  authored whaling reference material

  Brown, James Temple

  maker

  Driggs, James D.

  ID Number

  TR.056358

  catalog number

  056358

  accession number

  012298

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History

• 

  Pacific Steam Whaleship Orca

  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

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History

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  Scrimshaw Ivory Whale Stamp

  Description

  Carved from the teeth of captured sperm whales, whale stamps were used to record the type of whale and number of barrels of oil they yielded.

  The stamps were inked onto the page of whaleship logbooks or sailors’ journals, with an empty space in the whale’s body for writing in the number of barrels. This example in the form of a sperm whale is decorated with steel pin heads and a turned handle.

  date made

  1800s

  ID Number

  1978.0052.06

  accession number

  1978.0052

  catalog number

  1978.52.6

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History

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  Engraving Of Steam Snag Boat A. H. Sevier

  Description

  Snags—submerged or partially submerged trees and roots—were one of the main obstructions to navigation, particularly in the Mississippi River below St. Louis and in its larger western tributaries. A majority of the steamboat accidents up to 1849 were the result of collisions with snags. In 1828, steamboat builder Henry M. Shreve was appointed Superintendent of the Western Rivers, and the next year he completed the first steam snag boat, specially built to dislodge river debris. This mid-19th-century engraving taken from the Taylor & Crooks sketch book, St. Louis, 1858, provides an image of the 1840s generation of snag boats.

  These double-hulled craft incorporated an iron-sheathed snag beam at the bow, joining the two hulls. During operations, the boat was run full speed at the projecting snag, forcing it up and out of the water. The snag was then hauled onto the boat deck and cut into pieces. Snag boats were capable of removing snags weighing up to 75 tons.

  The A. H. Sevier, Snag Boat No 4, worked under the direction of the Superintendent of Western River Improvements, within the War Department. Built during the 1840s, each hull of the Sevier was about 150 feet long and 22 feet wide, with 12 feet between the twin hulls.

  In July 1855, the Sevier was auctioned off with all equipment and furnishings at St. Louis for $6,050. It was then chartered by the government in November for $50 per day, with the government responsible for repairs and damage above and beyond ordinary wear and tear. The Sevier continued to work on the Mississippi between the mouth of the Missouri to a point about 18 miles south of Vicksburg—almost 900 miles of operations.

  ID Number

  TR.336779

  catalog number

  336779

  accession number

  1979.0415

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History

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  Ship Model, Skipjack Gertrude Wands

  Description

  The skipjack is the last in a long line of sailing craft designed for work in the Chesapeake Bay oyster industry. First built in the late 1800s, this sloop-rigged, single masted vessel was easy to maneuver even in light winds, and its V-shaped hull allowed oystermen to work in shallow waters. This model represents the Gertrude Wands, a skipjack built by John Branford on the Eastern Shore of Maryland in 1899. It is named after a little girl who lived in the community of Inverness.

  Like bugeyes, skipjacks were built for oyster dredging under sail. But unlike the round-bottomed bugeye, the skipjack had a V-shaped hull, which was easier to build and did not require the huge logs of the traditional bugeye. Skipjacks were also smaller than bugeyes, ranging in size from 25 to 50 feet.

  By the early 20th century, skipjacks had replaced bugeyes and were the main dredging craft on the bay. An 1865 Maryland law restricting dredging to sail-powered vessels ensured the continued use of sailing craft for oystering. Only in 1967 was the law amended to allow the use of a gasoline-powered push boat on Mondays and Tuesdays of each week. A push boat is shown on davits at the stern (back) of this model.

  Maryland’s skipjacks are the last commercial fishing boats operating under sail in North America. In 1985, the skipjack was named Maryland’s official state boat. With the steep decline of the oyster population in the Chesapeake Bay, most skipjacks have become floating classrooms for public education programs about the bay. Several have been donated to museums for preservation. Still, many people who live in the Chesapeake region harbor a sense of longing and nostalgia for the days when the large white sails of skipjacks filled the horizon.

  date made

  1968

  date Gertrude Wands was built

  1899

  built Gertrude Wands

  Branford, John

  ID Number

  TR.328687

  accession number

  276670

  catalog number

  328687

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History

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  Shipbuilder's Half Hull Model, Whaleship Jireh Swift

  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

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History

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  Ship Model, Chesapeake Bay Log Canoe

  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

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History

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  Scrimshaw Sperm Whale Tooth, 19th-20th Century

  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

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History

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  Wood and Ivory Parallel Rule

  Description

  Part of the navigator’s tool kit, parallel rules were used to transfer compass points, course lines and other directional information across large charts without change. This large wooden set has a carved ivory whale inlaid into its surface, with a brass tack for the whale’s eye.

  ID Number

  1978.0052.08

  accession number

  1978.0052

  catalog number

  1978.52.31

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History

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  Lithograph of "Cascades of the Columbia"

  Description

  The lithographic firm of Sarony, Major & Knapp (1857–1867) of New York printed this lithograph of “Cascades of the Columbia” originally drawn by John M. Stanley (1814–1872) of Detroit (1834–1840, 1864–1872) and Washington, D.C. (1850–1860). The illustration was printed as Plate XLV in the “General Report” of volume XII of Reports of Explorations and Surveys, to ascertain the most practicable and economical route for a railroad from the Mississippi River to the Pacific Ocean, “Narrative Final Report of Explorations for a Route for a Pacific Railroad, near the Forty–Seventh and Forty–Ninth Parallels of North Latitude, St. Paul to Puget Sound”. The volume was printed in 1860 by Thomas H. Ford in Washington, D.C.

  Location

  Currently not on view

  date of book publication

  1860

  graphic artist

  Sarony, Major, & Knapp

  original artist

  Stanley, John Mix

  graphic artist

  Sarony, Major, & Knapp

  original artist

  Stanley, John Mix

  author

  Stevens, Isaac Ingalls

  printer

  Ford, Thomas H.

  graphic artist

  Sarony, Major, & Knapp

  publisher

  U.S. War Department

  U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Topographic Command

  ID Number

  GA.24834

  catalog number

  24834

  accession number

  1978.0612

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History

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  Chromolithograph of "Los Angeles"

  Description

  This chromolithograph of “Los Angeles” was originally drawn by Charles Koppel. It was printed as Plate X in the first report of volume V of Reports of Explorations and Surveys, to ascertain the most practicable and economical route for a railroad from the Mississippi River to the Pacific Ocean, “Explorations in California for Railroad Routes, to Connect with the Routes near the 35th and 32nd Parallels of North Latitude by Lieutenant R. S. Williamson, Corps of Topographical Engineers.” The volume was printed in 1857 by Beverley Tucker in Washington, D.C.

  Location

  Currently not on view

  date made

  1856

  publisher

  U.S. War Department

  printer

  Tucker, Beverley

  author

  Williamson, Robert Stockton

  original artist

  Koppel, Charles

  graphic artist

  unknown

  publisher

  U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Topographic Command

  ID Number

  GA.10729.36

  accession number

  62261

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History

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