Natural Resources

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

Scrimshaw Sperm Whale Panbone, mid 19th Century

Description

This large panbone, or section of the back of a sperm whale’s jaw, served as the canvas for a whaleman’s freehand drawing on two levels. In the center of the upper level is a three-masted whaleship with painted gun ports along its sides. Merchant vessels often did this, to look like powerful warships from a distance and thus protect themselves from pirates or other predators. The ship’s vertical whaleboat davits are empty, and the ship is sailing towards its little fleet of four whaleboats in various stages of harpooning a pod of five whales. Four of the whales are ‘blowing,’ or exhaling through the blowholes on top of their heads. One of the whales already has two harpoons sticking out of its back and is towing a whaleboat on a ‘Nantucket sleigh ride.' Behind the ship on the left is an old-fashioned two-masted topsail schooner sailing in the opposite direction. The sea in the foreground is calm, and the scene is placed against a shoreline of low, rolling hills. Below is another pair of sailing ships: a two-masted square-rigged brig follows a brigantine with a square-rigged foremast and a fore-and-aft main. Although engraved by the same very talented artist, the two levels of illustrations do not appear to be related. Judging from the extremely detailed and technical rigs and sails of all the ships, the scrimshaw artist may have been a sailmaker or rigger.

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.

date made

mid 1800s

1840 - 1860

ID Number

DL.057605B

catalog number

57605B

accession number

2009.0206

Data Source

National Museum of American History

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

Knife

Description

A knife was an essential tool on a whaleboat, where the quick cutting of a tangled line snagged on a man’s ankle or on an object in the boat could mean the difference between life or death.

Date made

1880s

ID Number

TR.103026

catalog number

103026

accession number

12328

Data Source

National Museum of American History

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

Scrimshaw Panbone

Description

This panbone, or section of the back of a sperm whale’s jaw, served as the canvas for a whaleman’s freehand drawing of a busy whale hunt off the coast of the volcanic island of Ternate, one of the Spice Islands in Indonesia and the world’s main source of cloves until the 18th century.

In the lower left, a woman reaches out for her whaleman, who symbolically stands across the sea with one hand over his heart and a harpoon in the other. In her background is a tranquil domestic scene, probably their home. In the center, a fenced precinct labels the main scene. Above, on the right are the named whalers Margaret of London and Sophia of Nantucket. The remainder of the lively scene portrays seven whaleboats chasing a pod of six whales.

The artist has managed to convey loneliness between loved ones, great distance from home, an exotic and remote tropical locale, and a busy whale hunt on a single stretch of whalebone.

Date made

mid 19th Century

depicted

late 18th century

ID Number

DL.057605A

catalog number

57605A

accession number

2009.0206

Data Source

National Museum of American History

Sperm Whale Tooth Watch Stand

Description

Scrimshaw known to have been made specifically for men is comparatively rare. This unfinished tooth was hollowed out at the back to carry a gentleman’s pocket watch inside, perhaps set on a wardrobe, a bureau or a dressing table overnight.

Patriotic imagery was very popular on American scrimshaw. At the top is a large eagle in flight clutching arrows and an olive branch; the hole for the watch is framed by a simple scalloped line. The space at the bottom was probably reserved for the owner’s initials or possibly a date, and the two holes were likely drilled for ivory buttons. The piece was unfinished when it was donated in 1875 by J. H. Clark of Newport, R.I.

date made

19th century

Associated Date

collected

ID Number

DL.024905

catalog number

024905

accession number

4331

Data Source

National Museum of American History

USS Alaska Scrimshaw Sperm Whale Tooth

Description

The wooden screw sloop of war USS Alaska was built in 1868 and spent much of her career in the southern Pacific and Far East representing the American nation in foreign ports. In June 1878, she cleared New York for San Francisco and stopped at several South American ports on the way.

One of Alaska's port calls from 20-29 September 1878 was to Talcahuano, in the center of Chile's coast and that nation's main naval port. It also was one the principal stops for American whalers in the Pacific seeking fresh supplies and entertainment. This massive sperm whale's tooth was probably purchased there and engraved by one of Alaska's crew to commemorate his visit. While the carver of this tooth is unknown, it may have been one of the officers who kept the official ship's logbooks, because the calligraphy on the covers of the logs for this voyage is exceptionally elaborate and colorful.

As this tooth indicates, the Talcahuano visit and liberty calls were memorable. Sent ashore on liberty, 54 of Alaska's crew went AWOL (Absent WithOut Leave), and three more were confined to double irons (feet and hand cuffs) for drunk and boisterous behavior or fighting.

Date made

1878

USS Alaska port call to Chile, Talcahuano

1878-09

ID Number

DL.374477

catalog number

374477

accession number

136263

Data Source

National Museum of American History

Sewing Machine Sperm Oil

Description

Sperm whale oil is very light and fine, and it has a low freezing point. As a result, it was used to lubricate fine machinery such as clocks, watches, and sewing machines from colonial times into the 20th century.

Date made

1870-1880

maker

Donnell Company

ID Number

2007.0084.1

catalog number

2007.0084.1

accession number

2007.0084

Data Source

National Museum of American History

Ambergris

Description

Pound for pound, ambergris was the most valuable product produced by the whale. It was—and is—also the rarest and most enigmatic whale product. An opaque, waxy substance from a sperm whale’s intestines, it was found occasionally in the stomachs of whales being processed on whale ships. More commonly, it was found floating on the surface of the world’s oceans or washed up on the shore in pieces that could weigh several hundred pounds. It was used by western cultures as a fixative to prolong the scent of perfumes into the later 20th century.

But why it is formed—and from which end of a sperm whale it is expelled—remains unknown. Fragments of squid beaks are often found inside the pieces, and some scientists believe that ambergris forms around the sharp, indigestible squid beaks to prevent irritating or cutting a whale’s intestines. Others consider it the cetacean equivalent of human gallstones.

ID Number

1991.0083.01

catalog number

1991.0083.01

accession number

1991.0083

Data Source

National Museum of American History

New Bedford Whaleship Crew List

Description

Every whaling voyage began with assembling a crew from whatever labor pool was available in a port city at a particular time. In New Bedford in late May 1876, 31 men signed to work aboard the 106-foot bark Bartholomew Gosnold for its next voyage. Less than half were from the United States; the rest were from Portugal, England, Ireland, Germany, France and Scotland. The two Frenchmen and one of the eight Portuguese were listed as blacks; the remaining men were of light or brown complexion. Four each of the crew were in their forties and thirties; 16 were in their twenties, and six were in their teens. Three of these teenagers, all from the New Bedford area, were only 16 years old when they shipped out.

date made

1876-05

ID Number

TR.103009.03

catalog number

103009.03

accession number

12006

Data Source

National Museum of American History

Whaler's Harpoon with Toggle Head

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

Data Source

National Museum of American History

Whalebone Thimble Eye

Description

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.

date made

1800s

ID Number

AG.025801

catalog number

025801

accession number

2009.0182

Data Source

National Museum of American History

Whaler's Hand Lance

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

Data Source

National Museum of American History

Whaler's Explosive Lance

Description

Explosive lances were designed to kill a whale by exploding inside its body. Many different types were invented in the late 19th century. When they worked properly, they were extremely efficient.

They could either be shot out of guns or set at the end of darting guns. These devices resembled harpoon handles, to which the explosive lances were fixed. Once a plunger touching the whale’s skin moved a specific length, it triggered an explosive charge that shot the lance into the whale’s body.

date made

late 1800s

patent date

1879

explosive lances were invented

late 19th century

patentee

Pierce, Eben

manufacturer

Brown, Frank E.

ID Number

AG.316544

catalog number

316544

accession number

066767

Data Source

National Museum of American History

Scrimshaw Whale Bone Food Chopper

Description

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.

date made

1800s

purchased

1876-11-30

ID Number

AG.024909

catalog number

24909

accession number

2009.0157

Data Source

National Museum of American History