Natural Resources

• Corset and Whalebone Scrimshaw Busk

  Location

  Currently not on view

  Date made

  1825 - 1835

  fashion

  19th century

  ID Number

  CS.287645.001

  catalog number

  287645.001

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History

• Ivory and Bone Yarn Swift

  Description

  Swifts, or yarn-winders, were used in the home in place of an extra pair of hands. They held skeins of yarn or thread while it was being wound onto spools or rewound into measured lengths. This is a particularly large example, which fastened to the edge of a table with the clamp on the bottom.

  date made

  19th century

  maker

  unknown

  ID Number

  TE.T03311.000

  catalog number

  T03311.000

  accession number

  59652

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History

• Oil Painting or Overpainted Print, Capturing a Sperm Whale

  Description

  The most dangerous part of a dangerous job was working in the actual whaleboat, first chasing and then capturing and killing the prey.

  This picture is a copy or an overpainted example of a famous print first issued in 1835, believed to be the first indigenous American whaling print. It is derived from a sketch by whaleman Cornelius Hulsart, who lost an arm on the whaler Superior and subsequently became an artist.

  The original print was one of a pair produced to raise money for Hulsart, and it was dedicated to Superior's owners N. & W.W. Billings of New London, Connecticut. It is a fairly accurate portrayal of the danger in approaching and killing a wounded, enraged whale. As shown by the red, bloody whale spout, the whalers have struck the prey’s lungs or arteries, but the animal was still strong enough to break a boat in half and flip a crewman into the water.

  date or original painting

  1835

  whaleman and artist

  Hulsart, Cornelius

  owner of the ship Superior

  N & W. W. Billings

  ID Number

  DL.65.0876

  catalog number

  65.0876

  accession number

  256396

  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

• 

  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

• 

  Scrimshaw Ivory Jagging Wheel

  Description

  Pie crimpers or jagging wheels are among the most common scrimshaw items carved by American 19th century whalemen. They were useful, as well as decorative kitchen implements. The fluted wheel was used to cut dough or seal the top of a pie crust to the sides before baking.

  This example’s shaft is in the form of a snake or sea serpent, with a tongue in the shape of a three-tine fork. The fork was used to decorate or poke holes in the upper pie crust to vent the steam created by baking.

  date made

  19th century

  Associated Date

  19th century

  ID Number

  DL.388597

  catalog number

  388597

  accession number

  182022

  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 Tooth

  Description

  Women and ships were the most popular subjects for scrimshaw carved by crewmen on long, slow whaling voyages. In this deeply engraved example, a beautifully coiffed and fashionable young lady, possibly in mourning dress, has pulled a locket from her bodice and is gazing at the image of a smiling young man. The curls of her girlish hairstyle would indicate that she is unmarried, although the traditional ring finger of her left hand is not shown. The mid-19th-century date of this tooth is suggested by the style of the dress.

  Date made

  ca 1840

  maker

  unknown

  ID Number

  TR.374506

  catalog number

  374506

  accession number

  136263

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History

• 

  Bone Fid

  Description

  Made of hard wood, bone, or ivory and tapering to a point, fids were used mostly for ropework, such as splicing. On deck, they were also used for breaking knots that might be frozen from overtightening, wet weather, or other conditions. In a pinch, one could also serve as a temporary belaying pin to tie off a line, or even as a weapon.

  date made

  1800s

  ID Number

  AG.025650

  catalog number

  025650

  accession number

  4798

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History

• 

  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

• 

  dice, ivory (pair)

  ID Number

  AG.024849.2

  catalog number

  24849.2

  accession number

  1875.4423

  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

• 

  Whalebone and Bone Umbrella

  Description

  The bony substance from the mouths of whales known as baleen is formed of keratin, like human hair and nails. It hangs in long, parallel sheets from the upper jaws of the blue, right, and minke whales, as well as other lesser-known species. Its hairy fringe filters food from seawater.

  Dried out, baleen’s strength and flexibility made it ideal for buggy whips, corset busks, and umbrella ribs before the advent of plastic. A whale’s bone could actually be worth more than its oil. This man’s large umbrella has a wooden shaft, heavy hinged baleen ribs made in short sections, and an ivory handle. Marked “G. Hobbs, Barre,” it belonged to the donor’s grandfather, who lived in Barre, Massachusetts, until around the end of the Civil War.

  Date made

  ca 1835-1865

  user

  Hobbs, George

  ID Number

  AG.169283.01

  accession number

  169283

  catalog number

  169283.01

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History

• 

  Bone Dice

  Description

  Gambling usually was banned aboard whaling ships, on the grounds that it could cause too much strife among the crew. But “bones” or dice were easily concealed from a ship’s officers, and crews found out-of-the way places to spend their free time wagering their earnings, tobacco or other assets.

  date made

  19th Century

  ID Number

  AG.024849.3

  catalog number

  24849.3

  accession number

  1875.4423

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History

• 

  Whalebone Ruler

  Description

  “Straight edges” or rulers were used aboard ships as writing guides on the unlined pages of letters, journals and logbooks. The back side of this long stick is marked in 2-1/4, 4-1/2 and 9-inch sections, indicating another usage, probably by the ship’s cooper to measure the level of liquid (water, wine, beer or whale oil) in his wooden casks.

  date made

  1800s

  collected

  1960-07-26

  ID Number

  DL.61.0049

  catalog number

  61.49

  accession number

  231930

  catalog number

  61.0049

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History

• 

  Whale Bone Seam Rubber

  Description

  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.

  date made

  1800s

  ID Number

  AG.025793

  accession number

  4957

  catalog number

  025793

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History

• 

  Bone Dice

  Description

  Gambling usually was banned aboard whaling ships, on the grounds that it could cause too much strife among the crew. But “bones” or dice were easily concealed from a ship’s officers, and crews found out-of-the-way places to spend their free time wagering their earnings, tobacco, or other assets.

  date made

  1800s

  ID Number

  AG.024849.1

  accession number

  1875.4423

  catalog number

  24849.1

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History

• 

  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

• 

  Polychrome Scrimshaw Whale Tooth

  Description

  Even whalemen with little or no artistic talent could carve highly detailed scenes, through use of the pinprick technique. In this method, a picture was cut from a contemporary magazine and then pasted or dampened to stick to the polished surface of a sperm whale's tooth. A sharp pin was then pushed through the lines of the image, which was then removed. This left lines of dots; when these were connected with engraved lines, they formed a copy of the original picture. Most commonly, lamp black (soot) was then rubbed into the engraved lines to make them stand out from the background of the tooth, although colored pigments like those on this tooth also could be applied for variety. The high fashion of this lady's garments bracket a date just a few years after the end of the Civil War.

  Date made

  1865 - 1869

  ID Number

  DL.374502

  catalog number

  374502

  accession number

  136263

  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

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