Natural Resources

• 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

• 

  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

• 

  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

• 

  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

• 

  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

• 

  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

• 

  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

• 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

• 

  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

• 

  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

• 

  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

• Whale Oil Lamp

  Description

  From a simple hanging lantern suitable for use in a barn to an elegant blown glass table lamp, whale oil illuminated the homes and businesses of America from the 18th century well past the time of the discovery of petroleum in Pennsylvania in 1859.

  Kerosene and other petroleum products largely replaced whale oil for illumination by the end of the century. However, the use of other whale products for various purposes lasted well into the 20th century.

  date made

  mid 1800s

  ID Number

  DL.377184

  catalog number

  377184

  accession number

  136485

  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

• Sweatpants (large)

  maker

  Jerzees

  ID Number

  2007.0178.11

  catalog number

  2007.0178.11

  accession number

  2007.0178

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History

• 

  Factory Processor’s Bump Hat

  Description

  The factory inside a large trawler like the Alaska Ocean is filled with equipment for filleting, processing, freezing, and packing enormous quantities of fish. Workers are trained in safety procedures and also wear protective headgear and earplugs as they work. While not required to wear certified safety helmets like the fishermen on the weather deck, they wear bump hats molded from high-density polyethylene for protection from minor bumps and bruises.

  This yellow bump hat was worn by Thelma McFarland, a fish processor, who was working her third season aboard the Alaska Ocean in 2007. She wore it over a disposable hairnet, which covered and held her hair in place, a requirement for maintaining sanitary conditions in the factory. There are typically four factory shifts, and the bump hats are color-coded according to each shift—blue for A, yellow for B, green for C, and orange for D shift. The color-coding allows managers to quickly assess the number of workers that will be needed on extra kicker shifts. The lead managers in each area wear red bump hats.

  date made

  2007

  Associated Date

  2007

  used

  McFarland, Thelma

  maker

  Bullard

  ID Number

  2007.0178.13

  catalog number

  2007.0178.13

  accession number

  2007.0178

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History

• 

  Factory Processor’s Boots

  Description

  These non-slip, waterproof boots were worn by Thelma McFarland, a fish processor working aboard the Alaska Ocean factory trawler in the summer of 2007. Manufactured in the USA, these “Xtratuf” boots are made of neoprene, a synthetic rubber.

  Processors work 12-hour shifts and, if the factory is busy, they may work an additional 3 hours, called a kicker shift. For most of this time, the workers are on their feet, standing at processing tables or conveyor belts, or walking from one station to another on grated walkways. These walkways, like the areas around the equipment where processors stand to work, are raised above the floor, allowing the water used in factory operations to run beneath the workers’ feet. Despite being elevated above any water flow, it is still essential for workers to wear non-slip, waterproof boots to keep their feet warm and dry.

  These boots are identical to those worn by deck hands. Most of the specialized clothing worn by workers and crew aboard the Alaska Ocean is provided by the company. Boots, however, are purchased by individuals, and are available in the on-board store. Felt insoles for the boots are available in the laundry and are washed frequently by laundry staff.

  date made

  2007

  used

  2007

  used

  McFarland, Thelma

  maker

  Norcross Safety Products, L. L. C.

  ID Number

  2007.0178.17

  catalog number

  2007.0178.17

  accession number

  2007.0178

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History

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