Sag Harbor Whaling Museum
by Arielle Santos
Growing up in the suburbs of Long Island, everything was “boring”. Even if it truly wasn’t. That is just what all of the teenagers would say. We always complained how there was never anything to do. Everyday was a repeat of the last. Now that I am an adult, or so they tell me, I have had the privilege of exploring this beautifully historical island I call home.
Sag Harbor is a prime example of the historical value the island holds. The town was established between 1707 to 1730. It was known for whaling and farming. Sag Harbor was a prominent whaling port. Whaling was crucial during this time. Whale blubber with a little bit of man power, produced oil. This oil was used for lamps, as electricity was not yet fabricated. It could also be used to make margarine and soap.
Sag Harbor was a well established town because of this whaling port. It was one of the top three whaling ports as a matter of fact. The local Benjamin Hunting family of the nineteenth century were owners of fleets of whaling ships. So you can imagine what kind of money they were bringing in during the time. The Hunting family house is just one historical landmark that can be visited in Sag Harbor. The house was designed by Minard LaFever. It was described as “Greek revival” style architecture. The corinthian columns tower down this massive home, and at the entrance? The jaw bones of a Right Whale. How appropriate! When you step inside of the house, it only gets more intricate. From the moldings to the door frames, there are maritime influenced shapes and décor. The family wanted their home to reflect exactly what they do, and that it does.
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| This is a picture of the staircase in the Hunting Family home. In the middle of the gift shop, it wraps around to the top. This elegant staircase leads your eye to the sun-like dome you see here. |
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| The ceiling in one room of the Hunting Family house. Harpoon shapes and wave designs are noticeable. This was indicative of their profession. |
Sag Harbor: A Historic Port Village of Long Island
by Bryan Flynn
The port village of Sag Harbor lies on the Northern coast of the south fork of Long Island, within the famous region commonly recognized as ‘the Hamptons,’ and its nautical atmosphere reflects much of its historical origins as one of the earliest international ports in America and a major center for the whaling industry.
Historically, the use of ships has always been respected for its necessitated use of navigation and awareness of the chemical and physical properties that influence the nature of the seas. Navigational devices and skills are arguably the most vital and applicable instruments used by sailors even in today’s world. The Sag Hag Harbor whaling museum displays many historical sailing artifacts, including navigational devices like the binnacle, large cauldrons for boiling and storing whale oils, ropes tied in traditional sailing knots, and harpoons for slaughtering whales for their oil.
The binnacle is a container/mounting compartment for magnetic steering compasses on ships, which are mounted on ‘gimbals’ within the binnacle that keep the compass level. This specific design for navigational instruments like the compass was invented to reduce navigational errors. Magnetic fields are inconsistent and ships at sea are almost never completely level, making compass use presumably very difficult on an aquatic vessel, so the binnacle was a stepping stone in the evolution of technology created to minimize erroneous decisions in the difficult conditions aboard these ships. Binnacles were also typically illuminated with lamps fueled by whale oil, a valuable commodity that was commonly found in Sag Harbor for periods of time. The binnacle is just one of many fascinating nautical instruments that can be found in the whaling museum there.
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| Beautiful view of the Elizabeth Alexandria Morton National Wildlife Refuge across Noyack Bay, just outside of Sag Harbor. Photo taken by Bryan Flynn. |
Sag Harbor Whaling Museum and Customs House
by Kyle Chadderton
Last Friday turned out to be an extraordinary visit to an intriguing whaling museum as well as a interesting historical customs building. These experiences prompted me to imagine just how much vigor and endurance was required of certain people living in our country hundreds of years ago in order to maintain their lifestyle. Especially the Whalers who would go out to sea for many months at a time to hunt down some of the most massive animals on Earth. Men going out to sea to hunt whales needed more than just courage, they needed the tools to kill the animal and harvest the precious oil from the blubber.
The most important technology the whaler’s utilized were their whaling ships and the smaller rowboats used to get up close so that they could pierce through the hide and blubber of the whale with harpoons. After several of these smaller boats would harpoon the whale it was just a matter of letting the whale tire itself out and bringing it back to their ship. Afterwards the sailors would harvest the oil using a specialized spear with a broad head to drain the oil into large iron pots kept on the boat. On the long journey back the sailors would make scrimshaw out of the whale bones to pass the time and sell back on land. On shore they would empty the oil from their pots into a larger one that would be shipped out to be refined and distributed to houses across the country. The lives of these sailors were perilous with many risks of drowning or being killed either by the whale or disease out at sea, however without them there would have been no fuel to heat and light the homes of many Americans.
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Figure 1: This large iron pot was used to hold the oil taken from the whale blubber. On shore these pots were combined into an even larger one to be refined as lamp oil. One of these pots filled with oil would have been equivalent to millions of dollars in today’s currency.
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| Figure 2: These are some of the different designs of harpoons used to hunt whales. The purpose of the barbs on the tips of these spears were meant to keep the harpoon in the whale so it didn’t fall out during the pursuit. Although there are many designs they all serve the basic purpose of killing the whale and not coming loose. |
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These devices are called Draw Shaves. They were designed to tear off skin and blubber to leach out the energy rich oil. Ho
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I am always impressed by the intricacy of scrimshaw and the still life of history the carvings depict, but I’ve also wondered where the idea came from and how the skill developed?
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| A portion of the museum’s scrimshaw collection showing a variety of cups, tools, games, pipes, lampshade (portion of lampshade – upper right of photo) and decorative pieces made from scrimshaw. |
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| Photo credit: Liesel Benecke. A cane top carved from scrimshaw in remembrance of a young lady’s nice features. |
With years of time on a sailor’s hands, it is imaginable that they could acquire such skill, but there is certainly more to it than that. According to a sign posted in Sag Harbor’s Whaling and Historical Museum, carving scrimshaw is one of man’s earliest art forms; dating back to pre-historic times. Today, intricate patterns and designs on the bone, teeth and tusks from whales and walruses from this time are considered to be an American folk art. Many merchant sailors and whalers would depict their voyages, captains, lovers, land-visits, and illustrations of mythical creatures copied from books on these bone pieces. These scrimshaw pieces provide a window into history and values of sailors and the time in which they lived. Many of these sailors came from the dregs of society, forced by financial concerns and lured by financial opportunity to join these cruises for years at a time. That said, it is important to view scrimshaw was a vehicle for the average man, not just the classically trained and skilled artist back at home, to give us insight into their lives. Where access to literature, literacy, and first person analysis might have been limited, in scrimshaw we have images that paint a vivid picture of a lifestyle and livelihood now gone.
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| Photo credit: Liesel Benecke, image editing: Emily Markowitz. The description of scrimshaw found in Sag Harbor’s Whaling and Historical Museum. |
All through the tour of the whaling museum, I kept wondering where the word “scrimshaw” actually came from. On http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=scrimshaw, it says the word began to pop up around 1851, but there are many versions of the word and origin and orthography of the scrimshaw are unknown. Etymologists believe it is a “back-formation from scrimshander” from Moby Dick (1851), and “scrimshonting” (1825) from various sources in American English. The name’s derivation may have something to do with the English surname Scrimshaw that was derived from “Old French escremisseor [for] ‘fencing-master.’” The latter I think is a pretty cute connection.
Signing off,
Emily Markowitz
