In touring Mystic Seaport Museum, one becomes immersed in New England’s world of whaling in the 19th century. Whaling played a critical role in the development of New England as whale oil was their greatest export; it brought economic prosperity and shaped New England societies. Whale oil was a highly sought-after commodity as it was used to fuel lamps, provide lubrication, and make candles and soap. Whaling was one of the largest and most profitable businesses of its time, but it contained great risks and hardships for those involved.
The use of whale oil eventually began to decline in the late 19th century due to the introduction of petroleum, causing the whaling industry to die down. The United States officially banned whaling in 1971. Today, we understand that it is wrong to overhunt and exploit these animals. During the 19th century however, New Englanders only saw this animal as a commodity. Although it is devastating to imagine all the animals that died due to these activities, it is important to remember that the whaling industry helped to establish the economic and social foundation for New England to grow and become what it is today.
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| Image 1: A whaleboat in front of the Charles W. Morgan, a whaling ship that was active during the 19th century. On boats such as these, about 6 men used oars to get to the whale. Although they were simple, they were one of the most important pieces of equipment as this is where the hunting occurred. From the whaleboat, the whalers would harpoon, kill, then drag the whale back to the vessel. |
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| Image 2: Three harpoons and a try pot. The harpoons did not penetrate deeper than the blubber and acted as hooks to hold onto the whale. The middle harpoon is a temple toggle harpoon which increased the success rates of bringing in the whales as they featured two barbs to ensure a secure hold. Try pots are large iron cauldrons used on the ship to render the oil from the blubber. |
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| Image 3: A barrel that was used to hold the whale oil. It was very important that the barrels were watertight and secure for long term storage and transportation. The cooper was in charge of making the barrels and they received about 1/60 of the profits as they had the important duty of handling the product. Barrels such as this one feature roman numerals on the different planks to show what piece goes where to ensure it is built correctly. |
by Molly Showers
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| Image 1: Here were the living quarters of the cook and cooper. Though they seem small, these were much roomier than the bunks that the lower-ranked sailors had. Also, these beds were closer to the captain’s room, which denotes a higher rank than average. |
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| Image 2: Shown here are some of the barrels that a cooper would have made while on the vessel. These barrels might look standard, but they essentially held liquid gold – whale oil. Coopers were paid handsomely for their work, as there would be no profit if there was nothing to store the oil in. |
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| Image 3: Here is an interesting graphic that I found in the museum depicting the different wages of the workers on board the vessel as well as the vessel owners. I thought it was shocking that the cooper would get paid more than even the cook. It shows just how important this job was on board. |
by Jake Guyer
Scrimshaw is the act of taking the byproduct from any marine animal and either carving or engraving some type of image or art onto it. Scrimshaw was extremely common for sailors back in the day especially those who were on whaling vessels. Due to whaling trips being on average about 3-5 years eventually, the sailors on board would read all of the books that were on board thus in order to pass the time they would make scrimshaw. For whalers, the most common form of scrimshaw was of a sperm whale tooth since it was the only whale that they hunted that had teeth. Other forms of scrimshaw also include narwhal tusks as well as hippopotamus tusks.
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| This image shows the scrimshaw of many sperm whale teeth and as you can see there are many different engravings on them. The engravings vary from women and ships to even whales as well. |
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| After sperm whale teeth the most common form of scrimshaw is that of narwhal tusks. They offer a much larger canvas for the sailors’ engravings and in the picture above it appears on the left tusk that the sailor drew his family which he was probably missing while on his voyage. |
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| Hippopotamus tusks were some of the least common scrimshaw for sailors in the North Atlantic due to Hippos being native to Africa. However, some sailors were able to make scrimshaw out of their tusks, and using them for scrimshaw was similar to using narwhal tusks. |
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| Image 1 shows the captain’s stateroom and day cabin. This is where the medicine chest was stored because, as the ship’s medical officer, the captain consulted a manual and prescribed standard medications to treat the crew’s illnesses and injuries at sea. There is a private head or toilet in this stateroom, as well as a gimbaled bed, which was added in 1863 for Lydia Landers, the first of five captains’ wives to sail on the Morgan. |
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| Image 2 shows the bunkroom for the carpenter, cook, steward, and cooper. The cooper was the highest paid member of the crew under the captain and the first mate, and was responsible for assembling shooks into casks, and maintaining the seal of whale oil filled casks. |
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| Images 3 & 4 show what was known as the “blubber room,” where the processing of the whale in order to store the blubber and retrieve the oil took place. The ceilings were remarkably low in this part of the ship. I am 5’7” tall and found myself ducking under some of the cross beams. I would describe the ceiling height as around 5’4” in some areas and 5’9” in other parts. |
How Song Transformed the Sailing Life
Sea shanties have been a part of our life for as long as we can remember. We all, in one way or another, know some part of a sea shanty. We tend to think of these songs as a way for sailors to pass the time out at sea, in between their shifts or when on whaling vessels, maybe sung through the boredom when there were no whales to speak of. While that could be a part of the reason these songs are so well ingrained into our minds even today, sailors used these songs as a form of rhythm while they worked on the vessel. Working with heavy equipment and rigging held by ropes meant that a lot of men needed to work together to move the equipment, and they had to work in sync in order to work efficiently.
The oldest shanty that we know of is a poem called “The Complaynt of Scotland”, printed in 1549. Between then and up to the 18th century, there is not much about shanties that we are aware of. The 18th century was around the time where traveling the Atlantic was much more commonplace, as trade routes to different continents opened up.
There were a few shanties that we heard at Mystic Seaport of the many songs that exist today. A lot were used for rhythm, such as “Storm Along John”, which was used to keep the rhythm when raising the anchor, and “Haul Away Joe” was used to raise sails. Though there were songs that went further than that, a song about whaling specifically, to keep the crew focused on their mission. Another song, which was not a sea shanty, but was sung by the wives of sailors and whalers, and became the stepping stones for the modern feminist movement, as well as the abolitionist movement.
Shanties are not just the songs we think of as drinking songs, but they actually had a much greater purpose in the maritime world, and eventually, the world beyond. They were, and still are, a great part of culture today, even when we don’t often think about it.
The Best of Both Whaling Worlds
by Abighail McKinney
This week we visited Mystic Seaport in Connecticut. There was a portion of the trip where we learned of the history of whaling and the political relationships formed with different ethnic groups such as the Aivilk Inuits. This group of people lived in the western region of the Hudson Bay and had personal relations with some of the whalers who were heavily involved in trade.
As we know, in the 19th century the demand for whaling oil increased tremendously. Whale oil was the driving force for the industry, it was the preferred type of oil used in the daily lives of New Englanders during this time period. This type of oil was essential to the maintenance of lighthouses, it sustained the fishing/whaling industry and was used practically everywhere!
Sailors were usually at sea from somewhere to 3-5 years depending on their objective, the longest recorded voyage lasted 11 years on the ship Nile in 1858. As you can imagine, whalers at sea commonly missed their wives and children. As well as all the simple things of the land. As a way to remember this, they made art on the ivory made of various mammals/marine animals. This was a method of using many parts of the whale despite its main purpose being oil wax and other valuable commodities. It was also simply a way to pass the time.
Here is an example of the beautiful scrimshaw art created by sailors. Usually scrimshaw’s value wasn’t worth much but we see an increase in later years due to luxury and demand.
As stated above here is a photo of the whale-gut parka that was commonly utilized among the indigenous Inuit people. This is a display of how sustainable they were with their catches, and how important it is to make use of every part of the animal.
I personally think it’s interesting how an entire art form is derived by the simple relationship between two different groups of people. Such talent emerging from a common interest is truly a beautiful thing!
Here is a photo of other types of scrimshaw, we can assume these were tusks of walruses or other animals in the local area and were traded amongst different groups.
