8 Mystic Seaport

Commodification of Whaling Byproducts
by Vandana Menser
 

Whalers would often pass time between catches engraving either leftover teeth or bones, but the only requirement for the carvings to be considered scrimshaw was that it must be material from a cetacean mammal. Because sperm whales were considered to be the most valuable economically, most scrimshaw was done on the teeth of said species purely due to availability. Scenes depicted often included either dramatic happenings on board or portraits of the whaleboats themselves.
 

Upon scrimshaw’s increasing popularity, indigenous groups like the Inuit from the polar regions of North America began to sell walrus tusks to sailors and artists. Walrus tusks were larger, flatter, and longer, making them easier to carve on than rotund and short sperm whale teeth. Scrimshaw is known as one of the only completely original American art forms.
 

Shown here are three preserved fetal whales, likely one from a blue whale and two from sperm whales. Although the origins of these fetuses and their exact species classification are unknown, it is inferred that they were salvaged from whaling trips during the use of the entire carcass. Items like these with scientific value could also be sold to anatomical biologists and collectors as an additional way for whalers to make money.
 

Another popular use of whalebone and whale teeth was to decorate canes made of wood and ivory. This image is of an eccentric but seemingly impractical collection of thin and delicate walking sticks given as gifts to loved ones or sold for profit by craftsmen of whale products. Legs were a popular carving on the ferrule, or heel of the walking stick, with a head of some sort as the handle.

History on Board The Amistad

by James Callaghan

At the Mystic Seaport Museum, there are many amazing exhibits and activities to be done.
There is a museum of the history of different arts and artistic pieces with a tie to the Mystic
Seaport. There are also various areas that show how rope, sails, barrels, and many other things
were made by the people of mystic. And what is a seaport museum without a few boats? There
are usually a few boats at this museum. Some are the Amistad, last whaler boat the Charles W.
Morgan, and a historic FDNY fireboat. The Amistad is a very interesting historical vessel, with a
very interesting and uplifting ending.

 

 

Discovering Amistad Our Ship: The Amistad

 

New York Library, The Amistad Mutiny, 1839

The Amistad was a slaving ship. It was a ship that would go to Africa, kidnap any African
people it could, usually men since they were most profitable, and transport them back to Havana,
Cuba to be sold. The interesting part of this ship's history is that in 1839, this ship had kidnapped
a large group of Africans from the portion of Africa that is known as Sierra Leone. On the way
back to Cuba, the captives on board decided to revolt and free themselves. They killed most of
the crew, except those who knew how to sail the boat and those who knew their location on the
ocean. The crew that were left tried to get them back to the original destination but were thrown
off course by the captives forcing them to turn around. Eventually those on the ship ended up
near the Connecticut/New York area. It was discovered and seized by the ship called the
Washington and the people on board, as well as the cargo, were taken to New London, CT for
trial to see what the fates of all involved would be. The fates of these Africans on the boat was
either slavery or death. This was until abolitionists in the area called for their freedom. This trial
went the local circuit and eventually made it to the Supreme Court since the ruling was
consistently ruled in the Africans’ favor. At the Supreme Court level it too was ruled that those
people should be free since they were once free people, captured with intent to be forced into
slavery, but were never actually made to be slaves. After this point the ship was returned to its
rightful owners and life for the ship went on as it did before. The original Amistad is not what
sits at Mystic Seaport Museum unfortunately. What is there is a replica of the ship, still beautiful
and being a vessel for the same history regardless. This historic attraction is only one of the
many reasons to visit this fascinating museum.

Works Cited

“Amistad Rear View.” Our Ship: The Amistad, Discovering Amistad,
https://www.discoveringamistad.org/our-ship. Accessed 23 Oct. 2022.

New York, Library. “Death of Captain Ferrer, the Captain of the Amistad, July 1839.” The
Amistad Mutiny, 1839, BlackPast.org, 23 Aug. 2017,
https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/amistad-mutiny-1839/. Accessed 23
Oct. 2022.

The Suite Life on Deck

by Molly Fowler

The 1840’s are remembered as being the heyday of the older whaling period as offshore voyages took precedence over nearshore voyages. The Charles W. Morgan, one of the main attractions located at the Mystic Seaport Museum, holds the substantial title as being the last wooden whaleship in the world. Launched in 1841, the Morgan has gone on 38 whaling voyages across the world with most trips lasting three years or more. The most recent voyage the vessel went on was in May 2014 as it embarked from the museum to various historic ports in New England, raising awareness of American maritime tradition. What I find to be most fascinating about this ship is not just its rich history, but the stories it showcases to visitors as they walk down the narrow hallways below deck. The ranking of a crew member offered each man onboard different privileges as they stuck to their role within the strict hierarchy, and this is very much seen when viewing their private (or in some cases, not so private) living quarters.
 

Figure 1. The captain’s table present in the day cabin featuring fellow students to show the scaling of the table. Only the captain had permission to sit at this table - any other member of the crew had to be invited in order to sit. The “fiddlesticks” are spaced out appropriately so that whoever is sitting on either side of the table has enough room for their belongings to fit within the confines of the railings. Not shown is the skylight above the table that is illuminating the table's surface.

The leader of the crew, known as the captain, held the highest authority onboard which gave him complete control over the decisions made. Below deck, the day cabin and stateroom were the captain’s private quarters which boasted enough room for the captain to entertain guests at sea or keep accounts of the most notable events from each day. In the center of the day cabin is a large table which was designed with railings called “fiddlesticks” to keep food or other belongings in place. Above the table is a large skylight which allows the captain to see above deck while granting him sunlight as he sits below. The captain also served as the ship’s medical officer, so within the stateroom there is a medicine chest which held medications he could prescribe in order to treat the crew’s injuries while at sea.
 

Figure 2. A section of the captain’s bedroom. The gimbaled bed remains level as the ship rolls and has been present since 1863. It was added for Lydia Landers, the wife of the first captain to set sail on the Morgan. Not pictured is the stateroom, which has a private “head” (toilet) for the captain that is not present in the other officers' rooms.

Next in rank to the captain is the First Mate, who had an (albeit) smaller cabin than the captain but had the luxury of still having a room to himself. His cabin also had a small desk inside as it was the first mate’s job to keep the ship’s log and other records. Following the First Mate is the Second and Third mate who were required to share a cabin. Their room is equipped with two bunk-beds which have miniature curtains hanging over each bunk, granting the men some privacy as they relaxed, ate, or slept in bed. Inside the room is also a small chest which could be used for clothing storage or other items.
 

Figure 3. The Second and Third Mates’ cabin. The lid of the chest beside the beds features an intricate painting of a whaling ship - it can be assumed based on the ship's coloration that this wasn’t meant to model the Morgan. Above the chest is a built-in shelf which was used for additional storage.

Moving away from the ship’s officers, the boatsteerers had the very important role of rowing a whaleboat until they reached striking distance of a whale. Typically, there were six men in each whaling boat with the harpooner in position at the bow to land a strike at the whale. The weapon used is called a temple toggle harpoon, named after its creator Lewis Temple. The temple toggle harpoon was designed to secure the harpoon into the whale's flesh, staying in place as the whale moved in a fury simultaneously dragging the boatsteerers behind it in what is called a “Nantucket sleighride”. While the beds in the boatsteerers bunk room appear to be smaller, all bunks in the living quarters are over six feet long.
 

Figure 4. The Boatsteerers Bunkroom. Even though it is hard to depict, there are a total of six bunks within this room. Despite more men living in this space, there are less storage chests than what is present in the captain’s stateroom as there are only two in this room. Even with the miniature curtains, there is very little privacy for each man as they lay in bed.

All information from this post was gathered from the Mystic Seaport Museum.

The Morgan

by Amanda Cruz

This is a picture in the archives of the Seaport Museum. It is a picture of The Charles W. Morgan, the oldest wooden whaling ship in the world. It was pushed with tugboats into the Mystic seaport when it was bought in 1941. When it was bought, the ship needed restoration work, and a lot of money was invested into it.

This is The Morgan today. It is the last existing wooden whale ship. It was restored when bought, but most other whaling ships did not have the same luck, because of how wood lacks longevity. This ship was built in 1841, and has been to every continent except Antarctica.

This is a picture of the top deck of The Morgan, where the whaleboats were suspended. When a whale was spotted, the sailors would board a whaleboat and hunt for what could end up being hours. Voyages would last until every barrel on board would be full of whale oil, which could take a few months to a couple of years.

This area is called the blubber room. This is where the whale oil would be processed. Once the whale was cut up into slabs and lowered into this area, processing it would begin. It was a hard, stinky process. The process of hunting the whale and making it into oil could last up to 24 hours.

Shanty’s Multi-Tool
by Ian Robinson

Around the 1850s, the term shanty was used to describe the work of a labor overseer. A device called the jack screw was a device operated in unison by several men. Requiring precise coordination, the overseer set the rhythm of work through the use of a shanty. Under the genre of call-and-response songs, sea shanties consist of a call ordered by the overseer and a response from the laborers. Depending on the rhythm of the work, sea shanty’s lyrics were often adjusted to fit the task. For example, “round the corn sally” could be changed to “round the corner sally.

Sea shanties were also used as a way of passing the time. Mind-numbing tasks such as scrubbing the deck were filled with shanties, often complaining about the labor. Something odd considering they were at work, though it could be assumed that the captain could care less as long as the work was completed.

For those who struggle to pack for trips, perhaps consider a shanty. Shanties acting as checklists, the songs ensured that the proper materials for a ship were on board. Once at sea, these objects were out of reach, putting those aboard at a significant burden. Unlike when we had to purchase a toothbrush and paste, sailors had to work without their supplies.

Like Broadway, shanties were a musical way of telling a story. Songs such as the recently popular “Wellermen” gave listeners a glimpse of life at sea. The song’s lyrics describe the tale of a whaling ship on a hunting expedition. The journey consists of sailors waiting for the wellermen to bring them luxury goods, such as rum, and the process of transforming a whale into oil. Similar songs have told the more gruesome experiences at sea. These tales were made more digestible for the faint of heart in the form of music. The laughs of the crow throughout the performance of such songs may seem odd when considering the lyrics. Still, the playful renditions made the bitterness sweet.

Mystic Seaport: A Whaling Town and Historical Landmark
by Audrey Calhoun

If one wishes to dive into the history of whaling, one needn’t look further than the coastal towns and ports of New England. Whaling, although now illegal due to the Marine Mammals Protection Act, is an integral part of New England’s history as it was vital to the societies economy and establishment. Whales were hunted for their oil, something in which there was a large market for because of its uses in lamps or as lubrication in machinery. Whaling museums, exhibits, and artifacts are easy to come by in coastal New England, one such example being the recreated Mystic Seaport in Mystic, CT. Mystic Seaport bears a close resemblance to its original structure in the 19th century, with historical buildings that show integral parts of a village of this kind, such as a cooperage, or barrel making business. A cooper would be necessary to a whaling fleet at the time because the barrels would hold the oil that was tried out from the whale’s blubber, and barrels were usually assembled on the ship only when needed to save space. 

 

The recreated village of Mystic Seaport. The Charles W. Morgan, the last wooden whaling ship in the world, is visible on the far left. The buildings seen on the right represent shops and craftsmen that would be included in a seaport such as Mystic, including a cooperage, visible fourth in from the right

The seaport is even home to the last wooden whaling ship in the entire world, the Charles W. Morgan. During our class field trip to the Mystic Seaport, we climbed aboard the Morgan and were given a tour where we were able to get a closer look at the everyday lives of a sailor on a whaling ship. This glimpse did not lend itself to much appeal, as the conditions for a sailor meant cramped living quarters with little light, exhausting hours spent in a reeking blubber room processing a whale, and an overall lower class position on the ship and in society itself. I left wondering why anyone would choose this life at all. 

 

Bunks below deck on the Morgan. These cramped living quarters are where sailors attempted to rest after the long and grueling operation of hunting, capturing, and processing a whale. These living conditions were not only physically uncomfortable, but made even more dreary by seasickness and the reek of fellow shipmates and whale parts.

Our class was given the very special and exclusive opportunity to explore the museum's collection vault. I learned that at any given time, only about 20% of a museum’s collection is displayed in exhibits, while the rest is safely stored and accounted for, away from the public eye. It was here that we saw many fascinating artifacts, such as drawers filled with scrimshaw. Scrimshaw is a term used to describe carvings made specifically on marine mammal biologics, such as whale teeth or walrus tusks. Due to the large crews on whaling fleets, there was a lot of downtime which sailors used to make scrimshaw as they had an abundance of the natural resource that did not hold much commercial value. Carvings consisted of dramatic sea scenes, book plates, animals, and portraits.

 

One of the many drawers of scrimshaw. This drawer is full of carved whale teeth. Teeth were soaked in salty water, sanded using sandpaper or shark skin and carved with sharp instruments. Sometimes india ink was used, where other times ink was made from whatever was available, such as berries, tea leaves, or soot.

Another interesting thing we got the privilege to see were rescued artifacts from the sunken titanic. Divers were commissioned to retrieve these artifacts from the wreckage for the museum, and the collection included things such as a timepiece, a lighter, and even a piece of the titanic's grand staircase. I was very excited about this specifically because one does not encounter many opportunities to view actual pieces of history from such an infamous event, and these were not even visible to the public at the time.

Artifacts recovered from the Titanic wreckage. A piece of the wooden staircase is viewable in the upper left corner, and next to it a piece of a woven deckchair. Other objects include textiles and fabrics, a lighter, and a paper weight. 

Barrels and the Whaling Industry

by Arielle Mule

In the face of some of the most impressive maritime technological development, especially approaching the industrial revolution in the late 1700s and early 1800s, it is easy to forget some of the more simple technology which kept the whaling industry running smoothly. The barrel, composed of a number of wooden panels called “staves” and two or more metal “hoops” is an example of such technology. The appearance of a barrel is so ordinary and common that it almost disappears into the background, but its design, with its many years of honing, is elegant and effective.

A barrel is shaped as a cylinder with tapered edges. Its shape allows it to be held together without any sort of adhesive, but instead by tension and friction. A barrel-maker or “cooper” lines up the staves together, clamping one of them to the ring and pushing the rest against it to keep them all in place. This can be done with one person, but it is easier with two. The cooper then uses a device to pull the ends of the staves together to form the barrel shape, and hammers the second ring onto the top, holding all the parts together tightly enough to keep any fluid from escaping.

The fact that a barrel is both cylindrical and tapered means that, when laid down horizontally, there is only one point of contact between the barrel and the ground. This allows for easy pivoting with minimal friction when rolling it.
 

The image above is from the cooperage building near the restored whaling ship CW Morgan at Mystic Seaport. The large barrel in the back corner of the room, according to the cooper giving the demonstration, is large enough to hold over one ton of whale oil. Because of the shape and design of this barrel, it can be rolled/transported by one person even at maximum capacity.

In addition to knowing how to assemble a new barrel, coopers also needed to know how to reassemble an old one. Reassembly is nontrivial because of the uneven deformation that occurs in the wooden staves. They may start out the same size, but after a few years they may not fit together correctly when put into another arrangement. Because of this, staves were often labeled or numbered to distinguish them from each other. As simple as they are, barrels similar to those used hundreds of years ago are still used today, thanks to their simplicity and versatility.