New Bedford Whaling Museum

Brian Powers

History & Impact• In 1823, For the first time, New Bedford's whaling fleet exceeds that of Nantucket.• Whaling dominated the economy of the city for much of the century• New Bedford attracted many immigrants as a result of their dominant whaling

industry

Some Typical Whaling Equipment

Pictured above are whaling “Spades”. Spades were typically used for cutting up the whale. The different types are for different parts of the whale to cut.

Pictured to the Right is some of the foods and tools that the Whalers would typically bring out to sea. This included canned goods, brushes, various oils for ship maintenance, and even soaps for the whales.

Pictured to my left is a selfie with guns known as “shoulder Guns.” Spear guns were getting dangerous when the whale would pull the boat under so this created a quick way to penetrate the blubber and put the whale down.

Whaling Equipment (cont.)

These were commercial tools of trade.These tools were made from iron and steel, and also were designed for repetitive use. Some of the tools that were created were specific to a certain type of ship.

(above)Type of compass used on

ships

Uses for Whaling• Oil was the main product from whales. It

was used to lubricate machinery and to provide illumination by burning it in lamps.

• Oil taken from whale blubber was packaged and transported back to the whaling ship’s home port

• New Bedford, Massachusetts was the busiest American whaling port in the mid-1800s

• Whale oil was also used to manufacture soaps, paint, and varnish

• One of the most common use of whalebone was in the manufacture of corsets(pictured in the top left).

• Whalebone also used for toys• Pretty much anything made out of plastic today, was made out

of Baleen (whalebone) back in the 1800’s

The Lagoda Ship• This is an 89-foot model of the Lagoda• The Lagoda was built in Scituate, MA in 1826• The ship completed more than a dozen whaling voyages before

being withdrawn from the sea• The ship pictured was a half sized model rebuilt in 1916 (the ending

years in US whaling.

Famous Painting

New Bedford artists Caleb Purrington and Benjamin Russell created a 1,295-foot painting of "A Whaling Voyage Around the World,". One of the events showed in the panorama is the ramming of the Essex and the mutiny aboard the whaleship Sharon of Fairhaven.

(I took a panorama photo so it is a little distorted)

Sperm Whale

You can get a relative idea of the size of the Sperm whale by the human skeleton next to the skull.

Sperm whale washed up to shore and was 48 ft in length and 90,000 pounds!

Modern WhalingSven Foyn, a Norwegian created a steam powered launch and bow-mounted harpoon cannon which revolutionized the whaling industry in 1870Many countries including the US, began using this technology.Set the foundation for whaling in the 20th century.

THANKS!