| Mystic
Seaport Mystic, CT |
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We spent much of our time aboard the whaling ship Charles W. Morgan, trying to imagine what life might have been like on a whaler. One of the seasoned guides answered our questions and shared many stories with us. The Charles W. Morgan is perhaps very typical, except that it still exists. It is the only surviving American whaling ship, now over 150 years old. It is as much an anachronism today as it was when it first sailed in 1841. It was launched in the whaling capitol of New Bedford, MA, in 1841, a modern ship designed for whaling. Its maiden voyage took it all around the world; from the east coast of America to the Azores in the Atlantic. It continued down the West Coast of Africa, and spent many months in the good whaling waters near the Cape of Good Hope. Turning west, it sailed to South America and across the Pacific to Hawaii. It spent much time in northern waters near Alaska (before the US purchased Alaska from Russia). At each port, it encountered primitive cultures, and brought modern goods for trade. It must have been a strange wonder to more than a few of the cultures it met. It was a vision of the future to many of them. The whaling industry reached its peak just after the Civil War, and began a long, slow decline as fewer whales were to be found. The Charles W. Morgan hunted whales for 80 years, with its last voyage in 1921. One of the later voyages, in 1917, it was patrolling the waters of of the Caribbean, looking for migrating whales. This was the middle of World War I, and the Charles W. Morgan was an outdated ship, dodging mines laid by German warships. Many merchant ships were lost, but the Charles W. Morgan survived, now a floating icon of ages past. |
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Harrison's thoughts about life on this fishing boat: "The crew's quarters were tiny and crowded. They must have gotten along well as a team to live so close together. I wonder how many times they fell off their beds from all the rocking of the waves." |
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"We took a long time on the whaling ship because it was so interesting. Stuck into the deck were glass prisms that let light into the cabins below. To the left there is the captain's wife's cabin. Some of the captains would bring their families on the whaling ship. Sometimes they would be on the ship for 2 or 3 years at a time. There were children, babies and women on the ship, as well as all the whaling men. Some of the women were navigators; they new a lot of math."--Amanda |
From the Dover Coloring Book The Story of Whaling by Peter F. Copeland |
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This huge hook was used to bring big sheets of blubber onto the ship. Finding and killing a whale was a busy time for whalers, but they could go months without even spotting one of the giants. |
) COLOR
ME!
Click on this image of whalemen hauling in blubber strips for the full
size picture, then print and color it!
From the Dover Coloring Book The Story of Whaling by Peter F. Copeland |
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Harrison learned, "Trypots are blubber boiling cauldrons used to melt the fat into oil. Then the oil would be strained and stored in wooden casks until the ship returned to shore. The oil would be used for oil lamps and candles and as a lubricant for machines." In 1864, near the end of the Civil War when North and South were running out of resources, a barrel of whale oil went for about $2.50 each. This was a great price which would make a two or three year voyage very profitable. |
) COLOR
ME!
Click on this image of boiling whale blubber for the full size picture,
then print and color it!
From the Dover Coloring Book The Story of Whaling by Peter F. Copeland |
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One
day is never enough to take in all there is to enjoy at a great museum
like Mystic Seaport. Dubbed "The Museum of America and the Sea,"
Mystic Seaport aims to preserve America's seafaring heritage. It is
the leading maritime museum in the country. Its collection of boats
and nautical photographs is the largest in the world.
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