A whaling, a whaling...
Jun. 26th, 2009 04:41 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
fbhjrToday we went to the New Bedford Whaling museum.
My wife had never been to the whaling museum in New Bedford, so asked if we could go there for our museum trip today.
I hadn’t been there since the 70’s so I agreed.
It’s in a part of New Bedford right on the harbor where things have been restored to a more historical state.
There are several places mentioned in the book Moby Dick right in that area.
But, the museum itself was what we were there to see.
Right inside the entrance they have three whole whale skeletons.
They’re big. I know, I know, they’re whales. But that center one is only a half grown Blue. Full grown it would be about twice as big.
You can see that even a ways away, and half grown, they are a lot bigger than people.
They have full size replicas too.
And, some parts you can get see up close.
One of the major focuses of the museum is scrimshaw. For long involved reasons, I’ve got a thing for scrimshaw. So, it was very interesting to see it.
They started with some of the raw material for it, especially teeth. Do you know what animal had the biggest tooth ever found?
That’s right. A mammoth. Bigger than dinosaurs, bigger than whales, bigger then people. And, some of them were etched as they were found in camps up north.
There was a lot of whaling up north...
The museum has a lot of scrimshaw.
This one I thought was impressive.
Some of it was small.
Some of it was big
(That’s one on bones, not teeth.)
But, they certainly had a lot of it.
They also have a replica of the front part of a ship.
I would not fit in it well. Or sleep well in the bunks.
They also have a full 1/2 scale replica of a ship inside the museum.
I fit in that one even less, but my wife thought it was fine.
New Bedford continued to have ships go out whaling until 1924, so they have some items that were used to hunt whales.
They also had a nice observation deck where you can look over the harbor.
You can tell the town is still an active port by what the local places advertise.
It’s a nice museum. But, it focuses on paintings of whaling, scrimshaw, maps of the ocean and glass items made for the whaling trade.
When my grandmother used to bring me there 30-40 years ago, it had a lot more on the hunting, killing and processing of whales.
I’m not saying one focus is better than the other. But, I do find the change in focus over time interesting.
We tried to find a local place for lunch, but they were all either closed or very, very expensive. So, I drove out of town on the smaller roads, not the highway. We found a nice Thai place not too far out of town.
They had very good food.
And, when they brought our drinks they had twisted the straw covers into very interesting shapes.
It was a nice trip and I’m glad my wife got to go to a museum she’d never been to before.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2009-06-26 09:07 pm (UTC)I'd been meaning to go there for some time but that fell of the radar a while ago. I had also meant to see what was the Kendall Whaling Museum in Sharon, MA, but I think the museum closed and it's collection went to New Bedford, which may explain the 'focus' of pictures and artifacts, as to the best of my knowledge is what Kendall had and "focused" on.
I'm fortunate to have gone to the Nantucket Whaling Museum on Nantucket way back in High School From what I remember it did have a bit about the hunting, killing, and processing part.
Then of course there is the Charles Morgan at Mystic Seaport, which is just awesome. I think that ship was in use until 1926 or 29.
Could be worse, it could be like Japan vs. The Sea Shepherd in the Antarctic Sea...
The twisted straws are awesome.
no subject
Date: 2009-06-27 01:02 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-06-27 01:39 am (UTC)See, it all works out for the best.