The Muse Newsletter of the Slater Memorial Museum Summer 2012 19th Century Maritime Norwich: Whaling, the War of 1812, the Civil War and Civil Seafaring by Vivian F. Zoë In addition to ship building related to the military, Norwich Decker continues to explain that from 1712 to 1761, harbor was critical to the Connecticut whaling industry. sloops of sixty to eighty tons could hunt the whale at sea, According to historian Robert Owen Decker of Central replacing the small open boats. During this era of whaling Connecticut State University (CCSU), Connecticut had in Connecticut, the process of capture was fraught with five periods of whaling. He asserts that the first involved danger, followed by hauling, cutting and boiling to Natives of the pre-contact era which ended when the extract oil. During the fourth period, 1761-1776, vessels Europeans arrived in the 1630s. Indians engaged in carried equipment for extracting oil enabling them to whaling near the shore using canoes and harpoons of wood remain at sea for long periods, often years. and bone. The tribe shared the meat and used the bone for tools and ornament. The American Revolution brought whaling activities to a halt but in the fifth period, 1784-1914, whaling The second period from the 1630s to 1712 again featured vessels grew until they averaged up to 300 tons in the onshore whaling. At that time whales in large numbers years from 1840 to 1914. The height of Connecticut entered Long Island Sound and remained from November whaling was in the 1840s when it ranked third among to April. Both the Indians and Europeans hunted this way New England industries after textiles and armaments. until in the early eighteenth century when few whales Eleven Connecticut ports sent out 358 vessels on 1,315 entered the Sound. voyages from 1718 to 1913. Whale products were critical to life, providing oil for lubrication and illumination, fueling home lamps, streetlights, locomotive headlights and lighthouse lamps. Whalebone, in great demand, was heated to be shaped for many products including stiffening for garments. Challenges to capturing whales included difficulty in penetrating tough blubber, getting close enough to the whale to “harpoon” it effectively and killing with a hand lance while alongside a fighting whale, especially in rough weather. These problems were compounded when whaling in ice fields; getting close to a whale through the ice to harpoon and lance it was a hazardous operation. Once the whale was harpooned it would often dive below (Continued on page 3) A Message from the Director In spite of the majority of our re-installation work complete, it’s been a whirlwind at the Slater this Spring and the summer promises to slow no further. Once again, a bevy of young interns have temporarily joined our ranks and will be on board for the next few months assisting with what is arguably the most ambitious migration of the Slater’s permanent holdings in storage ever. These holdings reflect the museum’s 124 years of active and often catholic collecting of fine and decorative art, ethnographic material and household and industrial objects. Included are furnishings, paintings, works on paper and sculpture. The team will be examining every object, ensuring that it is catalogued accurately and recorded in the electronic database, is coupled with at least one image there and its condition carefully assessed. It will then find a new home in the museum’s state-of-the-art storage facility in the basement of the new Atrium or be placed in temporary, off-site storage. Knowing and understanding our collection will make future permanent and temporary exhibitions more likely and comprehensive. Participating in the project provides college interns, some of whom are NFA alumni, tangible, hands- on experience in real museum work, their chosen discipline of study. Both the museum and these young scholars are fortunate to have found one-another. Our faithful members can look forward to our reporting on uncovered treasures long obscured in poor or cramped storage conditions … stay tuned! UPCOMING EXHIBITIONS, PROGRAMS AND EVENTS Thursday, July 12 NICHOLAS SCALISE AND THE CONNECTICUT 5:00 - 7:00 pm EXPERIENCE Opening Reception. Exhibition on view June 25 through August 12. Please see page 10 for complete details. Saturday, Sept. 8 CONNECTICUT WOMEN artists Opening Reception. Exhibition 4:00 to 7:00 pm on view September 1 through September 30. Please visit our website, www.slatermuseum.org, for more details. The Muse is published up to four times yearly for the members of The Friends of the Slater Memorial Museum. The museum is located at 108 Crescent Street, Norwich, CT 06360. It is part of The Norwich Free Academy, 305 Broadway, Norwich, CT 06360. Museum main telephone number: (860) 887-2506. Visit us on the web at www.slatermuseum.org. Museum Director – Vivian F. Zoë Newsletter editor – Geoff Serra Contributing authors: Vivian Zoë, Leigh Thomas Photographers: Leigh Thomas, Vivian Zoë, Barry Wilson The president of the Friends of the Slater Memorial Museum: Patricia Flahive The Norwich Free Academy Board of Trustees: Steven L. Bokoff ’72, Jeremy D. Booty ‘74 Glenn T. Carberry Richard DesRoches * Lee-Ann Gomes ‘82, Treasurer Thomas M. Griffin ‘70, Secretary Thomas Hammond ‘75 Theodore N. Phillips ’74 Vice Chair Robert A. Staley ’68 David A. Whitehead ’78, Chair Sarette Williams ‘78 *Museum collections committee The Norwich Free Academy does not discriminate in its educational programs, services or employment on the basis of race, religion, gender, national origin, color, handicapping condition, age, marital status or sexual orientation. This is in accordance with Title VI, Title VII, Title IX and other civil rights or discrimination issues; Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 as amended and the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1991. 2 (Continued from page 1) the ice and pull lancing. These had an internal time fuse usually ignited the whaleboat by powder in the gun. The projectile could be fired over a into the ice distance rather than lancing near the boat. After the bomb and destroy it. lance was buried in the whale, the time fuse burned down Harpoons were and exploded the bomb. The typical time for the fuse was regularly bent approximately seven to ten seconds. The shoulder gun’s in the process major problem was still the excessive recoil, which was of attempting to known to break men’s collarbones and to cause the gun to pull the whale fly off the side of the boat. near the boat or vice-versa. In 1846 Oliver Allen of New London received a U.S. A blacksmith Patent for a gun-fired bomb lance and in 1848 another engaged on for a harpoon fired from the same gun. The gun itself was board was not patented because its features were common to many needed to muzzle-loaded percussion shoulder guns at that time. The straighten gun employed a percussion cap to ignite the black powder them. Many charge and it became the industry standard. In the first half whalelines of 1852 advertisements for this gun in the Whalemen’s had to be cut Shipping List, and Merchants’ Transcript, a weekly to prevent loss newspaper for the whaling industry in New Bedford, were of a whaleboat headed: Allen’s Whaling Gun and Patent Bomb Lance, and men; this With the improvements recently made by C.C. Brand. resulted in lost equipment and About 1849, Oliver Allen sold his business to Christopher a lost whale. Whaling ships’ logs of the time show icons C. Brand of Norwich who changed the stock from of a full whale when one was successfully caught and half hollow brass to the iron skeleton seen on display in the when it was caught but escaped or was cut loose. The log Slater Museum. Since then the gun has been known as of second mate James G. Sinclair on The Waverly, kept the Brand Whaling gun. It was made in three sizes to 1859-61 shows whale images scattered throughout. The accommodate various bomb lances. Christopher Crandall book is currently on display at the Slater Museum. Brand’s Whaling Gun Factory was at 282 Franklin Street, which became a laundry and now is home to a design firm. To minimize the risks of whaling, early attempts employed Around the world, people may not have heard of Norwich. poison to eliminate the need for lancing, and to kill the But in places with a strong whaling tradition, like Japan, whale quickly before it would be lost. Explosive harpoons Iberia and Scandinavia, they will know the name C. C. were also tried without much success. In 1731 swivel guns Brand. mounted in the bow of the whaleboat were introduced to fire a harpoon into the whale at a greater distance. As early Advance cash for whaling voyages were limited, requiring as 1810, to reduce or eliminate excessive recoil against several people to invest in unison to spread the risk. A single the whaleboat, shoulder guns were assayed with much investor could purchase into several voyages at a time and smaller harpoons. Conversely, as late as 1856, shooting whales was seen as dishonorable to the whaling tradition and as dangerous, for different reasons, as hand-throwing harpoons. The whale guns shared many common features, so more than one could be used to fire a harpoon or bomb lance. However the one most commonly used was the one invented by Christopher Crandall Brand. In 1846 the first successful muzzle-loaded shoulder gun was introduced for whaling. Lighter than swivel guns, and not mounted to the whaleboat, these heavy shoulder guns fired a harpoon over a slightly longer distance than a hand-darted iron with positive effect.