Scrimshaw

Aloha,

We faced some challenging weather conditions on Wednesday, and were only able to run one cruise — Wake Up with the Whales. The Humpbacks were definitely out and about, and guests saw some interesting behaviors — lots of flukes, lots of spouts, and lots of splashes from about a dozen different humpbacks including one Mom/Baby pod.
But since we don’t have a lot to report, we can talk about one of the things the whalers used to do to wile away the time between whale sightings and hunts on the whaling ships in the mid-18th century, It’s called “scrimshawing”  and it is the art of carving intricate designs on to whale teeth, bones and baleen. Traditional scrimshawing survived until the ban on commercial whaling went into effect in the mid 1960’s. The etched designs were originally produced by sailors using sailing needles, and were colored with candle soot and tobacco juice to bring the designs into view. Today, hobbyists still create scrimshaw — but they use bones and tusks from non-endangered and non-protected animal species like camels, buffalo and even warthogs.
If you’ve never seen the artistry, take a look at this image of Scrimshaw from marinearts.com

Mahalo,
Claire

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