Whaling Ship Tobacco Pipes

[mso489]

On a recent trip to NYC and Long Island, I had a chance to stop briefly at the

Whaling Museum at Cold Spring Harbor, Long Island. 'Lots of goodies here:

A fully equipped whale boat with mast, all the "whale craft gear," and other

equipment, oars etc. There are whale jaws, vertebrae, and other gear and lore.

For a pipe smoker, a point of interest is the typical whaling ship sailor's

sea chest, the only space for private possessions of the working crew other

than the captain and officers. Each man had a few clothes, like three shirts

if he was lucky, one pair of shoes, and other sparse gear. The whole thing, made of

wood, is the size of a large picnic cooler. (That's about what I had as an enlisted

man on a U.S. Navy minesweeper during the Vietnam War.) Among the whaling

ship sailor's gear was one tobacco pipe, well used, and a cloth bag of tobacco,

about 2 ounces. The pipe either was simulated by, or looked just like, a Missouri

Meerschaum hardwood pipe. Whaling under sail (as opposed to steam and

internal combustion power) ended in about 1912 (roughly), other than some

whaling by some native peoples. Anyway, there was the pipe, well-represented,

one of the few obvious life pleasures in among the hardest of professions.

 

[plateauguy]

Thanks for the story. Look how far we have come in 100 years, amazing!

 

[topd]

I always get excited when reading a story like this one. I've been to a few museum's dedicated to

sailors... whaling, merchant and the military sailor. Most of the pipes were clay or meerschaum, few

briers (or other woods). I love visiting old recovered wrecks along with other artifacts. I can never

get enough information about our fellow pipe smokers from the past. I was fortunate enough to be able

to visit the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich during the Falkland Island War in 1982. You could

walk through it in a day, but I went back three days in a row.

Thanks for the story....

 

[locopony]

I wonder what a whale filet tastes like?

 

[cortezattic]

I imagine that smoking was a rare privilege granted to sailors, given the fire hazards.

 

[mso489]

Apparently the fire hazard of smoking was trumped by the social acceptance of the habit.

Aboard sailing ships, I think smoking was an accepted way of using the little personal time

sailors had. I'm not sure where smoking was allowed on sailing ships, but I feel that is

recorded, as were most of the shipboard rules, somewhere. Aboard a U.S. Navy minesweeper

in the late 1960's, early 1970's, on an all-wood ship were there were sometimes chest-high

inner-tube like bladders of fuel oil chained to the deck, and all of the other flammables, we

were awakened by the call: "Reveille, now reveille, all hands heave out and trice up. The smoking

lamp is lit in all authorized spaces. Now reveille." The fact that smoking was part of your wake-up

call illustrates how deeply ingrained the habit was in seagoing culture.

 

[mso489]

locopony, I haven't sampled whale, but it is almost pure fat, and renders down into

pure oil that burns with almost no black smoke (compare that to kerosene with long

wisps of black smoke unless the wick is trimmed just right). The whaling industry for

about a century was a major source of luxury oil and other products, whale bone for

women's corsets and other lightweight framed items, fragrances, etc. I think the

oil would be like the most expensive melted lard, very pure.

 

[trailspike48]

I've seen pictures of whale meat for sale in Japan. What I saw was very dark red meat with no fat. I think the fat is mostly stored under the skin. I have no idea what the fat content of the meat is, but it looks like solid muscle tissue to me.

 

[mso489]

trailspike48, I should research this, but what you say makes sense. Whales are mammals,

like people, and the "meat," that is muscle, is different from the fat tissue, or blubber in

whales. Anyone who hasn't done so would enjoy a whale watching cruise. Seeing those

animals in action, and hearing that powerful roar of their breath through their blow hole

is unforgettable. I've seen grays and humpbacks off the U.S. East Coast. It troubled me

that after about a year at sea on a minesweeper, in the Pacific and the South China Sea,

I did not see one whale. My dad, during world war two, also on a minesweeper, saw

whales regularly. I think/hope they've come back. Whale watching is always a roll of

the dice; you can spend all day and see nothing. The grand prize is seeing a whale breech,

dive out of the water full length; I've never seen that. The gray whales are so fast, it's

hard to get close, but the humpbacks linger and I saw a mom with its calf.

 

[scottishjohn]

My wife has gone "whale watching" several times

and never seen one. I tell her it is because her

ancestors placed a curse on her. They were one of

the founding fathers of Nantucket. Their name was

Starbuck. There were four families that built their

fortunes on Whale Oil. The Starbucks, Coffins, Folgers,

& Macys'. We all know where the fortunes went when

Whaling died as a sorce of income. Macy's Dept Stores,

Folgers Coffee, Coffins Financial Enterprises, and

apparently the Starbucks fritered it all away over

time. No......Starbucks Coffee is not related.

:rofl:

 

[wyfbane]

The Faroe Islands (Danish ruled, so that links it to pipe smoking, right? lolz) still practice whale harvesting. The cured meat looked delish if you are into sliced lunchmeats.
Also, If you or a friend have ties to the Makah tribe up here in Washington state, they sometimes go on a hunt.
Either way, I would try it if it were placed in front of me.