Standard Whale Boat
mid-19th century
Medium/TechniqueWood
Dimensions57.15 cm (22 1/2 in.)
Credit LineGift of John Templeman Coolidge
Accession number32.169
On View
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Hart constructed this model after a late-nineteenth or early-twentieth century whaleboat then on view at the Dartmouth Historical Society in New Bedford, Massachusetts. Whaling vessels typically carried four to six such boats, each manned by four oarsmen, an officer (or boat header), and a harpooner (or boat steerer). It was in these small boats that the actual pursuit and capture of a whale took place. This model is well equipped and ready for the chase.
ProvenanceLent by J. Templeman Coolidge / February 27, 1929
Early 19th century
mid-late 18th century
18th century
19th–20th centuries
Early 19th century
14th–15th century
about 1840
about 1815–19
probably late nineteenth century