Stamp (Whaling Log Book Stamp)

Description

This small, wooden cuboid block is a whale logbook stamp. It has been carved in relief on three sides with whale imagery. Two of the long sides of the block are carved with images of a sperm whale and a pilot whale. The sperm whale is visually identifiable by its square-shaped head and small pectoral fin on the side of its body. The tall dorsal fin and rounded jaw on the second relief-carved whale may suggest either an orca (killer whale) or a pilot whale. Although the silhouette of this second whale follows more closely that of an orca (in particular, the narrow caudle peduncle, or tail region), it would be an unusual choice, as orcas were not targeted during nineteenth-century whale hunts. Pilot whales were historically hunted in the waters around the Faroe Islands and neighboring areas of the North Atlantic Ocean, and have been identified on similar stamps in the collection of the New Bedford Whaling Museum. The third relief carving, located on one of the short sides of the block, features a whale fluke, or the two lobes of the whale tail. Each of the three carvings is stained with black ink, evidence of its prior use as a stamp for whale ship logbooks. Ship captains recorded an array of information in their logbooks, including location, daily weather patterns, and the ship’s activities. Such stamps were used to mark the sighting and/or capture of a whale. The stamp of a full whale usually indicated that the whale was caught. This stamped mark was often followed in the logbook with a number that indicated how many barrels of oil were obtained from the whale. The fluke stamp may indicate several possibilities: a whale was spotted, but may have gotten away, in which case a logbook may note, "Lost." Another possibility is that the whale was indeed killed. Sperm whales were hunted for their blubber, which was rendered into whale oil, and spermaceti, a waxy material in its head that was used to make candles. Both materials helped illuminate the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. However, commercial whaling also decimated populations of sperm whales worldwide. In the 1980s, the International Whaling Commission placed a moratorium on commercial whale fishing, which helped stabilize sperm whale numbers. Even so, sperm whales remain an endangered species, and climate change, ocean traffic, and marine debris continue to threaten their livelihood.