Audio Transcriptions
1 What Did Whalers Eat?
[Sound of food preparation]
Food was the most complained-about aspect of the whaling industry.
Before the voyage, the captain would oversee the stocking of the ship's pantry with beans, potatoes, rice, flour, raisins, hardtack biscuits, water, molasses, and salted meats.
[Male voice in background, "Thirty pounds, please.]
The cook catered to 3 groups within the crew, who ate differently from each other. The best and freshest food went to the captain, the mates, and the captain’s family if on board. [Sounds of china plates, clearing throat] They ate sitting formally at a table with china in the main cabin, while a steward waited on them. Once the officers finished their meal, the butter was removed from the table, and the sugar was replaced with molasses. Then the crew of skilled hands – such as harpooners, the carpenter, cooper and blacksmith – sat down for their meal. [Men's voices]
The rest of the lower-ranked crew ate food that would be considered almost inedible today. The cook would dump salt meat into a tub, potatoes in another, and tea into a bucket to be shared among the crew. [Sound of mixing food, pouring tea] There were no tables or chairs for these whalers, just the lids of their own sea chests to sit on. [Clip of sea shanty, sailors singing]
Livestock were sometimes brought aboard. Whaling wife Mary Colson on board the George and Susan in 1878 wrote: [Sheep bleating] "I do hope we shall never have another animal on board this ship for I get fond of them and they of me and then they either die or are killed."
Culinary celebrations on holidays such as Thanksgiving gave welcome respite from a monotonous and dreary diet. One popular dessert was dandyfunk, a baked mass of hard tack crackers and molasses [crunching sound], or duff, a boiled pudding.
Whaler Robert Weir aboard the Clara Bell journaled about a distinct feast on July 4th. [Men cheering] He wrote how the crew fired salutes [sound of shotgun] and enjoyed “coconuts, roast pig, minced pie, soft tack, ginger cake, pepper sauce, Molasses, pepper, rice, and pickles – quite extensive for a sailor.”
No American whaling journey was complete without the ceremonial frying of donuts in whale oil, which were served as a special reward. Whaling wife Mary Brewster observed in her journal, “Sunday, July 26, 1846. At 7PM, boats got fast to a whale, at 9pm got him to the ship. Men all singing and boiling doughnuts in the trypots, as this will certainly make us 1000 barrels, and it is custom among the whalemen to make a batch of doughnuts to every thousand. The men seem to be enjoying themselves merrily.” [Sounds of men singing in background, frying with oil]
Once in the Pacific Ocean, the islands there offered fresh foods, such as bananas and coconuts. These treats were a mixed blessing. One whaler, William Fish Williams, sailing the Florence wrote, "I was fed up with bananas and have never recovered my taste for them. We had them raw or cooked nearly every meal for weeks until I could not smell them without a feeling of nausea."
[Sound of seagulls] The Galapagos Islands became known as the "Tortoise Islands" because the whalers would stop and capture tortoises for food.
Follow the museum’s blog for historic recipes and culinary explorations at sea.
Food was the most complained-about aspect of the whaling industry.
Before the voyage, the captain would oversee the stocking of the ship's pantry with beans, potatoes, rice, flour, raisins, hardtack biscuits, water, molasses, and salted meats.
[Male voice in background, "Thirty pounds, please.]
The cook catered to 3 groups within the crew, who ate differently from each other. The best and freshest food went to the captain, the mates, and the captain’s family if on board. [Sounds of china plates, clearing throat] They ate sitting formally at a table with china in the main cabin, while a steward waited on them. Once the officers finished their meal, the butter was removed from the table, and the sugar was replaced with molasses. Then the crew of skilled hands – such as harpooners, the carpenter, cooper and blacksmith – sat down for their meal. [Men's voices]
The rest of the lower-ranked crew ate food that would be considered almost inedible today. The cook would dump salt meat into a tub, potatoes in another, and tea into a bucket to be shared among the crew. [Sound of mixing food, pouring tea] There were no tables or chairs for these whalers, just the lids of their own sea chests to sit on. [Clip of sea shanty, sailors singing]
Livestock were sometimes brought aboard. Whaling wife Mary Colson on board the George and Susan in 1878 wrote: [Sheep bleating] "I do hope we shall never have another animal on board this ship for I get fond of them and they of me and then they either die or are killed."
Culinary celebrations on holidays such as Thanksgiving gave welcome respite from a monotonous and dreary diet. One popular dessert was dandyfunk, a baked mass of hard tack crackers and molasses [crunching sound], or duff, a boiled pudding.
Whaler Robert Weir aboard the Clara Bell journaled about a distinct feast on July 4th. [Men cheering] He wrote how the crew fired salutes [sound of shotgun] and enjoyed “coconuts, roast pig, minced pie, soft tack, ginger cake, pepper sauce, Molasses, pepper, rice, and pickles – quite extensive for a sailor.”
No American whaling journey was complete without the ceremonial frying of donuts in whale oil, which were served as a special reward. Whaling wife Mary Brewster observed in her journal, “Sunday, July 26, 1846. At 7PM, boats got fast to a whale, at 9pm got him to the ship. Men all singing and boiling doughnuts in the trypots, as this will certainly make us 1000 barrels, and it is custom among the whalemen to make a batch of doughnuts to every thousand. The men seem to be enjoying themselves merrily.” [Sounds of men singing in background, frying with oil]
Once in the Pacific Ocean, the islands there offered fresh foods, such as bananas and coconuts. These treats were a mixed blessing. One whaler, William Fish Williams, sailing the Florence wrote, "I was fed up with bananas and have never recovered my taste for them. We had them raw or cooked nearly every meal for weeks until I could not smell them without a feeling of nausea."
[Sound of seagulls] The Galapagos Islands became known as the "Tortoise Islands" because the whalers would stop and capture tortoises for food.
Follow the museum’s blog for historic recipes and culinary explorations at sea.
2 BUGS ON A whaleship!
[Sound of food preparation] Keeping food in good condition was a constant challenge on a whaleship. Insects and rodents invaded food supplies whether they were stored in boxes, crates or barrels. [Sound of box hinge opening]
While on the whaleship the Tiger, whaler John Perkins noted that when a cask of bread was opened, it was wormy, but “the worms taste no different from the bread.”
“We hesitate to bite the ship-bread in the dark. The custom is to tap each piece on the table to dislodge the large worms, say an inch long. Fastidious eaters soak bread in hot coffee to scald the creepers out of the holes, and then skim them from the cup.” [Sound of pouring liquid, gulping, and saying 'ahh'.]
The indisputable king of insects on a whaleship was the cockroach. You could even hear them skittering among the ship planks, as one whaler described the rustling sound in 1841 as “a flush of quails among the dry leaves of the forest.” [Sound of crinkling leaves]
When William Davis woke in the middle of the night on a whaleship, he felt “I awakened to the wretched sensation of an army of cockroaches climbing up [my] legs,” and when he checked a small amount of food he had stashed away from dinner, [squishy sound] he found his tin plate “scraped clean by the same guerrillas. They leave no food alone.” Yet, it seems that with time, even the most picky individuals came round to accepting their insect roommates. “After meals each fellow slips his plate into the netting over his berth, and the cockroaches see to it that his crockery is clean for next meal.”
J. Ross Browne wrote in 1846 that while a fly on his food [sound of fly buzzing] would have bothered him before his whaling voyage, “it did not at all affect my appetite to see the mangled bodies of diverse well-fed cockroaches in my molasses; indeed, I sometimes thought they gave it a rich flavor.” [Sound of eating and mmm.]
When Whaling wife Elizabeth Marble sailed on the Kathleen in 1857, that ship was particularly poorly provisioned. [Distressed voice] “I am sick for the want of something decent to eat! I believe we have nothing on board that is not either wormy or stinks, except hard bread -- I believe that is good so far. Our water is salt and stinks too. The tea and coffee are worse than the water. I have had to drink water with lemon syrup in it and the water keeps me distressed all the time.” [Sound of putting cup down.]
While on the whaleship the Tiger, whaler John Perkins noted that when a cask of bread was opened, it was wormy, but “the worms taste no different from the bread.”
“We hesitate to bite the ship-bread in the dark. The custom is to tap each piece on the table to dislodge the large worms, say an inch long. Fastidious eaters soak bread in hot coffee to scald the creepers out of the holes, and then skim them from the cup.” [Sound of pouring liquid, gulping, and saying 'ahh'.]
The indisputable king of insects on a whaleship was the cockroach. You could even hear them skittering among the ship planks, as one whaler described the rustling sound in 1841 as “a flush of quails among the dry leaves of the forest.” [Sound of crinkling leaves]
When William Davis woke in the middle of the night on a whaleship, he felt “I awakened to the wretched sensation of an army of cockroaches climbing up [my] legs,” and when he checked a small amount of food he had stashed away from dinner, [squishy sound] he found his tin plate “scraped clean by the same guerrillas. They leave no food alone.” Yet, it seems that with time, even the most picky individuals came round to accepting their insect roommates. “After meals each fellow slips his plate into the netting over his berth, and the cockroaches see to it that his crockery is clean for next meal.”
J. Ross Browne wrote in 1846 that while a fly on his food [sound of fly buzzing] would have bothered him before his whaling voyage, “it did not at all affect my appetite to see the mangled bodies of diverse well-fed cockroaches in my molasses; indeed, I sometimes thought they gave it a rich flavor.” [Sound of eating and mmm.]
When Whaling wife Elizabeth Marble sailed on the Kathleen in 1857, that ship was particularly poorly provisioned. [Distressed voice] “I am sick for the want of something decent to eat! I believe we have nothing on board that is not either wormy or stinks, except hard bread -- I believe that is good so far. Our water is salt and stinks too. The tea and coffee are worse than the water. I have had to drink water with lemon syrup in it and the water keeps me distressed all the time.” [Sound of putting cup down.]
3 DID WHALERS EAT WHALEmeat?
Herman Melville muses in his book, Moby Dick, about whalers’ practice of eating whales: [Sound of pencil writing on paper.] “That mortal man should feed upon the creature that feeds his lamp and eat him by his own light – this seems so outlandish a thing.”
[Sound of Greenlandic singing] In contrast to the Inuit, Lamalera, and Japanese peoples who have long histories of eating whale meat, most Americans never developed a cultural taste for whale. Yankee whalers felt the gamey flavor and tough texture classified whale meat as improper for consumption. Some found the taste of dolphin or porpoise more palatable, while others didn’t mind the taste of the giant whales.
Nevertheless, every whaler would have encountered assorted body parts of whales on his plate at some point. [Sounds of kitchen preparation, sharpening knife, mixing] The seafarer’s menu included fried, flour-coated pilot whale brains, sperm whale tongues, porpoise meatballs, right whale steaks, and doughnuts fried in whale oil, the latter of which was a crew reward for reaching 1,000 barrels of oil. [Sound of frying oil]
Having seen very little of her husband during the first 9 years of their marriage, 29-year old Mary Lawrence sailed with her husband and 5-year old daughter, Minnie, on the Addison. She writes from the Arctic Ocean: “Wednesday, September 1, 1858. Damp, disagreeable weather. We have been eating bowhead meat for several days, made with pork into sausage cakes, also fried, and it is really good eating, far before salt pork in my estimation.”
Although these meals provided a break from worm-infested food on board, whalers generally did not regard whale meat as part of a ‘civilized’ diet, and the stigma-laden consumption was linked to poverty or barbarism.
Even so, whale meat was continually marketed as an alternative to beef in the early 20th century. [Old radio advertisement clip with female chorus singing, 'yum yum yum!] In the 1920’s and 30’s, 30-50% of European margarine was made with none other than whale oil, which lost its fishy taste through the invention of hydrogenation. [Sound of machinery] By 1935, 84 percent of the world’s whale oil went directly into margarine.
[Male voice on radio advertisement punctuated by trumpet - Eat Crisco! It's all vegetable! It's digestible!] Even after margarine producers figured out how to make margarine cheaply with vegetable oil as ethical concerns about whaling started to escalate, whales were widely manufactured into poultry feed and pet food. [Sound of dog bark] Whale liver oil was a major source of vitamin D through the 1960s. [Young girl saying mm!]
Today, despite a global ban, human consumption of whale meat continues primarily in Japan, Norway, and Iceland, as well as subsistence hunting among various indigenous peoples.
[Sound of Greenlandic singing] In contrast to the Inuit, Lamalera, and Japanese peoples who have long histories of eating whale meat, most Americans never developed a cultural taste for whale. Yankee whalers felt the gamey flavor and tough texture classified whale meat as improper for consumption. Some found the taste of dolphin or porpoise more palatable, while others didn’t mind the taste of the giant whales.
Nevertheless, every whaler would have encountered assorted body parts of whales on his plate at some point. [Sounds of kitchen preparation, sharpening knife, mixing] The seafarer’s menu included fried, flour-coated pilot whale brains, sperm whale tongues, porpoise meatballs, right whale steaks, and doughnuts fried in whale oil, the latter of which was a crew reward for reaching 1,000 barrels of oil. [Sound of frying oil]
Having seen very little of her husband during the first 9 years of their marriage, 29-year old Mary Lawrence sailed with her husband and 5-year old daughter, Minnie, on the Addison. She writes from the Arctic Ocean: “Wednesday, September 1, 1858. Damp, disagreeable weather. We have been eating bowhead meat for several days, made with pork into sausage cakes, also fried, and it is really good eating, far before salt pork in my estimation.”
Although these meals provided a break from worm-infested food on board, whalers generally did not regard whale meat as part of a ‘civilized’ diet, and the stigma-laden consumption was linked to poverty or barbarism.
Even so, whale meat was continually marketed as an alternative to beef in the early 20th century. [Old radio advertisement clip with female chorus singing, 'yum yum yum!] In the 1920’s and 30’s, 30-50% of European margarine was made with none other than whale oil, which lost its fishy taste through the invention of hydrogenation. [Sound of machinery] By 1935, 84 percent of the world’s whale oil went directly into margarine.
[Male voice on radio advertisement punctuated by trumpet - Eat Crisco! It's all vegetable! It's digestible!] Even after margarine producers figured out how to make margarine cheaply with vegetable oil as ethical concerns about whaling started to escalate, whales were widely manufactured into poultry feed and pet food. [Sound of dog bark] Whale liver oil was a major source of vitamin D through the 1960s. [Young girl saying mm!]
Today, despite a global ban, human consumption of whale meat continues primarily in Japan, Norway, and Iceland, as well as subsistence hunting among various indigenous peoples.
4 explore the diorama
[Sound of seagulls] This diorama shows in exquisite detail Cold Spring Harbor village as it stood in 1850. Size-wise, CSH ranked 27th of the country’s 72 whaling ports, offering us a microcosmic view of the quintessential whaling village.
The diorama is the product of 3 years of research and labor by a dedicated volunteer of the museum, Peter Bongo. Peter carefully researched old records, pictures, and maps. He dotted the topography with 2,000 tiny trees, each constructed by hand.
See if you can find the frame of a wooden house under construction on Northwest main street. [Sound of clattering metal tools] “I really don’t think that house was there in 1849,” he said of the partially built home, “But the family wanted to be in the diorama, and kept insisting it was, so I compromised and showed it under construction.”
[Running water] Note how water is the defining feature of Cold Spring Harbor. The indigenous Matinecock called the area “Wawapex,” meaning “at the good little water place.” Colonists named the village Cold Spring after the abundance of freshwater springs. The word “harbor” was added in 1826 to avoid confusion with another town of the same name on the Hudson River.
Look Southeast in the diorama and see if you can find a dam dividing the lake from Cold Spring river. [Metallic hammering noise] This stream was dammed starting in 1682 to provide power for the settlers’ mills. The wealth from these successful mills made the community’s foray into whaling possible.
[Men singing sea shanty, We're bound for old Maui] Turn your attention toward the three whaleships in the harbor. Note the steamboat American Eagle, which is towing the whaleship Huntsville out to the sound to usher her 18 month voyage. The American Eagle was an early steamboat who not only assisted ships but regularly carried passengers from NYC to CSH. Note how she is propelled as a side-wheeler, rather than one large wheel at the stern. One passenger in 1843 wrote of his trip aboard the steamer: [Bell, sound of motor] “The ship left Cold Spring Harbor at 5:00 on a Monday morning. There were stops in Oyster Bay, Glen Cove and New Rochelle before reaching Fulton Market pier at 9:30. During the four and a half hour ride, I enjoyed a hearty breakfast and a very good cup of coffee—the best cup of coffee that is made in the ‘nine counties.’ [Bell]
You can see the whaleship Sheffield having just returned from a successful journey. See how she is unloading her oil into a lighter. [Male voice, "Keep it steady."] At the time, The Sheffield was the largest whaler sailing out of LI and third largest in the country. The Alice, one of the smallest ships in the fleet, is being refitted for her next voyage. Today you can see the ships wheel of the Alice displayed in our gallery, If I were a whaler.
After water-dependent industries waned, CSH was appreciated for its scenic value as it changed from an industrial port to a summer resort area. [Sound of crowd laughing]
Find out more about Cold Spring Harbor’s history in Robert Hughes’ book, “Cold Spring Harbor,” available in our gift shop.
The diorama is the product of 3 years of research and labor by a dedicated volunteer of the museum, Peter Bongo. Peter carefully researched old records, pictures, and maps. He dotted the topography with 2,000 tiny trees, each constructed by hand.
See if you can find the frame of a wooden house under construction on Northwest main street. [Sound of clattering metal tools] “I really don’t think that house was there in 1849,” he said of the partially built home, “But the family wanted to be in the diorama, and kept insisting it was, so I compromised and showed it under construction.”
[Running water] Note how water is the defining feature of Cold Spring Harbor. The indigenous Matinecock called the area “Wawapex,” meaning “at the good little water place.” Colonists named the village Cold Spring after the abundance of freshwater springs. The word “harbor” was added in 1826 to avoid confusion with another town of the same name on the Hudson River.
Look Southeast in the diorama and see if you can find a dam dividing the lake from Cold Spring river. [Metallic hammering noise] This stream was dammed starting in 1682 to provide power for the settlers’ mills. The wealth from these successful mills made the community’s foray into whaling possible.
[Men singing sea shanty, We're bound for old Maui] Turn your attention toward the three whaleships in the harbor. Note the steamboat American Eagle, which is towing the whaleship Huntsville out to the sound to usher her 18 month voyage. The American Eagle was an early steamboat who not only assisted ships but regularly carried passengers from NYC to CSH. Note how she is propelled as a side-wheeler, rather than one large wheel at the stern. One passenger in 1843 wrote of his trip aboard the steamer: [Bell, sound of motor] “The ship left Cold Spring Harbor at 5:00 on a Monday morning. There were stops in Oyster Bay, Glen Cove and New Rochelle before reaching Fulton Market pier at 9:30. During the four and a half hour ride, I enjoyed a hearty breakfast and a very good cup of coffee—the best cup of coffee that is made in the ‘nine counties.’ [Bell]
You can see the whaleship Sheffield having just returned from a successful journey. See how she is unloading her oil into a lighter. [Male voice, "Keep it steady."] At the time, The Sheffield was the largest whaler sailing out of LI and third largest in the country. The Alice, one of the smallest ships in the fleet, is being refitted for her next voyage. Today you can see the ships wheel of the Alice displayed in our gallery, If I were a whaler.
After water-dependent industries waned, CSH was appreciated for its scenic value as it changed from an industrial port to a summer resort area. [Sound of crowd laughing]
Find out more about Cold Spring Harbor’s history in Robert Hughes’ book, “Cold Spring Harbor,” available in our gift shop.
5 Kids on a whaleship
On October 29, 1868, six year old Laura Jernegan and sailed from New Bedford on the bark Roman with her captain father, her mother, her younger brother Prescott, and a crew of 31 men. Although the ship’s logbook was lost, Laura’s journal helps us understand the experience of daily life on a whaleship from a child’s view.
[Laura’s Voice, background creaky ship noise] Wednesday, February 22, 1871
“It is a pleasant day. It is quite smooth today. The men are boiling out the blubber in the try pots. The pots are real large. When the men are going to boil out the blubber, 2 men get in the pots and squish out the blubber and are way up to their knees in oil.
When the men at the mast head say ‘there she blows!’, Papa gives them tobacco. Prescott is up on deck and Mama too. I am going up too. It is almost supper time. I have been up on deck. I can’t think of much to write. I went to bed last night and got up this morning. We had baked potatoes for supper, and biscuits. Would you like to hear some news? Well, I don’t know of any. Good bye for today.”
[Laura’s Voice, background creaky ship noise] Wednesday, February 22, 1871
“It is a pleasant day. It is quite smooth today. The men are boiling out the blubber in the try pots. The pots are real large. When the men are going to boil out the blubber, 2 men get in the pots and squish out the blubber and are way up to their knees in oil.
When the men at the mast head say ‘there she blows!’, Papa gives them tobacco. Prescott is up on deck and Mama too. I am going up too. It is almost supper time. I have been up on deck. I can’t think of much to write. I went to bed last night and got up this morning. We had baked potatoes for supper, and biscuits. Would you like to hear some news? Well, I don’t know of any. Good bye for today.”
