made in Edinburgh

Model, of whale catching boat

This wooden model represents a whale catching boat from around 1865. The boat is of the Peterhead type which was used in the days of auxiliary steam whalers. The model was built to a scale of 1:16 by Mr J Gray of Edinburgh.

This type of whale boat was carvel-built i.e. the planks of the hull were fastened edge to edge. The boat would have carried a crew of six including a harpooner and a steersman and 1 kilometre of whale-line, made up of five lines of 219 metres each. The lines were carefully coiled so that they would not snag.

When a whale was sighted, two boats like this one were lowered from the steam whaler to fire the harpoon into the whale's back. Possibly six other whale catching boats were then lowered to assist the capture, using more harpoons. Once the whale was exhausted, it was killed by lances and taken back to the whaler for further processing.

Record details

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Online ID:	000-180-002-080-C
Image Rights Holder:	National Museums Scotland
Project:	0504: National Museums Scotland Part 2 Project description \| View all records in project
Ref:	National Museums Scotland T.1953.97
Date:	Model: 20th century; Original: Around 1865
Material:	Satinwood, varnished
Dimensions:
What:	Whaling boat / whaling gear / model
Subject:	23. SHIPPING, Fishing Boats (Departmental Classification)
Who:
Where:	Scotland, Aberdeenshire, Peterhead
Event:
Description:	Model of a Peterhead whale boat, ribbed and planked and with full whaling gear, scale 1:16
References:	Storer, J D. Ship Models in the Royal Scottish Museum, Edinburgh: A catalogue of models representing the history of shipping from 1500 BC to the present day. Edinburgh: Royal Scottish Museum Information Series, 1985, p 76.
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