[PW] Whaling question

[Mark Burdette]

Hello Wombats,

I had a patron ask about 18th-19th Century whaling practices. Specifically
they recall hearing somewhere that the smallest member of the crew, usually
the cabin boy, would enter the whale to retrieve some very valuable object.
He wanted to know what they would have been retrieving. 

 

I looked at the Mystic Seaport and New Bedford Whaling Museum websites in
addition to a host of print and online materials and the best I could figure
was the oil or spermacaeta from a cavity found in the head of a sperm whale.
However this wouldn't appear to involve anyone actually entering the whale
so I don't think it is the answer. 

 

I would appreciate any help people could pass on.

 

Thanks,

Mark Burdette

Reference Librarian

Henderson County Public Library