Ship Spermo Trying With Boats Among Whales On California 1821

Identifier: 2008.0031.001
Title: Ship Spermo Trying With Boats Among Whales On California 1821
Creator: J. Fisher (nationality unknown, active 1820s)
Measurements: 47.6 x 62.8 cm (18 3/4 x 24 3/4 inches)
Materials: oil paint (paint); canvas (textile material)
Technique: painting (image-making)
Date Created: ca. 1823
Location: Nantucket Whaling Museum
Subject: Whaling ships; Whaling; Offshore whaling
Description: A painting of a black whaleship in choppy water, fires burning at the front, or “fore,” and back, or “aft,” of her deck. Towards the bottom right corner, one or two whale carcasses with lances in them float in the water. In the background are two green whale boats among a pod of thrashing sperm whales. The process of rendering blubber into oil was referred to as “trying out.” Once aboard the ship, blanket pieces were further divided into “horse pieces,” about six feet long and one foot wide, and then minced into slices about an inch thick to increase surface area and speed up rendering. A minced horse piece was called “Bible leaves” due to its resemblance to a book. Bible leaves were then rendered in cast-iron pots, called “trypots,” in a brick furnace at the fore of the deck. Together, the trypots and the furnace were called “tryworks.”
Inscriptions: Titled in lower center: Ship Spermo Trying With Boats Among Whales On California 1821. Signed in lower right: J. Fisher.