s Seaman's tidy box, possibly made in Hull, c.1838 - Hull Museums Collections

Seaman's tidy box, possibly made in Hull, c.1838

This is a very rare piece of scrimshaw linked to the Hull whaling trade. It is a seaman's wooden tidy box. The whalebone panel on the box shows the ship the Riby Grove. This was a Hull whaling ship that was lost in the Arctic in 1838.

The box is inscribed “RIBY GROVE HULL 71` 20 NTH.” This probably gives the co-ordinates for where the Riby Grove sank.

This seaman's tidy box has two brass plates. One is stamped “E. Wills” and one “E.O.Rogers.” It’s possible that one of these men was the maker of the box. The whalebone plaque in the lid depicts the Riby Grove in the Arctic, with whaleboats chasing whales amid ice.

The ‘Riby Grove’ was a registered whaler in Hull. It was built in Whitby in 1818 and weighed 242 tonnes. It was active in whaling between 1834 and 1838. It was a Brigantine rigged ship.

The Arctic whaling trade was extremely dangerous. In 1835, Hull lost five vessels from its whaling fleet of twenty-three ships. The ships that were lost that year were crushed in ice at Baffin Bay.

This box was acquired by Hull Museums from T.Housby, May 1978.

A lot of scrimshaw is from the US, especially pieces made from the teeth of sperm whales. Other countries, including Britain, also produced scrimshaw, especially “busks” and items from baleen. This mostly originated from the whales in Arctic fisheries.

Items identified with the Hull whaling trade are extremely rare, and occasionally fake. The British trade in whale oil and bone centred around Hull in the early 1600s and the early 1700s. Most scrimshaw is from after these periods.