s Decorated Whalebone Plaque (c.1801-1900) - Hull Museums Collections

Decorated Whalebone Plaque (c.1801-1900)

It’s possible that all of the pictures on this bone represented one man’s experience. It reflects the world he lived and worked in. The main picture depicts a whaling ship. Smaller whaling boats can also be seen hunting Sperm whales. The little picture in the top right corner depicts men in the Royal Marines. This image in the top left of the picture depicts the HMS Acorn chasing a Spanish slave ship called Gabriel. In 1807 Britain officially stopped its own role in the slave trade. Britain then used its powerful navy to stop others from trading in slaves as well. Between 1807 and 1866 the Royal Navy captured more than 500 slave ships. This plaque shows just one of these incidents. HMS Acorn was a 12 gun vessel launched on 15th November 1838. Between 1839 and 1843 she was commanded by Commander John Adams off the west coast of Africa. HMS Acorn was hulked in 1861. Scrimshaw is the folk art of the whaler. This is usually made with whalebone, teeth or baleen. Scrimshaw was at its height in early 19th century. A lot of scrimshaw is from the US, especially pieces made from the teeth of Sperm whales. Items identified with the Hull whaling trade are extremely rare, and occasionally fake. Hull was a major whaling port from c.1750 and the trade ended in 1869. Most of the products of the industry were sent to London. Most surviving scrimshaw is from the 19th century.