 Connecticut
commenced whaling in colonial times, and
the sperm whale is the Nutmeg State’s
official State Animal.
As
a whaling port in the 19th century,
New London ranks behind only New Bedford,
Nantucket, and San Francisco. Other
Connecticut whaling ports of note were
Stonington, Mystic, and Norwich; even
New Haven, East Haddam, Stamford, and
Bridgeport sent whalers to sea at one
time or another.
See
the fine portrait of New London whaling
captain Franklin F. Smith by Isaac Sheffield
(1835) in "Whaling in the South Seas."
In the Brewington Gallery is Connecticut
artist Elisha Taylor Baker’s endearing
painting of the New London whaler George,
commanded by his ancestor, passing the
Groton Monument (1885).
In
the Scrimshaw Gallery, look for views
of Fairfield and New Haven engraved
on sperm-whale teeth in the 1830s and
’40s by the anonymous Connecticut Cityscape
Artist (illustrated in the book More
Scrimshaw Artists and in an article
by KWM director Stuart M. Frank in Antiques
Magazine, (October 1992).
Also
frequently on display are works of relief-carved
walrus-ivory scrimshaw by Captain George
Comer, who was raised in Hartford and
East Haddam and made several whaling
voyages from New London.
The
state's greatest contribution to whaling
may have been the manufacture of bomb
lances and shoulder guns at Norwich:
several examples are exhibited in "Whaling
in the South Seas."
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