 Rhode
Island boasted several whaling
ports in the 18th and 19th centuries,
most notably Providence, Newport,
and Warren. Even
more importantly, Newport and
Providence were the seats of
pioneer whale oil refineries
and the first spermaceti candle
factories. In fact, spermaceti
candle manufacture has been
called America's earliest industry,
an industry that Rhode Island
originated before 1740 and virtually
dominated throughout the 18th
century and well into the 19th.
Among
the museum's greatest treasures
is a polychrome whaling scene
of the Warren ship L. C. Richmond
-- named for a Warren merchant
-- engraved on a sperm whale
tooth aboard that vessel circa
1835-37. It is usually on display
in our Scrimshaw Gallery.
Also,
Dean C. Wright's definitive
drawings of whaleboats and gear
in his journal as boatsteerer
(harpooneer) aboard the Warren
ship Benjamin Rush during 1841-45,
are reproduced in "Whaling
and the South Seas." The
journal itself has been published
in a KWM monograph entitled
Meditations from Steerage.
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