Scrimshaw in Tasmania

“Scrimshaw” is the name given to carved or etched items made from whales’ teeth or whalebone, or from other ivories such as walrus tusks. Tasmania has the richest collections of scrimshaw in Australia.

Hobart was a busy whaling port from the 1840s to the 1890s and was host to the ships of the English, French and American whaling fleets. In addition there were more than thirty local ships built for the whaling trade, including the Helen, the ship which made the last whaling voyage from Hobart in 1900. The whaling trade brought great prosperity to Tasmania's economy. On Good Friday in 1847, for instance, there were thirty-eight whalers moored in the port of Hobart.

Whaling was an extremely harsh and tough way of life. In their leisure time, though, whalemen often practised the art of scrimshaw, creating unique and beautiful works of art as well as practical and useful tools and implements. (Modern scrimshaw artists use shells, horn or antler. Most nineteenth-century examples are from whale products, although walrus tusks, shells and horns are also found in Tasmanian collections.)

The pictures used on scrimshaw - which might have come from the artists’ imaginations, or from memories of their wives at home, or from popular magazines - were traced or “pricked out” on the surface. The lines were then cut into the tooth, usually with a simple jack-knife (although sometimes needles, files and awls were used). Once an engraving was complete, its creator coloured and enhanced the design by rubbing Indian ink, paint, lamp-black, tar or even soot or tobacco juice into the incised lines.

The scenes most often shown are of whaling, especially of ships in full sail or of whales being captured. Other popular themes were ladies in fine and fashionable clothes, men in uniform or in highland costume, and pictures taken from magazines such as the Illustrated London News.

Decorated whales' teeth are the most commonly seen examples of scrimshaw. Whalemen also made and decorated corset busks and whalebone plaques, and carved items such as walking sticks and canes, baskets, paper knives, toys and games, egg cruets or stands and sewing implements.

The WL Crowther Library in the State Library of Tasmania has a large collection of scrimshaw on display, some of which is illustrated here. Sir William Crowther is said to have been given a piece of scrimshaw as a present at the age of eight, and this sparked a life-long collecting interest. His interest in whaling came from his childhood visits to the whalers moored at the New Wharf in Hobart and from the stories of whaling told by his older patients. His grandfather, William Lodewyk Crowther, owned seven whaling ships in the 1850s and ' 60s.

The WL Crowther Library’s holdings are all recorded on TALIS and some of them can be seen on the "Images from the Heritage Collections".

Other displays of scrimshaw in Hobart are in the Maritime Museum of Tasmania, in Argyle Street; Narryna Heritage Museum, in Battery Point; and the National Trust house "Runnymede", in New Town. The Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery has a large collection (some of which was donated by Sir William Crowther) and the Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery in Launceston also has a significant collection.