Boat Spade
date: label: date made
content: 1800s
notes: label: Description
content: Boat spades served two purposes on a whaleboat. In the earlier days, they were used to cut the tendons of a whale’s fin or tail to help immobilize it. This was an extremely dangerous operation, for it required the crew of the whaleboat to steer right up against a wounded, unpredictable whale.
label: Description
content: This practice was abandoned in the later days of whaling, at which point the boat spade was used to cut holes through the lips or heavy skin of a dead whale. This permitted ropes to be passed through, for towing the carcass to the mother ship for processing.
topic: label: used
content: Whaling
label: Subject
content: Fishing
label: related event
content: Expansion and Reform
label: related event
content: Civil War and Reconstruction
label: related event
content: The Development of the Industrial United States
setName: label: See more items in
content: Work and Industry: Maritime
label: See more items in
content: Work
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content: Industry & Manufacturing
label: See more items in
content: Transportation
label: Exhibition
content: On the Water
label: Exhibition Location
content: National Museum of American History
publisher: label: Related Publication
content: National Museum of American History. On the Water exhibition website
label: Related Web Publication
content: http://americanhistory.si.edu/onthewater
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: J. H. Bartlett & Son
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: TR.072827
label: catalog number
content: 072827
label: accession number
content: 1881.10616
objectType: label: Object Name
content: spade
label: Object Name
content: spade, blubber
label: Other Terms
content: spade; Maritime; Boat
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: metal (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: wood (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: rope (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 85 3/4 in; x 217.805 cm