Foghorn
date: label: Date made
content: 1880s
name: label: maker
content: Wilcox, Crittenden & Co.
notes: label: Description
content: This galvanized metal foghorn was a standard piece of equipment on 19th-century fishing dories. It was used to convey the dory’s location during winter snowstorms and heavy fog. In such conditions, a member of the crew aboard the schooner would pump a larger foghorn continuously to make sure the dorymen were aware of the schooner’s location.
label: Description
content: Dories were small, open boats equipped with a sail and oars. Stacks of them were carried aboard large fishing schooners. Once a schooner reached the offshore fishing grounds, the dories were set in the water and manned by pairs of crewmen. These fishermen set their trawls—long lines with baited hooks—and then hauled them in, removing the fish into the dory. Once their dory was filled, the fishermen rowed or sailed back to the schooner to offload the catch and rebait the hooks, if needed.
label: Description
content: The prospect of getting separated from the schooner in bad weather and thick fog was a constant worry among fishermen on Georges and the Grand Banks. In addition to a dory compass, a water bottle, and hardtack, the foghorn was an essential part of a doryman’s survival kit.
place: label: Place Made
content: United States: Connecticut, Middletown
topic: label: Subject
content: Whaling
label: Subject
content: Fishing
label: related event
content: The Development of the Industrial United States
setName: label: See more items in
content: Work and Industry: Fisheries
label: See more items in
content: Communications
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content: Work
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: Wilcox, Crittenden & Co.
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: AG.029382
label: catalog number
content: 029382
label: accession number
content: 12705
objectType: label: Object Name
content: horn, boat
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: tin (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 10.8 cm x 75.8 cm x 10.4 cm; 4 1/4 in x 29 13/16 in x 4 1/8 in