Shipbuilder's Half Hull Model, Whaleship <I>Jireh Swift</I>
date: label: Date made
content: 1853
name: label: maker
content: Mashow, John
notes: label: Description
content: Half hull ship models were carved by shipwrights to a shape negotiated with the future owners of the ship. Once finished, the builder lifted the curved shape of the outer hull off the model and scaled it up to the dimensions of the full-sized ship on the floor of the molding loft. Then the ship’s timbers were cut to fit the lines drawn on the floor and lifted into position in the ship’s framework.
label: Description
content: African American shipwright and former slave John Mashow built the whaler <I>Jireh Swift</I> in 1853 at Dartmouth, Mass. near New Bedford. The vessel measured 122 feet in length and 454 tons. Its first voyage was to the northern Pacific and lasted nearly four years. The ship collected 45 barrels of sperm oil, 2,719 barrels of whale oil and 14,900 lbs of whalebone. <I>Swift</I>’s second voyage, to the same grounds, lasted more than four years and netted much more oil and bone for her owners. Nearly three years into her third voyage, on 22 June 1865 she was captured in the Arctic by the Confederate raider <I>Shenandoah</I> and burned, for a loss of more than $40,000.
place: label: Place Made
content: United States: Massachusetts, New Bedford
label: Jireh Swift voyage
content: Pacific Ocean
label: Jireh Swift captured
content: Arctic Ocean
topic: label: Subject
content: Whaling
label: related event
content: Expansion and Reform
setName: label: See more items in
content: Work and Industry: Maritime
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content: Cultures & Communities
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content: Work
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content: Industry & Manufacturing
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content: Natural Resources
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content: Transportation
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content: On the Water exhibit
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: Gift of White & Allen, New Bedford
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: TR.076323
label: catalog number
content: 076323
label: accession number
content: 015358
objectType: label: Object Name
content: ship
label: Object Name
content: ship model
label: Object Name
content: whaling bark, half-model
label: Object Name
content: half-model, whaling bark
label: Other Terms
content: ship; Maritime; Whaling
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: wood (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: ferrous (part material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 15 1/2 in x 71 1/2 in x 7 1/2 in; 39.37 cm x 181.61 cm x 19.05 cm