Whaler's Cutting Spade
date: label: date made
content: mid-1800s
notes: label: Description
content: After a whale was captured, killed, and brought alongside the mother ship, its carcass had to be processed. First, a heavy hook was set into its skin and the hook’s line was taken aboard. Set on a long wooden handle, the cutting spade was used to cut “blanket pieces,” or long, thick, wide slices of skin and blubber from the body. The whale’s flesh was then hauled aboard for further processing. This example is marked “J.D. Cast Steel.”
topic: label: used
content: Whaling
label: related event
content: Expansion and Reform
setName: label: See more items in
content: Work and Industry: Fisheries
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content: Cultures & Communities
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content: Work
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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: Transfer from Bureau of Fisheries
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: AG.237778
label: catalog number
content: 237778
label: accession number
content: 045474
objectType: label: Object Name
content: spade, whaling
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: ferrous metal (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: textile (cord material)
label: Physical Description
content: resin coating (cord production method/technique)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 17 in x 2 3/4 in; 43.18 cm x 6.985 cm