General Information

Serial #

N/A

Part Number

1

Total Parts

1

AKA

N/A

Patents

N/A

General Description

Hand carved wood handle/ Hand forged steel.

Dimensions

Note: These reflect the general size for storage and are not necessarily representative of the object's true dimensions.

Length

88.5 cm

Width

27.5 cm

Height

4.5 cm

Thickness

N/A

Weight

N/A

Diameter

N/A

Volume

N/A

Lexicon

Group

Fisheries

Category

Tools & equipment

Sub-Category

N/A

Manufacturer

AKA

Unknown

Country

Unknown

State/Province

Unknown

City

Unknown

Context

Country

Unknown

State/Province

Unknown

Period

Unknown

Canada

Whaling has been an important activity in Canada since at least the 15th century with the Basques coming in Canadian waters and establishing stations on the inland shores. With time, as the whales became rarer on the coast, the hunting had to be done farther away up to Davis Strait, Baffin Bay and Hudson Bay. Whalers were mainly British, Dutch, Danish, German and American vessels.

Function

To cut whale blubber into pieces in order to melt it.

Technical

Traditional tool used to cut the whale blubber in order to later melt it. The cutting operation was done either on the shore, or in the back of the ship and the pieces were hauled to the water's edge to be melted in large cauldrons or after 1760, or done while on sea, on a platform next to the ship and the blubber melted in cauldrons put on the deck. The oil was used for lighting oil, candles, soap, lubricants, medicine, etc.

Area Notes

Unknown

Details

Markings

None.

Missing

N/A

Finish

Unknown

Decoration

N/A