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The history of scrimshaw resurfaces in new exhibit

Published October 20, 2022 at 9:54 AM PDT
Britannia Engraver, "The Ship Charles of London Whaling," c. 1850s, whale tooth, pigment, 5.25 inches. (Courtesy Cahoon Museum of American Art)
Britannia Engraver, "The Ship Charles of London Whaling," c. 1850s, whale tooth, pigment, 5.25 inches. (Courtesy Cahoon Museum of American Art)

The history of a largely lost folk art form is resurfacing at Cape Cod’s Cahoon Museum of American Art. Whalemen in the 1800s created scrimshaw, which helped them muse over thrilling adventures at sea.

WBUR’s Andrea Shea reports.

This article was originally published on WBUR.org.

Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.