Mystic Harbor

I've always liked boats…any kind. This is a place where there are big whaling ships. There is a museum. The boats in this painting are whaling boats that hang off the big ships. It's from these boats that the whaling is done. Sometimes when the whale is harpooned, the whale drags the boat. The boat goes so fast that it creates a wake, and that's called the Nantucket Sleigh Ride. When the harpooned whale finally gives up, it is dragged back to the ship by these boats. On the ship, there is a triworks cauldron that is fired up. The whale is lashed to the side of the ship and men actually stand on the whale and using flinching tools (cutting tools) to cut the blubber off. They then haul the blubber up on deck, cut it in smaller chunks, heat it in the triworks cauldron, melt it into oil and pour it into wooden kegs which are stored in the hold of the ship. These ships are out at sea for over a year tracking whales. Before petroleum products were developed, whale oil was used for lighting and lubricants. Some perfumes came from whales, and bones were used in women's undergarments. The owners and captains of these ships lived in big, beautiful homes in Nantucket, but at Mystic Harbor, Connecticut there is the Charles W. Morgan, a restored whaling ship....four of these boats hang off the sides. Completed 2004

Prints are 85-95% of original size, except where noted otherwise.

Dimensions of Original:  20"W x 9"H