Presentation given at the New Hampton School Project Week Symposium for Whaling And Its Aftermath

1. Essential Question: What impact did
the whaling industry have on
Nantucket’s culture and environment
and how does its legacy live on?

2. “Nantucket! Take out your map and look at it. See
what a real corner of the world it occupies; how it
stands there, away off shore, more lonely than the
Eddystone lighthouse.” – Moby Dick

3. Did
you
know
.
.
.
—The head of a sperm whale
contains up to 500 gallons of
precious oil called spermaceti. It
was used for lighting lamps,
making candles, and serving as a
lubricant.

5. Did
you
know
.
.
.
— The spermaceti never freezes, even in
extreme temperatures.
— In order to get all of the oil from the head of
the sperm whale, the smallest crew member
was sent inside the head to retrieve all the
oil.
— Spermaceti gives off no odor while burning.

7. Did
you
know
.
.
.
— Sperm whales can dive up to a mile and a half below the
surface and hold their breath up to an hour and a half
— Due to the fact that the sperm whale’s eyes are on the
side of their head, they have poor eyesight
— They hunt giant squid using echo location

8. This building is the
counting house,
where the barrels
of the oil retrieved
from the whales
were counted.

9. Did
you
know
.
.
.
—Today, NASA continues to use the
spermaceti as a lubricant on
satellites and probes.
—They continue to use it because it
does not freeze.

10. The jaw of an
adult sperm
whale can
measure up to
16 ft in length

11. Did
you
know
.
.
.
— To pass time after harvesting the whale, crew members
removed the teeth and carved into them. This is
referred to as scrimshaw.
— Ink was then wiped over the surface, staining the,
engravings, but keeping the rest of the tooth clean.

12. 21 year-­‐old
Sperm
Whale
Young
48-­‐ft
Sperm
Whale

13. — “With the landless gull, that at sunset folds her wings
and is rocked to sleep between billows; so at nightfall,
the Nantucketer, our of sight of land, furls his sails,
and lays him to his rest, while under his very pillow
rush herds of walruses and whales.” -­‐ Moby Dick