|
Sperm whale tooth is 5.5-inches & 12.3-ounces.
To Our Wives and Sweethearts
Frontside scrimwork depicts a typical Victorian-era New England wife, faithfully & patiently waiting at home for her whaler husband on his 3-year or 4-year long cruise. Original photograph image of Charity Norton found on page 168 of book “Petticoat Whalers – Whaling Wives at Sea, 1820 – 1920″.
May They Never Meet!
Backside scrimwork depicts the “Pacific wife” which often kept house for her whaler “husband”, and occasionally his Pacific children. Original image by Tina White.
All images & text scribed by scrimshander Tina White.
The phrase “To our wives and sweethearts; may they never meet” is actually a drinking toast which was used on English war ships only on Tuesday evenings, as quoted by Russell Crowe in the movie “Master and Commander”. While only a dream of English sailors, it was a reality for many Yankee whalers.
This entry was posted
on Sunday, November 2nd, 2008 at 2:35 pm and is filed under Blog Entry.
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.
View all articles by Douglass Moody.
Want a picture icon with your comment? Sign up with Gravatar to get one, or connect with your Facebook or Twitter account.
Looking for even more discussion? Check out the WorthPoint Forums.
Leave a Reply
|
” …. a drinking toast which was used on English war ships only on Tuesday evenings ….”
Absolutely not! This is the toast offered in British – not English – warships on Saturday nights at sea, and traditionally given by the most junior officer present.
Ronnie