Scrimshaw Whale Tooth Ship Wiscasset “Richard Macy Master on the coast of New Zealand April 1836”, the verso engraved with a speaking porpoise “A Porpoise you see In this likeness of me”. The ship Wiscasset commanded by Captain Richard Macy (1797-1850) hailed from Nantucket, and manned by men from the Wiscasset area in Maine. The piece commemorates the ship’s 1834-1837 voyage to go deep-sea whaling in the Pacific and the successful capture of a large sperm whale off the coast of New Zealand in April 1836. The details are beautiful including the intricate rigging, the men stationed at the lookouts on three masts and the humorous depiction of a porpoise on the verso.

After successful whaling out of Wiscasset, the Wiscasset was sold to a whaling outfit in Sag Harbor and was ultimately retired from whaling in around 1847. Thereafter it became a merchant vessel in 1848 and during its operation months later it brought the Carnegie family to the US from Glasgow. At the time Carnegie was 12 years old.

References:

History of the American Whale Fishery, Alexander Starbuck, Published Argosy-Antiquarian LTD, New York, 1964; Vol. 1 pg 314

New England Whalers in New Zealand Waters 1800-1850 History for M.A. 1959 by P.G. Canham. Ship Wiscasset is listed pg 250 i

Nantucket Historical Association: Macy Family Papers MS96 Folder 38 Captain Richard Macy (1797-1850)

Whaling Masters and Whaling Voyages Sailing From American Ports, A Compilation of Sources, Judith Navas Lund pg 718 “Wiscasset 1834-1837 Master Richard Macy”