Naval Folk Art

Handmade objects produced by sailors and naval personnel, including scrimshaw engraved on whale teeth and bone, sailors’ valentines of shell mosaic, decorative knotwork, ropework, ditty boxes, and woolwork pictures (woolies). Scrimshaw flourished on American whaleships from the early 19th century, when crews used voyage downtime and waste sperm-whale teeth. These objects survive in museums such as Mystic Seaport and the New Bedford Whaling Museum as records of shipboard craft and life at sea.