Scrimshaw

Scrimshaw is the folk art of carving and engraving on whale teeth, bone, and baleen, practiced by sailors on long whaling voyages from the late eighteenth to the late nineteenth century, chiefly in the American Pacific and Atlantic fisheries. Whalers etched designs into polished sperm-whale teeth and rubbed in ink or soot, producing scenes of ships, ports, and home. Surviving pieces are prized in maritime museums such as the New Bedford Whaling Museum and document the material culture of the whaling era.