Whaling Ladle, c. Late 19th Century

Shore whaling in Bermuda was carried out for 340 years as a seasonal small-scale industry. Whales provided oil for lamps, bones for tools, meat for food, skin for leather and occasionally ambergris which commanded a high price in the overseas perfume and cosmetics industries. Once a whale carcass was stripped of its meat—known as “sea beef”—the blubber was boiled in vats to extract oil for burning in lamps. This ladle was used to skim the oil from the vat as it rose to the surface.