Mystic Seaport Museum To Open Exhibition On Whaling's Legacy

MYSTIC, CT — Mystic Seaport Museum will open a new exhibition, Monstrous: Whaling and Its Colossal Impact, on May 24, examining the cultural, industrial, and ecological consequences of the whaling industry. The show runs through Feb. 16.

Drawing from the museum’s collections, the exhibition features tools, documents, and artifacts from the peak of American whaling in the 19th and early 20th centuries. It also includes Or, The Whale, a 51-foot scratchboard mural by artist Jos Sances depicting a sperm whale filled with imagery related to American industrialization.

Whale oil played a key role in powering lamps, machinery, and manufacturing during the Industrial Revolution. The pursuit of this resource led to the deaths of more than 500,000 whales and launched high-risk voyages that could last years. Each expedition was a major financial investment, equivalent to about $1 million today.

Visitors will see whaling tools such as harpoons, cutting implements, and trypots—large cauldrons used to boil down whale blubber. Among the featured objects is a mid-19th century harpoon designed by African American blacksmith Lewis Temple, whose invention improved the efficiency of whale capture.

The exhibition also highlights items crafted by sailors during long sea journeys, including scrimshaw, knitting needles, and baleen-based accessories. A rare flask of ambergris, once used in perfume production, is also on display.

The show delves into the human dimension of whaling, spotlighting the diverse makeup of crews and the roles women occasionally played onboard. Artifacts and photographs document the lives of sailors like Antoine DeSant, a Cape Verdean whaler who settled in New London in the 1800s.

Monstrous aims to connect past and present by reflecting on the environmental and societal costs of industrial progress.

Find out more by going to Mystic Seaport Museum's website.

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