Whaleboat ‘Malgas’ Model Portfolio
by Dayan Weller
22 February 2022
HIST 6881 Spring Semester
WHALEBOAT DESCRIPTION
The Malgas is a scale model of a typical rowed whaleboat, used in both pelagic and shore whaling operations throughout the commercial whaling industry. Whaleboats were generally crewed by six to eight whalemen, either deployed from shore or a larger whaleship upon the sighting of a whale to perform the hunt, and if successful were then used to row the carcass of the whale back to the area of processing. After their invention in 1837, swivel-mounted harpoon “Greener guns” were typically fitted near the front of whaleboats, though the Malgas does not have any components indicating the presence of a harpoon gun. The lack of gun or mounting structure makes it possible the Malgas was built before the mid-19th century, though any precise dating is not possible given the absence of any other easily diagnostic features.1
Uncommon in most whaleboats, one distinctive feature of the Malgas is the boat’s transom stern. Otherwise construction follows expected whaleboat design- thin structure built for speed and mobility with a ~16:3 length-to-beam ratio, four (inconsistently spaced) thwarts, short gunwale and rubrail, rudder, and three pairs of oars. The hull of the Malgas has been painted red; the gunwale and thwarts white; and the floor, bulkhead, rudder, tiller, and oars blue. ‘Malgas’ is painted on the stern.
ILLUSTRATIONS
Figure 1 (Artistic Sketch)
Figure 2 (Scale Drawing)
TABLE OF SCANTLINGS
LOA: 40cm
BOA: 8.5cm
Distance Between Thwarts: (Bulkhead-1) 2.7cm, (1-2) 5.3cm, (2-3) 6.6cm, (3-4) 4.1cm
Width/Length of Thwarts: 6.5cm, 2cm
Stern Height/Maximum Width: 5cm, 8.5cm
Base of Hull to Gunwale: 3.4cm
Rubrail to Gunwale: 0.8cm
Gunwale Width: 0.9cm
Bow to Bulkhead: 10.4cm
Length of Tiller: 3cm
Length of Oars: 7cm
Rudder Height: 6cm
MODEL PHOTOGRAPHS
Figure 3 (Bow View)
Figure 4 (Plan View)
Figure 5 (Profile View)
Figure 6 (Stern View)
HISTORICAL REPRESENTATIONS
Figure 7 (19th Century Whaleboat from New Bedford, MA)2
Figure 8 (Whale underneath whaleboat, New Bedford, MA, 1922)3
REFERENCES
- Ellis, Richard.
1991 Men & Whales. Alfred A. Knopf, New York. pp. 183-185.
http://whalesite.org/anthology/rsw40.jpg (page run by Tom Tyler, photo ownership unclear)
https://www.nps.gov/nebe/learn/historyculture/whalehunt.html (New Bedford Whaling Museum Collections)