This is a sailor-scrimshawed,
23-inch x 19-inch x 7-inch, full sea turtle shell. There are eleven separate scenes, each on their own shell plate. There are two southern hemisphere birds at the top, and five northern hemisphere mammals at the bottom, each on their own panel. Down the center are six individual initials: four in English; one in Hebrew; and one in an Oriental script. I speculate that the six initials represent a six-man longboat crew, and that each man scribed the two images on the costal scutes (lateral shell plates) both sides of their initials. The bottom "tail" panel has a "T" the imposed on an "A". I speculate that these are the initials of the captain's name, or of the ship's name.

Based on ship riggings depicted, the scrimwork has been dated between 1820 to 1850. Since this scrimwork was purchased in England, I speculate that the images of ships at anchor may depict the "Bay of Islands" of the North Island of New Zealand, which was a favorite provisioning and repair location for British & American whalers in the early 19th Century. Ships often lay at anchorage for weeks at a time, undergoing repairs, waiting-out bad weather or a change in the wind. Sometimes a captain was just waiting until native-cultivated crops (potatoes, citrus, onions, etc.) fully ripened before taking shipboard as provisions, prior to a long voyage home, or to northern hemisphere whaling grounds.

All text & photos within this
Antique Scrimshawed Sea
Turtle Shell Collection:
© 2007 Douglass Moody