DARTMOUTH MUSEUM HEAD TO LECTURE ON WHALING

The industry of whaling, once one of the most important on the coast of New England and now practically non-existent, will be the subject of Mr. Arthur C. Watson '19, when he speaks before the members of the University in the Living Room of the Union at 7.30 o'clock tomorrow night. Mr. Watson has been Acting Curator of the Old Dartmouth Historical Society and Whaling Museum for some time and has been active in collecting the material that has made that museum the finest of its kind in the world. He has an elaborate set of lantern slides illustrating his entire subject which he will use to-morrow night.

Glory is Departed

"New Bedford was once famous for its whaling industry," he explained so a CRIMSON reporter, "leading all other cities in America. The town was filled with the spirit of the whalers and practically dependent economically on the business. In 1856, there were 329 whaling vessels belonging here, making trips every year and supplying a great deal of the whale-oil of the world. To-day there is only one on a voyage, and, as far as I know, it is the only one from any port in the United States."

"It has been the increasing cost of ships, and their outfittings, the scarcity of sailors acquainted with the intricate technique of whaling, and the decreasing value of whale-oil, that has been responsible for the death of the industry. Sailors have died or moved to other ports and other occupations, whale-oil is no longer the indispensible commodity that it once was and New Bedford now is supported by other industries."

Museum Has Fine Collection

"There was so much romance in whaling, the spirit of the sailors, the danger and thrills of the capture were so great, that it is only natural that a whaling museum should have grown here. We have added to it constantly so that now it has as fine a collection of things pertaining to whaling as is to be found anywhere in the world. All kinds of paraphernalia, log-books, pictures, and scrimshaw, which was the artistic work of the sailors, in engraving and carving whale ivory, have found their way into the museum. The prize of the collection, however, is a model of a whaling bark, built on half-scale, which is large enough to allow people to walk about on her decks and go down into her cabin. The model is fully equipped with the things that would ordinarily have been taken on a voyage, from whaling charts to sails. It is particularly interesting now that the square-rigger has practically disappeared from the seas."

Mr. Watson in his lecture will give a brief history of whaling, telling the reasons for its former prosperity and for its decline. He will also recount the details of an entire whaling voyage; beginning at the wharves where the vessel is put in order and out-fitted, and then going on to such matters as shipping the crew, leaving port, cruising for whales, chasing and capturing a whale, "cutting in" the animal and "drying-out his blubber. Mr. Watson told the CRIMSON reporter of his interest in the old industry. "Although I have never been whaling in my life", he said "I was brought up in the place where nearly everyone talked whaling and the subject has always fascinated me."