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Vessel Rousseau (Bark)

MediumAlbumen Print; Mounted

Dimensions7 × 9 in. (17.8 × 22.9 cm)

Object number2000.100.943

Institutional Credit LineCourtesy of the New Bedford Whaling Museum

DescriptionMen breaking up the old whaling bark Rousseau. Rousseau was built in 1801 in Philadelphia by Stephen Girard, and ran for many years as a packet between Philadelphia and Liverpool. In 1832, she was bought in an auction by George Holland of New Bedford, Massachusetts. The first thing the new owner did, was to have the "French Infidel" figurehead for whom she was named chopped off and thrown into the mud of the dock. He was misinformed that the vessel name could not be changed, then he purposely mispronounced it "Russ-o" all the rest of his life. Some of her upper works were rebuilt to meet the demand of whaling.

She was the most successful whaler of the Howland fleet. She made her first voyage in South Atlantic waters from July 31, 1832 to December 19, 1834 under the command of Captain Walter Hillman. In 1877 under Captain Eber C. Almy commands, she brought home the oil and bones of 170 sperm whales and 250 whales. She took nearly 4000 barrels of oil between 1866 and 1878. On seven out of twelve trips, she took more then 1000 barrels of sperm oil and 39,000 pounds of whalebone in her outstanding career.

She was 92.9' in length, had a 28.3' beam, and a depth of 18.3'. She was metalised in July 1875 and when her bottom was last replanked in 1879 her floor timber were said to be as firmly on her keel as when constructed.

She was laid up in 1878, and sold February 17, 1882 to Aiken and Swift. She never sailed again, and was finally broken up for the metal in her in 1893.

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