During a recent visit to the Province Lands Visitor Center in Provincetown, MA, I discovered a nearly century-old video that shows life aboard a working whaleship, the Viola, from 1916.
This grainy footage provides a rare glimpse into what it was like to be aboard a working fishing vessel during the final days of the age of sail. The video shows the crew mending sails on the deck of the ship, launching the whaleboats after sighting a whale at sea, cutting up a whale, and working the fire and tryworks on the Viola. There are two parts to the video — part 2, which even includes video of a whaleboat being dragged by a harpooned whale, is particularly interesting.
