LAKE COUNTY ? A little bit of history is making its way to merry ol” England. A scrimshaw piece dating back to the 1820s is en route from Lake County to the Royal Naval Museum in Portsmouth, England.
Madeline Hartmann, a descendent of a local pioneer family, has loaned the piece to the foreign museum for inclusion in one of its historical maritime displays. Engraving on the piece reads: “Jim Freeman Head Krouman of H.M.S. Sybille Comdr. Collier 1823;” and “Jim Freeman Head Krouman of H.M.S. Owen Glendower Sir Robt. Mends Com.Dre 1823.”
“I thought it belongs in a museum,” Hartmann said. “I spent a lot of time getting it authenticated. There is no question in my mind that it is authentic. No one can take out of the blue, a date, a ship name, a captain and Freeman.”
The British public records office has reportedly confirmed that Freeman served on two British Men of War, the Owen Glendower and the Sybille. Krouman refers to an African from the coast of Liberia. According to the Dictionary of Scrimshaw Artists by Stuart M. Frank, director of The Kendall Whaling Museum in Massachusetts, “The Public Record Office in London reports, ?The Muster Books of both HMS Owen Glendower, Captain Sir Robert Mends, and HMS Sybille, Commodore F.A. Collier, in the ?African Natives List,” shows No. 1 Jim Freeman (Head Krouman) rated as Quartermaster” corroborating its origins in the Royal Navy by a Kru native of West Africa, probably from Sierra Leone.”
Hartmann said that through her research she learned that the scrimshaw in her possession has significant historical value. “The Owen Glendower was named after a Welch hero. It was up and down the coast of Africa arresting slave ships. The Royal Naval Museum has had on exhibit the diary of a 19-year-old midshipman serving on the Owen Glendower at that time, describing the slave trade. So, this piece is compatible with their exhibit,” she said. “The Owen Glendower ended as a wreck off Gibraltar where it housed prisoners on their way to England from Australia.”
Hartmann continued, “The Sybille, at one time, was ordered to Montevideo, which is in Uruguay. At that point it received orders to proceed to St. Helena Island to check on the conditions of Napoleon Bonaparte. It then rounded the horn and entered the port of Lima, Peru where the peace treaty between Peruvian rebels and the Spanish authorities was negotiated and the Republic of Peru was created in the captain”s cabin of the Sybille.”
Hartmann said she came into possession of the piece shortly following the assignation of President Kennedy. “I bought it month after John Kennedy”s assignation in an antique store in Carmel, CA. It was a total emotional purchase because I new that Kennedy was a scrimshaw collector. It was emotional response to his death,” she said.
Hartmann said that she learned that the piece was likely brought the United States by two women of Carmel.
“The owner of the antique store said that at that point in 1963, he was dispersing the household of two ladies of Carmel who traveled to England every summer in the 20s and 30s and purchased materials on Portobello Road in London,” she said. “He said that they bought some very fine things. That takes it back to the 1920s and that is very logical to me.”
Hartmann said she found difficulties in defining the term “scrimshaw” between American historians and those abroad. The orthodox definition of scrimshaw refers to an artistic piece carved from whale bones or walrus tusks. Hartmann said that one American expert said the piece must be created on an American whaler to be scrimshaw. Despite the varying definitions, Hartmann”s piece, which is carved from a baby elephant”s tusk, does hold significant historical value and will be on display at the Royal Naval Museum throughout her lifetime.
Following her death, she has asked that the scrimshaw be sold in hopes that someone will buy it and donate it to the museum.
Contact Denise Rockenstein at drockenstein@clearlakeobserver.com or call her directly at 994-6444, ext. 11.
