by Sharon Strzalkowski | From BayLines Express, June, 2025
A couple of months ago our Central Mass Chapter member and Audio Journal director Harry Duchesne brought up the idea of us visiting the Whaling Museum in New Bedford. I was thrilled at this prospect, as I have always been fascinated by whales and at the same time, ignorant of how they operate in the ocean. We set out on this adventure (about 1.5 hours each way) on Friday, June 6, with eleven people in a van and two others who joined us at the museum.
The museum is quite large, with nine interconnected buildings. Our guide Victoria first brought us to a classroom where she gave us some information about the various kinds of whales. Some make the rather eerie sounds that you may have heard, while others make clicking sounds that serve them for echo location. Whales are very social creatures with lifelong connections to each other. All whales require enormous amounts of food.
A high point of the tour for me was being able to put my hands into the mouth of a whale. It was a huge cavity. I could feel the tongue. I could more easily understand how Jonah from the Bible story could have been taken into a whale. We all had a chance to touch baleen plates, and a whale’s tooth, which was quite large but not sharp.
Another sign of the whale’s hugeness was the fact that anyone could climb into one of the chambers of the whale’s heart! In fact, one of our members did just that, and we enjoyed hearing her voice reverberate out of this vast cavity. Because whales are so large compared to humans, it takes four times as long for whales’ blood to circulate through their bodies.
We moved to another room in which a miniature of a whaling ship had been built. We clambered onto the ship, taking care to duck our heads much of the time. Remember that such ships accommodated people who were smaller in stature than we tend to be nowadays. The ship had no amenities at all, and was no doubt very crowded, loud, and smelly. We learned about the unfortunate whaling trade and touched real, used harpoons.
This visit to the museum left me in awe of what nature does and how creatures adapt to their environment. The intelligence and communication within the whale pods is impressive, and I believe that all in attendance took these creatures into their hearts. I think that we were all grateful for the excellent guidance that Victoria provided for us, and for her well-thought-out plans in making it as accessible as possible. It was truly a wonderful day!