56 THE AMERICAN MUSEUM JOURNAL 
Installation were sent by the first train with instructions to “get the 
specimens.” ‘Their experiences are best told in their own words. 
“We reached the whales Saturday evening, and after bargaining 
for both skeletons and the whalebone of the larger specimen we stopped 
the work of stripping off the blubber, until we could make our measure- 
ments and get full data for the construction of life-size models. The 
big cow measured 53 feet from tip of nose to notch of tail, which is 
equal to the maximum size for this species as noted by F. S. True in 
his book on “The Right Whales of the Western North Atlantic.” The 
whalebone of this individual is fully seven feet long, also a record size, 
and is unusually perfect. The calf measured about 40 feet in length 
and had whalebone three feet long in the longest part. 
“The following day the whalers finished removing the blubber, 
and then we set to work cutting out the skeleton. This was a large 
undertaking since we were obliged to remove the flesh in rather small 
pieces in order not to lose any of the bones, and our labor was rendered 
more difficult and trying by the waves that broke over us most of the 
time while we were at work, and froze in picturesque icicles that we 
could not appreciate at the time. 
“Wednesday we had to face a new difficulty, for the surf became 
heavy and began to bury the remaining bones of the Amagansett whale 
in the sand, whence it would have been impossible to recover them. 
We waited anxiously for low tide Thursday and then hastily constructed 
a rude cofferdam using ribs for piles and whale flesh for filling. ‘This 
contrivance, with one man actively bailing water and another vigorously 
shoveling sand, enabled the rest of our force to secure the last bones 
of the great beast, after two hours of the hardest work imaginable. 
“The Wainscott whale, being smaller and higher on the beach, had 
already been secured and nothing remained to do but to clean the bones 
thoroughly and ship them to the Museum, which finished a week of 
hard but satisfactory work.”’ 
In spite of its commercial value, the whalebone of the Amagansett 
specimen, weighing some 1700 pounds, was purchased by the Museum 
and will be mounted in proper position in the skeleton or the model. 
The whole series of whale material now at the Museum will, when 
mounted, make an exhibit the equal of which in its line is not yet to 
be found in this country. The whalebone of the Wainscott whale 
was not secured by the Museum. 
