2 LIVING HERE 



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At the fish trap, 

 1909-1910. Torpedo- 

 shaped car in the 

 foreground was used for 

 bringing back the squid. 

 It was towed behind the 

 collecting boat and 

 served to keep the squid 

 alive. Gideon S. Dodds 

 Collection, MBL Archives. 



of Woods Hole's whaling activity, the building had housed the quantities of 

 whale oil brought in to make spermaceti candles, before the discovery of oil 

 in western Pennsylvania and before gas lamps became popular in the 1850s 

 to replace whale oil as a source of lighting. The smell of whale oil lingered 

 into the bunkhouse days, and at times was tinged with the odor of the 

 formalin from the supply department downstairs in the basement. 



Wfiadng and Fisfdng 



Whaling and fishing had been prominent parts of Woods Hole life before 

 science and tourism came to dominate. Though the town never offered as 

 major an operation as Nantucket, Woods Hole did send out its whaling 

 vessels to collect oil in the early and mid-nineteenth century. After the MBL 

 began, fishing played an important part of Woods Hole life, as it did along 

 much of the New England coast. Old-timers and not-so-old-timers recall 

 fisherman friends, often extremely well-educated and fascinating people, 

 coming over for an evening chat after a good day and bringing along a 

 collection of quahogs, scallops, fish, and even a few odds and ends that they 

 thought the biologists might like — either to eat or to study. 



New Yorker George Scott recalled one time when friends took him 

 along on a trip to do some bottom fishing. As Scott reported, "That trip gave 



