Hook: A query that begins, “I’d like to write about kite-making,” will quickly crash and burn.

Kick off your query with as compelling a lead paragraph as your article itself will have. In fact, you may end up using that same query lead when it comes time to write the article.

Here’s a sample of a humorous lead graph that nabbed me a nice assignment:

“I admit it, I’m no green thumb gardener. In fact, I’ve killed more plants than Martha Stewart has place settings. But thanks to the Internet, the flowers I buy today will probably be alive next year. And thriving.”

The Pitch: The pitch, which usually comes in the second or third paragraph, tells the editor exactly what idea you’re “pitching.” Include approximate length, a suggested deadline date, a working title, and a summary of what the article will include.

The Body: The body of your query details the article itself. Your editor will want to know how you plan on handling the topic. The body is often a reflection of the actual article’s internal structure.

In a pitch I made to a magazine on collecting old board games, I mentioned that I’d include a brief history of board games; an overview of different board-game categories, like sports, politics, TV, IQ, and war; and a list of the latest prices for games in each category.

Your References: This paragraph sells you, so make it shine. List your writing credentials and/or expertise in the field. Include any educational or professional credentials, and don’t forget to list personal experience if applicable to the article.

Wrap it Up: The close of your query is your chance to thank the editor for her consideration and give her a little nudge to say “yes.” In an article I pitched on Army wives in the frontier West, my last sentence was “I hope you saddle up and join me in this adventure.” I got the job.

The Anecdote:  “Two days before a long-anticipated Hawaiian vacation, 58-year-old Jim Cunningham suffered a massive stroke.  ‘In four seconds,’ said his wife Carla, ‘our world turned upside down.’”

The Quote:  “When Warren G. Harding said, ‘Government after all is a very simple thing,’ he never imagined Florida’s year 2000 election.”

The Question:  “Did you know Libbie Custer, wife of the Civil War general,  lived to witness the election of Franklin D. Roosevelt?”

More and more specialized magazines are hitting the newsstand each year.  And, as baby boomers reach the peak of their buying power, you’ll see even more niche publications being released.

Goodbye, one-size-fits-all magazines—hello, “Golf for Women Equestriennes”!

What does this mean for you, the writer?  Work.  And lots of it.

In their book, 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing, Al Ries and Jack Trout describe 22 strategic models which govern success or failure in the marketplace.  Rule #13 is called “The Law of Sacrifice.”

The Law of Sacrifice says you have to give up something in order to get something.

In the real world, that translates into focusing on a specific market.  For example, Victoria’s Secret specializes in sexy undergarments; Foot Locker on athletic shoes; and the Gap on upscale clothes for the young at heart.

This is the age of specialization. To cash in as a writer, focus your attention, talents, and marketing savvy on the publishing world’s niche markets.

Niche-dom Is Everywhere!

In an article written for ABC News called “Niche Marketing Gets Specific,” Tom Parsons notes, “We live in an age of target marketing. With more data being mined and recorded than ever, computers try to keep track of it all and demographic studies try to produce precision results.  All companies with something to sell—including travel vendors—are taking notice.”  Parsons goes on to note how travel vendors are targeting seniors for adventure travels.  Niche market: Senior Travel.

From an article in Farm Options:  “Organic sales in the United States have reached more than $2.8 billion in 1995 from very meager beginnings in 1980. The growth rates and use and consumption of organic products are expected to accelerate in the years to come and there are some estimates that U.S. organic sales will top $4 billion shortly.”  Niche Market:  Organic produce.

John Karnish of the Internet Marketing Professional Web site <http://internet-marketingpro.com/>  writes, “One common mistake small and home based businesses make when advertising on the internet is focusing on too broad an audience.  You want to limit your advertising to groups of people that are certain to take an interest in your product.  Niche market: Specific interest group.

The Virginia Cooperative Extension writes, “More and more Virginia farmers are supplementing their crop and livestock operations with niche products for specialized markets. . . . The increasing national interest in alternative medicines has expanded the market for botanical herbs. Over 180 Virginia farmers are raising crops such as ginseng, goldenseal, echinacea, evening primrose, and milk thistle.”  Niche market:  Botanical herbs.

So what does marketing ginseng or adventure travel have to do with your career as a writer?  Everything.

Publishers have a product to sell, just like every other industry.  They know the demographics of their target industry and they know the types of articles that will keep a loyal readership.

Editors want writers who understand the magazine’s market share—and who query with tightly focused ideas that fit the magazine’s particular niche.

For writers, Ries and Trout’s Law of Sacrifice means you can be a successful writer by marketing yourself (which is the name of the game) as someone who specializes in a niche market.

What If You Are a Generalist?

Take heart.

Although you may see yourself as a generalist, it’s likely you’re really a specialist – - however, instead of specializing in just one niche area, you may specialize in two, three, or even more.

During the ongoing writer’s debate about whether or not to specialize, I always took the generalist’s view because I like to write about a wide variety of subjects.

Fortunately, I later realized that I can market myself as a specialist in more than one niche market.

As far as my history magazine editors know, I’m a history specialist.  My collectibles markets think of me as a vintage-collectible whiz.  The genealogy editors who buy my work see me as a family-tree expert.  The people who buy my astronomy books and articles think of me as a science person.

The upside of the cell phone/PDA morph is consumer convenience—who wouldn’t love carrying one less gadget. The downside is an open door to the dark side of the ‘Net—computer viruses.

Mikko Hypponen, manager of anti-virus research at Finland-based F-Secure, says “The dangers of cell phone viruses are almost identical to the ones on typical Windows desktop systems today, with the added catch that if the malicious program is capable of making phone calls it can either generate costs to the infected user, income to the author of malware, or both.”

The threat to the new cell phones—many of which incorporate the Palm Operating System—is due in part to their ability to download third party software, and to receive e-mail attachments. And, as phones become more sophisticated—meaning more computer-like—the more inviting a target they are to virus attacks.

If you own a cell phone/PDA hybrid, should you be worried about nasty critters lurking inside? Maybe. We take a look at the potential dangers, current problems, and how you can stay protected.

Malware
Malware—or malicious software—are programs designed to do something on your machine that you don’t know about and don’t authorize. Types of malware include viruses and Trojans (also known as Trojan horses).

A virus is a file which can attach itself to other files, and repeatedly replicate itself. Some viruses bury themselves in a computer’s memory and infect files as the computer opens them. Others attach themselves to files, and execute every time the infected file executes. A common virus is one that attaches itself to a word processes sing document, then sends itself as an e-mail attachment to everyone in your address book.

Trojans are a type of malware that pretend to be something they aren’t. For instance, you could download software which appears to be a datebook but once launched it would begin deleting files. Technically, Trojans are not viruses because they do not replicate. Another example of a Trojan is a program that will dial up your network password information and send it to a preconfigured address using TCP/IP over the Internet.

The majority of the hybrid phones use a modified version of the Palm Operating System, so any Palm-based virus could be downloaded onto your phone. However, to date, only a handful of Palm OS malware has been detected. And, for the most part, Palm malware has been more of an annoyance than a true system-crashing virus experienced by desktop users.

One of the first Trojans for the Palm was Liberty-A, also known as Liberty Crack. Liberty was distributed in the warez (pirated software) community as an application which would emulate a Nintendo Gameboy on a Palm OS PDA. However, once launched, Liberty attempted to delete all of the user’s PDA programs. The Trojan was transmitted from host computers during a HotSync operation, however it could also be transmitted via an infra-red beam, or sent as an e-mail attachment over a wireless network.

A second Trojan was discovered shortly after Liberty, and was called Vapor. When Vapor was run, all third party application icons appeared to disappear, as if they had been deleted.

The first true Palm virus, Phage, was discovered by McAfee AVERT (Anti-Virus Emergency Response Team) in September 2000. Phage’s origin was an IRC chat room. When the user attempted to launch an infected application, their PDA screen would fill with a dark gray box pattern, and the program would terminate. Phage was a true virus, in that it replicated itself repeatedly, and infected all third-party applications on the PDA.

McAfee considered Phage, Vapor and Liberty to be low risk because they are not easily spread, and virus attackers want to infect as many machines as possible. However, as more cell phones incorporate PDA features, the number of potential targets increases.

The Rain in Spain
The first malware to threaten cell phones was the Timofonica worm, created as a politically-based attack against Spain’s leading telecommunications company, Telefonica.

Timofonica (timo is Spanish for ‘prank’) was introduced via a desktop system, and used Microsoft Outlook to send itself to all addresses stored in the Address Book. For each infected message it sent, it also sent a message to a randomly generated telephone number at the Spanish cell phone operator’s Web site. That site then sent the infected messages to cell phones, with a text message which criticized Telefonica’s monopoly in the telecommunication industry.

Although the attack was benign in nature, industry analysts took notice because it signaled the fact that virus writers were turning their attention to mobile phones.

Although Timofonica was little more than a nuisance, spam e-mails can financially impact a phone user. Nagaraja Srivatsan, Senior Vice President, Client Solutions Group, Silverline Technologies says “Viruses in the wireless space are mainly spams – namely information that was not solicited but delivered. The problem in the United States is that, because users pay for incoming calls, the virus hits them right in the wallet.” Unfortunately, the next virus to target mobile phones wasn’t so benign.

DoCoMo and the 110 Headache
In the summer of 2001, Internet-connected phones in Japan started calling 110—the Japanese equivalent of the 911 emergency number.

The phones all belonged to the DoCoMo company’s i-mode service, which is an always-on service delivered over a mobile phone. The service allows users to wirelessly access e-mail, Web sites and other ‘Net services. i-mode is one of the world’s most successful services offering wireless web browsing and e-mail from mobile phones in Japan. In all, over 13,000,000 mobile phones were susceptible to the programming code.

DoCoMo’s problem was caused by an e-mail message that contained a line of code which directed the phones’ software to dial 110 if the user opened their e-mail. DoCoMo acknowledged that a security hole in the phone’s software allowed a programmer to create a string of code that would control the phone’s ‘call’ and ‘mail’ functions. Worse yet, the code was embedded into the text of an e-mail, and not as part of an e-mail attachment.

This was the second occurrence of a malicious e-mail directing the i-mode phones to call 110. In fact, there were so many fake emergency calls, the Japanese Police Agency warned DoCoMo to improve the security of their phone’s software. As a result, all new phones sold after July 2001, contain more secure software.

Security concerns have grown, particularly since the announcement in December 2001, of the expansion of i-mode services in the Netherlands and Germany.

Vincent Weafer, Senior Director of Symantec Security Response, said the United States needs to “look toward Japan and the Java-enabled i-mode phones, which are a generation ahead of U.S. phones, to see the potential for malicious threats.”

Attacking the Infrastructure
Most experts agree that while malware and malicious e-mail codes are problematic, they are minor dangers compared to the ability of infected cell phones to pave the way for an attack on an enterprise system which the phone can access. Weafer notes that while viruses can spread on the phones themselves, an attacker is more likely to want to get inside an enterprise infrastructure. To do this, they can write a replicating virus for the cell phone OS, in hopes that the phone can connect inside an organization’s system.

Weafer believes one of the big stories in the coming year will be how businesses are beginning to manage and protect against PDAs and PDA/cell phone hybrids that can connect into the infrastructure. “Most likely they will install a gateway system to scan for problems coming out of these devices, as well a putting protection on the devices themselves,” he said.

Dr. Avi Rubin, a Principal Researcher at AT&T Labs, added that the Palm architecture doesn’t have the same level of built-in security as a desktop system. And, once a Trojan gets onto a phone, and the phone can connect to a business infrastructure, the possibility of denial of service attacks—just like those seen with desktops—will then be possible. “As more features are added to the phones, the problem to worry about is programmability from the Web. Let’s say a service provider gives the user the option of going into their Web browser and changing their call forwarding settings on their phone. In that case, you’ve set up the possibility of a massive denial of service attack. Because once someone can program another person’s phone from the Web, they can launch an automated attack that would get cell phones to all forward to one particular place, and that could bring down a cellular network.”

“The general rule of thumb,” he says, “is the more functionality is added to the phones, and the more they start to act like computers on the Internet, the more dangerous they become.”

Experts agree, however, that the potential of denial of service attacks, or bringing down an entire network is better done through the infrastructure than from the phones themselves. But, of course, the phones can be the virus carriers that infect the infrastructure.

What’s a Consumer to Do?
First, don’t panic.

ell phone viruses do pose a threat to consumers, very similar to the viruses that already exist for handheld devices. The most immediate threat is from malware that already exists, like Phage or Vapor. The level of damage they can do is low, although they do have a high annoyance factor.

Experts believe one of the most immediate dangers—with far wider consequences than Phage or Vapor—is a Trojan which can steal data from your hybrid phone. This can include personal and business phone numbers, passwords, and both street and e-mail addresses.

As the importance of information stored on the phone goes up, so does the need to add more and more security. “First and foremost,” says Weafer, “use encryption software to encode sensitive data.”

Another threat that can originate from a Trojan is software which lets a hacker gain access to your cell phone account. The most obvious consequence is someone using your cell phone to make unauthorized calls. A worse scenario occurs if a hacker wrote a code that programmed cell phones flood a business with calls which would then tie up their phone lines.

A higher level threat comes if you unknowingly introduce a lethal virus from your phone into an enterprise infrastructure. This is the level of threat that experts worry about the most because it can cause the most damage. “Hackers want to get inside an enterprise,” says Weafer, “and most likely these phones will serve as a vector of delivery.”

What can you do to protect yourself?

Fortunately, the leading developers of anti-virus software like McAfee and Symantec are working on solutions for managing potential threats. Software companies have begun creating anti-virus programs for service providers. The software will allow wireless-related companies to prevent viruses from being sent to their users.

In addition, anti-virus software has been developed which will scan for viruses being downloaded onto a hybrid phone. Lisa Smith, Senior Product Manager for McAfee’s Consumer Anti-Virus Products, says their software includes PDA-level scans. During the installation of the McAfee product, if the Palm Desktop software is detected, extra software is automatically installed which scans during HotSync’s.

The McAfee software also scans “both ways”, meaning it checks for viruses on anything going down into the device, and anything coming back up from the device. The “up direction” scan keeps any virus that may have been transmitted via a wireless Web connection or an infra-red beam from getting into your desktop system.

A year ago I was a babe in the woods, a novice collector who could have walked past Edwin Hubble’s pipe without a backward glance.   I knew I liked space-related antiques, but didn’t realize they’re collected as ardently as Elvis fans snatch up souvenir plates.   All that changed the day I walked into a Carlsbad, California antique shop, saw a fire engine red Tom Corbett Space Cadet lunch box and asked “how much?”  “Three hundred,” the owner replied.  Gulp. 

In the year since, I’ve talked to other collectors, researched the field, and acquired a few choice pieces at yard sales, antique stores and online auctions.   I’ve discovered that astronomy and space collectibles can be had for less than a buck or as much as $50,000.  Some of what’s collected will surprise you,  some won’t.  And some will turn you green with envy because, as a kid, you once owned them.  If you think you’d like to get into the collectibles game, here’s how. 

I know I’m not the only one who’s dreamed of stopping at a yard sale and finding an Alvan Clark refractor peeking out from under a pile of old baby clothes.  Well don’t get your hopes up.  Yard sales can turn up unexpected treasures but a Clark probably isn’t one of them.   

The good news is that they do exist – finding an available one is the problem.   Ken Launie, a founder of the Antique Telescope Society, says a Clark will occasionally come up at antique auctions but they’re quickly snapped up.  The competition is fierce and the price is high.    Maddeningly, you may be competing against a dealer who’s buying the scope for “the look”, with plans of re-selling it to a client who wants it simply for decor.  

If you’re not set on a Clark, but want to get your collection started with an antique instrument, your chances of finding one are excellent.  There are older, unsigned refractors available which start at only a few hundred dollars.  But,  caveat emptor!  Launie tells of a number of bogus reproduction telescopes on the market that the sellers, themselves, believe to be originals.   Some fine old instruments will appear in antique stores, The Starry Messenger, online at Astromart, or on eBay, an online auction.   Occasionally Vernonscope holds auctions for antique scientific instruments (look for their ad in Astronomy magazine); auction houses like Christies are other possible sources.  For the serious collector, knowing the originality of the optics is just as important as the authenticity of the scope itself.  The value can drop to half in a scope with replacement optics. If your heart is set on a piece of optical history, join the Antique Telescope Society, educate yourself and network like crazy.

Don’t give up on yard sales for other treasures, though.  It’s possible you’ll find a space toy worth enough to pay for your first antique refractor. Flash Gordon’s Space Car – you do still have yours, don’t you? – sells for $400.00, while 1950’s “ray guns” can haul in the price of a Nagler eyepiece.

The big money, though, is in robots, particularly those made by the Japanese when Ike was still in the White House.  Back then, Masudaya Company issued the  “Gang of Five” robots which today sell today for between $5000.00 and $20,000 each.  One of them – - Machine Man  – -  auctioned for over $42,000.00!  Bill O’Neill of Robots and Space Toys will happily sell you the recently released reproduction set.  A collector himself, Bill caught the robot bug as a kid, thanks to growing up with  Japanese friends who preferred Godzilla over Superman.  Years later, while helping at an antique show, he saw a toy robot and “something clicked.”  Today, his selection of vintage and repro robots will tempt you to max out your Visa. 

Like antique telescopes, buying old robots can be a tricky business, with reproductions being passed off as vintage items.  Robot-guru Brian Hayes of the UK has an extensive robot Internet site which includes articles on rating a robot’s condition and making smart buys.   Of course, a mint robot in its original mint box is easy to value – - it’s all the other ones that present a price challenge!    If you want a 1950’s tin robot, steer clear of ones with signs of corrosion – - they’re only worth about 10% of mint value. 

Why are robots such hot sellers?   Brian thinks their popularity is due to a nostalgic look back at the 1950’s, space movies, Sputnik and the moon landing. “The people who were brought up in that apparently cosy climate are now financially secure enough to pour some of it into space toys.” And we do.

A less expensive way to build your collection is to buy a reproduction robot that’s clearly billed as one.  Besides, in another 40 years the reproductions will be considered vintage!  Bruce and Ella of Robots by Simple Junk specialize in robot reproductions.  Like most dealers, they got started as collectors by buying a few robots, then mentioning them to friends.  Before they knew it they were in the robot business!  Although you can advertise vintage robots on their Web site,  everything they sell is new.  Bruce thinks the current Japanese reproductions are actually better made than the originals, and a vintage robot which sells for over $1000.00 can be picked up in repro form for $25.00. 

One of the most recent non-robot toys to have a taken off is the  Mattel Hot Wheels Mars Rover.  The day of the Pathfinder landing,  the JPL store sold out of 1500 Action Packs  in 20 minutes.  “We could have sold 5000,” said store manager Mark Banuelos.  Mattel’s Sara Rosales said the Mars package was the first time the company had done a space toy that’s an authentic replica.  Mattel even sent Hot Wheels designers to JPL to make certain all the details were perfect. 

The joint JPL-Mattel venture was such a success they’ve teamed up for another go-round with a 1999 debut of the Hot Wheels Jupiter/Europa Encounter Action Pack.  Good luck finding one of those in Toys ‘R Us – - they’re gobbled up fast.  The Mars Rover is sitting on my shelf only because I was the successful bidder at an online auction. 

Remember the collectibles I said cost under a buck?  Luckily you won’t have to go to an auction to find them – - they’re sitting behind the counter at  your local stamp store.   If you haven’t collected stamps since you were a kid, you may not know that philately is more specialized than ever.  Instead of collecting by country, many hobbyists now collect by special interests.   Tropical fish, robots, trains, dogs, dolls, butterflies, waterfalls, horses, airplanes, medicine, explorers – - they all have become niche collectibles.  Ditto with astronomy and space.  I  asked Mary Rathbone of Kei-Mar Stamps about the popularity of space stamps.  “They’re never as sought after as the latest fad stamps like Princess Di, but we always have a steady market for them.”  And, unlike those Clark scopes, you can still buy a collectible stamp for two bits.   

Did you know the U.S. Post Office’s 1947 commemorative depicting the Hale telescope is considered the world’s first space stamp?   Since that Palomar stamp,  the world’s postal services have gone space crazy.  Several years ago the Eastern European countries were the most prolific, with commemoratives touting the big Russian rockets, Soviet astronomy and of course Sputnik.  More recently,  everyone’s gotten into the game, with some of the most colorful from island nations like Palau (10 points to anyone who knows where that is!).  Their souvenir sheet depicting Edwin Hubble and the 1993 and 1997 Hubble repair missions are breathtaking.  The bonus is the whole set sells for under $15.00.

Although the USPO has issued Shuttle commemoratives, a Mars Pathfinder sheet, and a few space missions, it’s missed the astronomy/space boat compared to other countries. A small sampling of international issues include Australia’s commemoration of the International Space Year, with stamps picturing the Helix Nebula, Pleaides and Spiral Galaxy NGC 2997,  Micronesia, Sri Lanka, and British Antarctic Territory’s Halley’s Comet, Mongolia’s  history of space exploration, Nicaragua’s sheet of famous astronomers and their telescopes, Liberia’s issue honoring Copernicus, Germany’s Year of the Quiet Sun, and Tristan Da Cunha Southern Hemisphere constellations.  Of these,  none cost more than $20.00, and most are under $5.00.  For the collector on a budget, stamps will give you a lot of bang for your bucks.

A small step up the dollar ladder turn you into a collector of old space and astronomy books.  Decades before the Space Race, writers like Jules Verne pondered about life in space.  More often than not, the speculation has been way off.   Even into the 1950’s, illustrations depicting the lunar surface show jagged mountains instead of the rolling landscape beamed back to Earth early in the Space Age. 

Those space books from the 1950’s are among the most popular, along with virtually anything relating to the Hale telescope.  There’s something about Palomar that makes us want to own a bit of it.   Palomar booklets, Palomar postcards, Palomar drawings and photos, and of course the book Glass Giant of Palomar (recently selling for $50.00) are the ones everyone wants.  The good news is that they’re frequently on the market, and reasonably priced.  Local used bookstores, The Starry Messenger, online auctions, and Astromart will turn up dozens of  collectible books. 

A sub-niche in the book market is children’s space books, particularly ones from the 1950’s.   I’ve witnessed online auction shoot-outs between several collectors all gunning for the same book.  Part of their  charm is their naiveté about our bright future in space, part is the retro art work.  John Sisson, Biological Science Librarian at UC Irvine, and space artist Alexa Smith, are two of the most enthusiastic collectors in the field.  John grew up a block from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory.  When his grade school friends brought in photos from their father’s missions he was hooked.  As an adult, John began collecting children’s books on space flight, spanning the 1950 to 1990’s, and his web page is a tribute to the words and pictures that inspired a generation. 

Alexa Smith collects children’s space books from the 1800’s to current time.  “I love the illustrations and stories,  and the books themselves compile a history of the different space programs from a child’s point of view.  Prior to the 1960’s, most children’s books about space were based more in fantasy than reality.”  Today Alexa uses digital media to create space related art.  Someday, I wonder, will we be bidding on her work at auction?

A relatively recent  collectible niche began the day Yuri Gagarin slipped into his Vostok – -  anything relating to astronauts.   Autographs, photos, “flown items” (those things that actually went into Space), models of the Lunar Lander, John Glenn models. . . anything is up for grabs.  Texan Ricky Lanclos began seriously collecting astronaut items after the 20th anniversary of Apollo 11.   A NASA book here, a shoulder patch there and a passion was born.  His quest for collectibles has taken him to the Kennedy Space Center, Huntsville, Alabama and even Russia’s Star City.  He acquired so many items  he began trading with other collectors, and eventually began buying and selling astronaut collectibles.   If you see someone on the eBay online auction named Rocketman, it’s Ricky.  Tell him hi.

For those of us who witnessed our first halting steps into space, it  continues to own us just as surely as we want to own it.   Baking soda-propelled rockets,  HST models,  Hale telescope bread wrapper inserts, Mars Rovers, Gilbert telescopes, solar system clocks – - the objects we collect are as varied as them stars themselves.  My own collection is small.  On the advice of an antique dealer, I buy only what I truly love.  For Ken Launie that may be historic glass, for John and Alexa a mint copy of the Little Golden Book of Exploring Space.  And me?  All I want is a moon rock.     Hey!  Anybody got a friend over at NASA?

On the first night at sea, the Baltic’s greenhorn hands could only wonder at what foolishness possessed them to sign on for a long voyage.  Wretchedly seasick, they writhed in their cramped bunks, praying for home.  

As the next days and weeks passed, the seasickness disappeared but the reality of life onboard a whaler hit home.  The mate used a cat-o-nine tails on their backs, and every day was spent in the constant practice of lowering and raising the boats, and learning to handle the long oars.  Soon, they settled into the tedium of the long voyage, or what old salts called the “sailor’s horror” .

A month into the voyage, a cry was heard from the masthead.   “There she bloooooows!  There she breaches!”   Dodge wrote, “The boats were made ready to lower and everything prepared for the chase.”  

George Dodge was about the begin the adventure of his young life.

The Hunt
“The Skipper’s on the quarter-deck
a-squinting at the sails,
When up aloft the lookout sights
a school of whales.
Now clear away the boats, my boys,
and after him we’ll travel,
But if you get too near his fluke,
he’ll kick you to the devil!!”
J.C. Colcord“There she blows!”  shouted the lookout.  “There she rises!”  As the call was shouted down from the mainmast,  excitement raced through the ship as the crew clamored on deck and lowered the boats.  

Goaded to superhuman effort by the mate, the men rowed hard and fast to catch up with the fleeing whale.   Rowing for all they were worth, the men faced the boatheader, not the whale as they were forbidden to look over their shoulders for fear they would panic at the sight of the great beast.  

When the boat drew close  to its prey,  the harpooner left his position at the oar and braced himself at the bow, his long harpoon at the ready.  When mere feet away, the harpooner struck his lance hard and deep.  

George Dodge wrote that when the whale was first harpooned he took a violent plunge and threw his massive tail or flukes high in the air and lashed the sea.   This moment of initial agony was one of the most dangerous of the hunt.  Would the whale smash the boat or dive to the bottom, taking them with him?

As soon as the harpoon was set, the harpooner tossed out slack line and changed places with the mate.  The crew pulled as hard as they could, backing away from the wounded whale, as line from the harpoon was given a turn around the loggerhead and doused with salt water to keep from burning.

Next, the men braced themselves for a high speed chase across the open sea—the Nantucket sleigh ride.   “After a whale is speared,” wrote Dodge, “he races through the water with the whaleboat in tow.  A sleigh-ride is no comparison.  A fast whale hits about twenty-five miles an hour.”

At times, instead of running, a whale would dive deep.  All eyes were on the line, for fear the whale would breach directly below them.   Dodge relates a time when the harpoon so enraged the whale that it came straight for the boat.  The officer shouted “Stern all, boys, for dear life, or he will knock us all into the briny deep to make food for the sharks!”  

With the men rowing for their lives, they barely missed the huge open mouth of the harpooned whale.  
In due time, the whale tired of the chase,  and the crew took up the line until they were alongside him.  The mate then sunk a lance deep into the whale’s lungs, thrusting it up and down to hasten death.  The crew then backed off  as the whale thrashed and the sea turned to bloody foam.  In the end, it rolled onto its side, “fin out”.  

Blubber to Oil
After the whale’s death, the mate cut a hole in its head and attached a line.  The crew then towed their prize back to the ship and the men went to work removing the blubber.  Great “blankets” of fat were cut from the body and thrown onto the deck.   After all of the blubber was removed, and the stomach searched for ambergris—an ingredient in perfume—the carcass was abandoned to the waiting sharks.   
  
On a deck covered with “gurry”—blood and blubber—the crew began the “trying out” process.  Blubber was  cut into large wide pieces which were then cut into smaller “books”.  The books were tossed into the  try pots and boiled.  Finally, the oil was bailed out into a large copper cooling tank set next to the brick tryworks.  Once the oil was cool it was bailed into casks which were secured to the bulwarks.  

The men then turned towards butchering the next prize.

The Whaling Trade
Whales have been hunted since ancient times.  The Basques of Spain are credited as being Europe’s first whalemen, although the Vikings hunted whales long before recorded history.  

When the Mayflower sailed the coastal waters of New England,  one of the passengers wrote “and every day we saw whales playing hard by us.”  Indeed, it was the presence of whales that that kept the Mayflower from heading further south.  They knew that the whale could provide an importance source of income to the settlers. 
The coast of Colonial New England was alive with whales.  When the Pilgrims arrived, the Indians were already adept at chasing the leviathans. 

According to a 1605 account in  Waymouth’s Journal, “one especial thing is their manner of killing the whale which they call a Powdawe; and will describe his form; how he bloweth up the water; and that he is twelve fathoms long: that they go in company of their kind with a multitude of their boats; and strike him with a bone made in fashion of a harping iron fastened to a rope, which they made great and strong of the bark of trees, which they veer out after him; then all their boats come about him as the riseth above water, with their arrows they shoot him to death; when they have killed him and dragged him to shore, they call all their chief lords together, and sing a song of joy.”

At first there were so many whales, the whaling ships never ventured far from the coast.  However, in 1712, Christopher Hussey was blown out to sea where he ran across a sperm whale which he killed and brought home.  The oil was superior to that of other whales, so   whalers began to pursue the giants into deeper water.    

Whaling towns like Nantucket and New Bedford sprang to life, their lively economy based on the booming whale trade.  Whale oil provided fuel for lamps and lubrication for machinery.  Everyone needed it and the whalers had it. 
The economy wasn’t the only part of New England life based around whaling.  The girls of  Nantucket formed a secret society, vowing not to marry a man until he had struck a whale.   George Dodge wrote, “To get a wife in Nantucket you had to double Cape Horn three times, fasten to a whale, and do everything else appertaining to a whaling voyage.”
A story is also  told of a Nantucket youngster who tied his mother’s darning cotton to a fork and hurled it at the cat yelling “Pay out, mother! pay out!  There is sounds through the window!”  

The whaling industry thrived in America, especially during the years between the War of 1812 and the Civil War.  During the “Golden Years”, Yankee whalers sailed the oceans of the world in search of the great whales.  They were some of the first to round Cape Horn and enter the South Pacific.  They were the first to enter Japanese waters and explore the Artic Ocean.  The ports they visited were remote and exotic.  They stopped in Honolulu and Lahaina for refitting and crew liberty, in the Galapagos for turtles and fresh water, and in the Azores for supplies.  San Francisco was a favorite port for refitting and liberty until crews deserted en masse during the California gold rush.  

New grounds were located in the Arctic and millions of dollars flowed through towns like Nantucket, Provincetown, New Bedford and Bristol.  By 1857, New Bedford alone had 329 whalers in its fleet.  However,  the first rings of the death knell sounded in 1859, with the discovery of petroleum.  

The Whales
Who were the leviathans hunted almost to extinction?  

A favorite target for whalers was the right whale, so-called because it was just right to capture.  Slow,  and heavy with oil, it was easy prey for the hunters.  And, once killed, its body didn’t sink to the bottom of the sea.  Right whales were almost 50 feet in length and yielded over 200 barrels of oil.

Herman Melville’s Moby Dick was a sperm whale, the largest whale with teeth.  Males grew to over 60 feet in length and yielded 160 barrels of oil.  Sperm whales were notorious for attacking boats and ships.  In 1819, a  sperm whale was responsible for ramming and sinking the Essex in less than 10 minutes,  and in 1850 the Alexander.  The sperm could dive to a depth of 3,000 feet and when he sounded whalers prayed their boat were clear of his path.  

Other targets were the massive blue whale—the largest whale on earth—growing to over 100 feet long and weighing over 100 tons, and the smaller humpback.  Whalers knew the humpback as the “dancing whale”, because of its ability to leap clear of the water, and to stand on its nose and beat  the water into foam with its flukes.  Found in all the oceans of the world, the humpback  is difficult to capture because it sinks when killed.  To prevent loss of their prey, whalers tried to drive the humpbacks into shallow water where their carcasses could be retrieved.   

Whaling Ships and Their Men   
Whalers were built for service and durability, not speed.  Among the gear they carried were pots, cooling tanks, housing to boil blubber, whaleboats, gear for the boats, spare boats, supplies for a three or four year voyage, and casks for oil.
The spacious officers’ quarters were in the stern, the crew were packed up forward in the forecastle, and the specialists like the harpooners, coopers, carpenter, blacksmith and cooks slept amidships.  

The whale boats themselves—the small boats used to chase down the whales—were sleek and fast.  Captain William M. Davis wrote in 1874, “. . . The whaleboat is simply as perfect as the combined skill of the million men who have risked life and limb in service could make it . . . it is 28 feet long, sharp and clean cut as a dolphin, bow and stern swelling amidships to 6 feet, with a bottom round and buoyant.  . . Here we have a boat which two men may lift and which will make ten miles an hour in dead chase by the oars alone.”

In addition to carrying six men to paddle, the small whale boats carried 18,000 feet of line, a hatchet, a sharp knife, water keg, candles, lantern, compass, bandages, and a dragging float.  

Whaling men like George Dodge, actually spent very little time in pursuit of whales.  Ships took months to get to and from the whaling grounds, with no guarantee of finding whales once there.  

The men were plagued with more leisure time than they could fill.  To help fight boredom, they carved and engraved the teeth and jaw bone of the sperm whale into scrimshaw.  First, the rough teeth were rubbed smooth, then original designs or designs taken from newspapers or magazines were engraved on the surface.  Next, paint or tar or soot were rubbed into the etchings to bring out the design.

Crewmen lived in crowded and filthy quarters, often shared with bugs and rats.  Their only ventilation was a small hatch in the ceiling, which was closed during rain or heavy seas.  The ceiling was so low that a man of average height couldn’t stand up straight.  

In whaling’s heyday, profits were huge and owners paid shares to the officers and crew.  However, seamen were docked for various items they charged at the ship’s store, including clothing, tobacco, needles and thread.  Mary Lawrence, wife of the captain of a New Bedford whaler, wrote that the ship charged double what items cost, with a 25-cent sheath knife being sold for 74-cents, and a $1.60 pair of pants going for $3.00.  Seamen were also charged a share of outfitting the ship’s medicine chest.  In some instances, they actually returned to port in debt.

Once back home, the crew members with money in their pockets were set upon by “land sharks” who enticed them to spend their money and sign up for another voyage.  

An 1860 issue of Harper’s magazine wrote,   “A cart rattles by, loaded with recently discharged whalemen—a motley and a savage-looking crew, unkempt and unshaven, capped with the head-gear of various foreign climes and peoples—under the friendly guidance of a land shark, hastening to the sign of the “Mermade”, the “Whale,” or the “Grampus,” where, in drunkenness and debauchery, they may soonest get rid of their hard-earned wages, and in the shortest space of time arrive at that condition of poverty and disgust of shore life that must induce them to ship for another four years’ cruise.”

Going Home
George Dodge returned to Nantucket in 1835, nearly four years out on the Baltic.  His share of the profits was $125.00.
He had learned all there was to know about whaling,  survived life onboard ship, seen faraway places and discovered something about courage.  In his mind, he had made a good voyage.  It was his last.

Copyright 2007 Nancy Hendrickson. First printed in History Magazine.

Osborn got her start in antique doll collecting when she purchased her first doll, and took it to a local doll hospital for repairs. After waiting six months to get the doll back, she approached the hospital owner and asked for a job to help with the backlog. Osborn was good with detail work, was a fast learner and could sew–all attributes of a good doll surgeon. She got the job, although–as she tells the story–she thinks she was hired because her tea-leaf reading boss had a psychic feeling that she was the perfect person for the job!

During the five years Osborn spent at the hospital, she learned nearly every trick of the antique doll trade. She became an expert at repairing missing parts, locating original pieces, recognizing reproduction dolls, and re-creating outfits which could have been part of the original outfit.

“Creating clothes for antique dolls is easy because they were originally dressed in the same fashions worn by people. If you pick up a costuming book of a certain period, the clothes displayed are probably the same ones worn by dolls.” When asked how she could make clothes (or shoes) without a pattern, Osborn replied “many times a doll would come in with one good shoe and one that wasn’t salvageable. I’d take the tattered shoe and make a pattern for it, then create a new one.” Of course, she would never use any fabric or part (like a snap) that wasn’t in existence when the doll was made. “You need to do your research to make sure everything you use could have been on the original doll.”

Osborn used the same approach with clothes. “Some collectors keep original clothing on a doll although the clothes are in shreds. In that case I remove the original, make a pattern, and create as close a outfit to the original as possible.” Of course, locating appropriate fabric can also be a challenge, with most of the better fabrics coming from Europe. However, Osborn said that fabric vendors attend most doll shows.

After five years of working in the doll hospital, the owner decided to retire and asked Osborn if she wanted to buy the business. Osborn jumped at the chance, and the “morgue” — named because of the thousands of arms, hands, fingers and other body parts–became hers. Over the years, she became one of the leading San Diego authorities in antique dolls and their repair. During this time, her own collection flourished.

Osborn began collecting antique “character dolls,” so-called because their faces exhibited an expression like frowning, smiling, grinning, or flirty (side-averted) eyes. She steered clear of the “dolly face” dolls–those with simply a sweet face who gazed straight ahead without expression.

According to Osborn, the best character dolls were made in Germany, although her collection also includes several from France. Import of the German dolls stopped during World War I, and after the war, relatively few quality dolls were made there again.

When asked about her favorite doll, Osborn said “I always knew I wanted to collect wooden dolls, and they are still my favorites.” In fact, the oldest doll in her collection is a tall wooden figure dating from the early 18th century.

Among Osborn’s wooden treasures are several dolls from the famous Schoenhut factory. These dolls were made to resemble boys and girls, and were patented in American in 1911 by Albert Schoenhut, a German woodcarver. Unique to the Schoenhut dolls is their metal spring joints which allow them to be posed in virtually any position. In addition, the dolls’ feet have two circular slots so they can be attached to a stand. These dolls, say Osborn, are the first truly American-made dolls.

Although Osborn couldn’t put a dollar value on her collection, she did say that “antique dolls are extremely hard to find with original clothes. In fact, some collectors have the original clothes duplicated, then put the new clothes on the doll and keep the originals packed away in a moth-proof environment. Preserving old fabric is very difficult because “old organdies and cottons fall apart, as does batiste because it is so fine.”

When asked for advice for the new collector, Osborn said “It’s important to go to doll shows and become familiar with what’s on the market. Dealers at doll shows are often experts in a specific field of doll collecting, so ask lots of questions before you buy. And, once you decide to buy, purchase the nicest doll you can afford. It’s better to have one really nice doll than several average ones.”

The value of dolls will vary, depending on scarcity, condition and original clothing. A doll with replaced parts may drop as much as a third in value, however if the head is rare, some collectors won’t mind if the entire body has been replaced. “It all depends on how you feel about what you want to collect.”

She also advises buying reference books and other educational material to learn the history of dolls, how to date them, and their relative value. For example, Osborn has several “China doll” heads in her collection. Made from porcelain, the molded hair styles help date the pieces. For example, the hair of Civil War era dolls was molded high on the head, while newer dolls sports hair lower down the forehead.

Osborn is also an advocate of buying from a known dealer instead of buying from online auctions like eBay. The problem with online auctions, she said, is dolls are being sold which are not as described. For example, a doll may have a glaring defect which isn’t mentioned in the auction description. Or, they may be misrepresented–like a Shirley Temple doll Osborn recently saw at an online auction which wasn’t the real thing.

She also feels that if someone wanted to begin collecting dolls today, they might want to include Disney character dolls like the Little Mermaid because Disney has always maintained a good resale value. Conversely, “don’t purchase dolls which were commercially made overseas by the millions because they will never increase in value.

Her most important piece of advice, however, is to collect what you like. For Osborn herself, this meant expanding her collection to include new “Artist Dolls”–unique or one-of-a-kind dolls which are being created from virtually any media and sell from $200 to $250. “I have enough dolls with pretty faces,” Osborn said. “Now I’m looking for the unusual.