SWAINTON — The board of Cape May County Historical and Genealogical Society, which operates the county Historical Museum, 504 Route 9 North, Court House, has approved a $1,000 reward for the recovery of a collection of stolen whaling implements.
The FBI got involved in the investigation because Middle Township police and New Jersey State Police believed the agency was more familiar dealing with art thefts, said Judy Davis, museum office manager Tuesday afternoon.
Anyone with information about the stolen items, which include six whaling implements, with a total value of $3,500 that were stolen from the museum some time between June 2 at 2 p.m. and the morning of June 5.
Information can be called to the museum directly (609) 465-3535 or Middle Township police (609) 465-8700.
According to Curator Pary Woehlcke, Middle Township police haven’t gotten any leads on the theft.
Woehlcke said police continue to check various Internet auction sites, where stolen items are placed for sale.
It is believed that the criminals knew what they wanted, because they left many other valuable items untouched.
Among the most highly valued of the stolen items was a sailor’s sextant in a wooden case. It was removed from a glass display case without breaking the glass.
Also stolen were:
* Toggle Iron, for use in a darting gun.
* Single fluted harpoon
* Bomb lance
* Darting gun with bomb lance.
* Darting gun without a bomb lance
* Sailor’s sextant
* Sailor’s palm thimble, used by Humphrey Cresse to mend canvas sails.
Woehlcke said that the stolen items were all marked with small white dot stickers on which identifying numbers were written.
Those stickers had been on the items so long, she said it is likely that the metal underneath would be somewhat brighter than the surrounding metal.
The harpoons were about 2.5 to 3 feet in length. The darting gun resembled a shotgun, and was used to fire a lance with a charge on it, to kill the whale quicker.
Those harpoons were “rather common,” Woehlcke said, and others, quite similar to them were untouched by the thief.
The barn’s two doors, in which the whaling implements were exhibited, are routinely left open when the museum is in operation. Tours are then taken through.
Since there is a door close to a driveway leading to the nursing home, Woehlcke said it would have been possible for a thief to pull in there, take the items, and exit without being seen.
