It took Mr. Tonkin 30 years, on and off, to finish carving the sperm whale jaw bone.(Supplied: Albany’s Historic Whaling Station)

We are all familiar with Melville’s novel, Moby Dick, inspired, at least in part, by the ramming and sinking of the whaleship Essex by a rogue sperm whale in the Pacific in 1820.  Less well-known is the sinking by a whale of the bark Kathleen.

ABC News Australia reports that for 30 years, Gary Tonkin, 74, a scrimshander from Albany, on the south coast of Western Australia, has worked carving a sperm whale’s jawbone and teeth to tell the tale of the Kathleen. His intricate engravings recount the story of the ill-fated whaling ship sunk by a sperm whale in the Atlantic in 1902.

Each tooth represents an aspect of life at sea in a wooden ship and the hardships the crew faced, ranging from deaths on board to crews sharing a whale catch.

The little-known tale is documented in the book Bark Kathleen Sunk By a Whale by her master on the fateful voyage, Thomas H. Jenkins.

The elaborately carved jawbone now has a home at the Albany Historic Whaling Station in a permanent exhibition, the Art of Scrimshaw.

Mr Tonkin travelled back and forth from the United States completing residencies at whaling museums.

He has had his scrimshaw art showcased at the Australian National Maritime Museum and in galleries across the US.

“I’ll probably [scrimshaw] until they put me in the ground,” he says.

Thanks to Dick Kooyman for contributing to this post.