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Equipment · Kettles, coppers and boilers
try-pot · trypot · try pot
A heavy cast-iron cauldron used aboard whaling ships to render blubber; James Macrae also records Hawaiian chiefs distilling ti-root liquor in iron try-pots in 1825.
A try-pot is a large iron cauldron associated with the whaling trade. On a whaleship, it held cut pieces of blubber while heat rendered the fat into oil. The Kona Historical Society describes the heating, skimming and pouring-off of oil from a pot used for this work. At the Two Brothers wreck, NOAA archaeologists found cast-iron trypots and hundreds of bricks, physical remains that identify the vessel's whaling equipment and its 1823 loss.
The same kind of iron vessel appears in a Hawaiian account from 1825. Botanist James Macrae recorded that chiefs distilled spirits from fermented ti-root liquor using large iron try-pots obtained from whale ships in exchange for provisions. This makes the pot important to the history of ʻokolehao, but it does not mean that the try-pot itself was a complete still. Macrae's brief description does not specify a lid, outlet, condenser, supports or exact heating arrangement, so those parts should not be reconstructed as fact.
The surviving examples support a sturdy, open-mouthed cast-iron vessel. The Kona Historical Society gives dimensions for its own Greenwell pot—28 inches high and 36 inches across the flared rim—and describes it as assembled from cast pieces with feet and side handles. Those measurements and construction details belong to that specific object, not to every try-pot. The NOAA photograph of a pot at the Two Brothers wreck shows the broad, rounded cauldron form in its archaeological setting; the surrounding reef and marine growth are not part of the vessel.
The Greenwell pot's use for whale-oil rendering is described by the historical society, while its later use in Kona is as a water-lily basin. The page also recounts Macrae's separate evidence for distilling ti-root liquor in Hawaiʻi. It speculates about the Greenwell pot's own earlier use ashore, so this entry does not identify that artifact as one of Macrae's stills.
Aboard whalers, try-pots belonged to a larger tryworks arrangement: the pot was heated so blubber could be boiled down and the oil collected. The pot is the movable vessel; the brickwork and fire installation are part of the shipboard plant, not included in this equipment record. In Macrae's account, the pot's role shifts from rendering animal fat to distilling a fermented plant liquor, but the surviving text gives no operational instructions. It therefore supports a historical use, not a reproducible design or a modern distillation guide.
The Kona Historical Society’s account connects try-pots with the history of ʻokolehao through Macrae’s 1825 report of Hawaiian chiefs distilling fermented ti-root liquor in iron pots. The evidence is geographically specific: the Hawaiian account describes the liquor and exchange with whale ships, while the archaeological wreck records a separate whaling vessel at French Frigate Shoals. Together, these records show how maritime iron equipment could circulate into local practice without proving a precise route, maker, or universal form.
James Macrae's 1825 account describes Hawaiian chiefs distilling spirits from fermented ti-root liquor in large iron try-pots obtained from whaling ships in exchange for provisions. Independently, NOAA documents cast-iron try-pots aboard the whaleship Two Brothers, lost at French Frigate Shoals in 1823. These attestations show the vessel in two related but distinct settings; they do not identify the Greenwell pot in Kona as one of Macrae's stills.
The source does not establish that every whaling try-pot was used for distilling ʻokolehao; Macrae's account describes a particular Hawaiian practice.
Source →James Macrae's account places iron try-pots obtained from whale ships in a ti-root distillation practice in Hawaiʻi; it does not locate the sheds more precisely.
NOAA documents try-pots at the Two Brothers wreck site, a whaling vessel lost in 1823; the pots are not the Hawaiian stills described by Macrae.
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Kona Historical SocietyHistory · Form · Use
The Greenwell Whale PotThe Greenwell cauldron is black cast iron, 28 inches high and 36 inches across its flared rim, and has feet and side handles; these details describe that specific object.
The page describes whale-blubber rendering in try-pots and quotes James Macrae's 1825 account of Hawaiian chiefs distilling fermented ti-root liquor in large iron try-pots obtained from whale ships.
The Greenwell pot is now used as a water-lily basin; the page's speculation about its own earlier shore use is not treated as established fact.
Cited in: A cauldron that crossed uses; Form and limits of the evidence; Use in context
Papahānaumokuākea National Marine Sanctuary, NOAA Office of National Marine SanctuariesArchaeology · History · Form
Nantucket Whaleship Two BrothersThe Two Brothers was lost in 1823 at French Frigate Shoals; NOAA archaeologists found three try-pots initially and documented four, together with hundreds of bricks.
NOAA describes try-pots as large iron cauldrons used in nineteenth-century whaling to render blubber into oil.
A NOAA/Tane Casserley photo shows one try-pot at the wreck site.
Cited in: A cauldron that crossed uses; Form and limits of the evidence; Use in context