Scrimshaw. No one ever seems to mention where the word comes from.
Now, a quick google reveals that 'Scrimshaw is scrollwork, engravings, and carvings done in bone or ivory' (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scrimshaw) and 'Typically [...] refers to the artwork created by whalers, engraved on the byproducts of whales' (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scrimshaw).
However, that, as the title of this post hints, isn't why my first instinct on reading 'The Ribos Operation' novelisation was to delve deeper on scrimshaw. That's because, back in the late-90s, I first encountered, beyond Doctor Who, the word scrimshaw in the Amsterdam sex museum through their collection of 'scrimshaw dildos' (https://www.inyourpocket.com/Amsterdam/Venus-Temple-Sex-Museum_93343v), essentially whale-bone and ivory dildos which feature intricate carvings.
Trying to dig up more on the theme, there was surprisingly (to me, anyway) little to be easily found. The combination of whaling and dildos, though, quickly leads you to the island of Nantucket and their 'homemade dildos called he's-at-homes' (https://hornet.com/stories/lesbianism-dildos-and-the-secret-histories-of-whaling-wives)
This, and it does seem only one has ever been found, however, is made of plaster and has nothing to do with scrimshaw. None-the-less, there's a lovely account of its discovery here - https://www.thecommononline.org/hes-at-home.
I'd also like to note (because I'm very childish) that attempts to search further on this subject were complicated by the fact that there seems to be a place called Dildo in Canada with a proliferation of whale bones (https://www.wrecksandreefs.com/dildo.html and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lUfiwHjy24M).
All of which makes me suspect none of this was on Robert Holmes's mind when he scripted this Who tale.
Anyway, Doctor Who and the Ribos Operation...
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