Harpoon
gun on the bow deck of a whale catcher boat.
The harpoon used for killing and catching baleen
whales was (is) a formidable and heavy weapon. The harpoon itself
is re-useable and consists of a long shaft that fits in the barrel
that ends in four large hinged barbs. In front of the barbs is a
large threaded boss onto which screws the (in this case) pointed
and explosive harpoon head. After use, the harpoon is recovered,
straightened out and re-used with a new explosive head being fixed
to the front. The shaft is not solid but has an open groove
running it's whole length, a rope is fixed into this groove, when
the harpoon is in the gun, the rope is slid to the front and here
is seen hanging down ready for firing. The barbs of the harpoon
are held back by wires which break when the harpoon has hit its
target and the explosive charge detonates.
The harpoon itself is about 6 feet long (1.8m)
and weighs 120lbs (54.5kg), it is made of high quality steel. The
gun has a bore of 3in (76mm) and uses a charge of around 14oz
(390g) of gunpowder.
The gun itself is quite a crude instrument, it
can be swivelled easily by the gunner and tilted up and down, the
sight is the long metal rod seen on top.
The real key to the effective use of this gun is
the gunners skill and experience. Gunners were the top rank of all
whale men, they were treated with the greatest respect and easily
earned far more than any other rank in a whaling fleet. If a
gunner didn't do his job properly, then the whole enterprise was a
failure, if he did do his job properly it would mean success and
riches for all, the majority of a gunners considerable pay was
linked to how many whales he could catch.
Previous
