Apparatus and Methods of Capture. 8I 
one, the other broke the warpe.’’* Hence it seems un- 
questionable that long before whaling became at all im- 
portant as a regular industry, the implements used in 
capture had the essential characteristics of those that 
were to be used for many decades thereafter. 
Scoresby® says that as early as 1607 “the harpoon 
consisted of a barbed or arrow-shaped iron dart, two or 
three feet in length with a wooden handle and a line”’ 
three hundred fathoms long. The hand harpoon could 
be used effectively at distances up to fifteen yards. With 
the exception of some small changes and additions to the 
barbs, and variations in dimensions, the harpoon is still 
essentially the same weapon as it was then. Now, three 
centuries later, the initial step in the capture of a whale 
remains unchanged, for the harpoon has always been and 
is still used to fasten the whale to the boat. Along with 
the harpoon and line a hand lance was used, it consisting 
of an iron spear with a wooden handle ten or twelve 
feetlong. These implements were used almost exclusively 
until well along in the eighteenth century. 
The first change was in the introduction of the harpoon 
gun to replace the old method of hurling the harpoon 
from the hand. It was followed by the bomb gun, the 
darting gun, and by the whaling rocket, while the hand 
lance gave place to the bomb lance. The whaling or 
harpoon gun, intended to shoot harpoons, was a British 
invention about 1730. Its invention appears to have 
been prompted by the increasing shyness of the whales 
in the northern fishery, and the consequent need of some 
instrument to facilitate the capture. Beginning with 
the year 1700 the whales had almost abandoned the 
shore grounds previously frequented and had retreated 
to the sheltered situations afforded by the ice fields.’ 
* Quoted by Starbuck from N. Y. Col. Record, III, p. 183. 
5 Scoresby, p. 173. 
5 Macy, p. 220. 
Scoresby, p. 181. 
