228 
MARINE MAMMALS OF THE NORTH-WESTERN COAST. 
check the movement by holding on to the line, or by slowly slacking it. In this 
maneuvre the boat is occasionally hauled bow under water. Sometimes all the line 
is taken out almost instantly, when it is cut to prevent the boat from being taken 
down, and the whale escapes. At other times the animal will "bring to;" that is, 
it will stop and roll from side to side, or thrash the water with its ponderous 
flukes and fins, when the boat may be pulled within bomb -shot, and the creature 
dispatched by one or more of these missiles. 
Hand -lancing for the purpose of killing a whale is now going rapidly out 
of practice, and the same may be said relative to boat- spades, and ''loose irons" 
to stop a whale from running. By the use of "Pierce's bomb -lance,"* the Bow- 
liead or Polar Whale is now frequently captured in the Arctic Ocean, close to the 
* It is a matter of surprise that so ingenious 
an invention for killing whales has no appropri- 
ate name, the whole apparatus being only known 
as "Pierce's bomb -lance;" hence, to facilitate 
description, we will give it the provisional des- 
ignation of Pierce's Harpoon -bomb -lance Gun. 
The weapon, which is of brass, is fourteen inches 
long in the barrel, and the square portion in- 
closing the lock, together with the socket which 
receives the iron -pole or harpoon -staff, increases 
its linear dimensions to about one and a half 
feet. On one side, and near the muzzle of the 
gun, are two lugs with holes, which receive the 
end of a harpoon, to which the whale -line is 
attached. On the other side is a steel rod bent 
in the form of a staj)le, at the socket end of 
the gun, which jiasses through tubes attached 
to the socket and lock -case, as represented at 
G and H ( in the illustration upon the preceding 
page), then, passing through a hole in the 
lug at I, it extends past the muzzle about ten 
inches. Upon the upper part of the rod, at J, 
rests the trigger to the lock. The whole appa- 
ratus, exclusive of the lines and iron - pole, 
weighs about ten pounds. This weapon is load- 
ed with a light charge of powder, and projects, 
when discharged, a bomb -lance sixteen inches 
long, and seven - eighths of an inch in diameter. 
The lance is loaded with powder, which is ig- 
nited by a percussion -cap placed upon a nipple 
at B, as seen in diagram B, at the end of the 
cylinder (which is connected with the point of 
the lance by a screw); this nipple (at B) unites 
with a time -fuse that leads to the powder with 
which the bomb is charged. One end of a small 
line is "seized" to the socket of the gun, then 
"stopped" along the iron -pole with twine — the 
other end being fast to the boat, in order that 
the instrument may be recovered after being 
thrown and discharged. The whale -line is also 
stopped along the pole, or it is secured by 
beckets. The manner of using the gun, is to 
dart it by hand from the boat, and when the 
harpoon penetrates the whale beyond the line 
K, the steel rod (which holds the trigger to the 
lock) comes in contact, and is pushed back, 
thereby springing the hammer against a percus- 
sion-cap which rests upon a nipple in the breech 
of the gun, by means of which it is fired off, 
sending the bomb -lance into the whale ; and at 
the same time the concussion brings a plunger 
(which is held temporarily by a wooden pin 
within the head of the lance, as seen at A) 
upon the cap at B, the flash of which, commu- 
nicating with the time - fuse imbedded in the 
powder contained in the cylinder, causes the 
bomb to explode, usually killing the whale in- 
stantly; and the harpoon being already fastened 
in the body of the animal, it may be easily 
secured. 
