224 The Story of the New England Whalers 



animal by means of a line, as usual. As the har- 

 poon is thus made to penetrate the whale, the 

 metal-rod trigger strikes against the skin of the 

 whale, discharges the gun, and the bomb lance is 

 thus fired into the whale. The Whale Fishery 

 says that "were it not for this kind of gun, ice 

 whaling could not be successfully pursued." 

 That is to say, that the whales found along the 

 ice fields are now so shy, and hover so close to 

 the ice, that if struck by an ordinary harpoon 

 they would escape under the ice before a bomb 

 could be fired into them from an ordinary gun. 

 V Still another weapon the whaling rocket 

 was invented by Patrick Cunningham. Cunning- 

 ham is known to most seafaring people as the in- 

 ventor of a line-carrying rocket used by the life- 

 saving stations for carrying lines to stranded 

 ships. This rocket was modified so that a barbed 

 harpoon point was fixed to the head. A gun 

 barrel loaded with a bomb lance was attached 

 beside the rocket, and the combination was so 

 arranged that the rocket in its flight would strike 

 the whale, the harpoon would penetrate, and the 

 gun would then fire the bomb into the whale. 



