230 The Story of the New England Whalers 



"During the winter of 1861 a large two-grooved 

 rifle was made by Messrs. Dixon, of Edinburgh, 

 from plans and instructions of Mr. James Miln, 

 of Murie. The weight of the rifle was 28 pounds. 

 Shells were made for it and filled with one-half 

 ounce concentrated prussic acid and a small 

 charge of powder fired by a ten-second fuse." 



On May 12, 1862, one of these shells was fired 

 into a whale. "She went under for four or five 

 minutes, and on coming up another was fired 

 into her. She then seemed quite helpless. Three 

 gun harpoons were then fired into her as she lay 

 on her side. At 12:30 P.M. she was quite dead. 

 We had no difficulty with the men in regard to 

 the poison, but we never got another chance to 

 use it." 



An official list of patents issued by the United 

 States Patent Office for the week ending March 

 30, 1852, shows that Dr. Albert Sonnenberg and 

 Philipp Rechter, of Bremen, Germany, had secured 

 a patent for an "electric whaling apparatus." 

 "We claim," said the inventors, "the application 

 of electric galvanic current by a conductor to an 

 instrument which is thrown into sperm and right 



