Harpoons, Lances, Guns, and Boats 211 



or three spare ones. Each ship carried from 

 three to five boats ready for lowering when whales 

 were seen, and thus from twelve to twenty har- 

 poons were carried from the ship whenever boats 

 were lowered. Of course every ship carried 

 a supply of spare harpoons, and as there were 

 hundreds of whale ships in commission all the 

 time, it is easy to see how it happened that many 

 harpoons were made during the period mentioned 

 above. 



The lance was composed of a flat, oval-shaped 

 steel blade, sharp as a razor, welded to a tough 

 and stiff iron shank six feet long. A wooden 

 handle six feet, or thereabouts in length, was in- 

 serted in a socket at the upper end of the shank. 

 A whale line a few fathoms long was fastened 

 to the lance. As the whaleman drew in near 

 the flying whale that had been struck by a har- 

 poon, the man at the bow darted the lance at the 

 whale even when it were not possible thus to 

 reach a vital part; for every wound bled freely 

 and weakened the animal in its struggles. At 

 each throw the lance was drawn back by the 

 line for another dart, until finally the boat was 



