Harpoons, Lances, Guns, and Boats 215 



made of cast iron with the bore large enough 

 to accommodate a one-pound, cast-iron ball. 

 Guns of this kind were mounted on the rails 

 of war-ships by means of swivels, and for short 

 range were convenient and fairly effective. Know- 

 ing all about these swivels, some whaleman, as 

 early as 1731, invented a swivel from which a 

 harpoon could be fired at a whale. The art 

 of aiming cannon had not yet been acquired by 

 the seamen of the world, however, and when 

 the whalemen tried to aim this harpoon gun, 

 while the boat was dancing and plunging over 

 the waves, they found that they could not hit 

 the target. The use of slow matches (percus- 

 sion caps had not been invented) was another 

 drawback. Moreover the harpoon line proved so 

 much of a drag on the harpoon that the range 

 of the gun was limited. The frames of the whale 

 boat were not strong enough to bear the strain 

 of the recoil of the gun, and when the frames 

 were made heavier the whalemen were unable 

 to row the boat as swiftly as was necessary. 

 When two or more boats gathered around a 

 whale, and all began to fire at it, the chances of 



