Harpoons, Lances, Guns, and Boats 225 



The rocket gun has been found useful chiefly in 

 the alongshore fisheries, where boats larger than 

 the ordinary whale boat are desirable. 



The use of a net for taking whales has been 

 mentioned. In 1848 Captain Josiah Ghenn, 

 master of the schooner Council, while cruising off 

 the coast of Labrador, made a net 150 fathoms 

 long by 8 deep, and set it as a trap near the beach, 

 hoping to catch a bowhead in it. A bowhead 

 entered the trap, but on becoming somewhat en- 

 tangled, it swam away out to sea. 



"And I have never seen that whale or net 

 since," said the captain, in relating the story to 

 the writer of The Whale Fishery. 



In an essay on Whale Fishing in the Faroe 

 Islands, Mr. S. H. C. Muller described to the 

 International Fisheries Exposition (Glasgow, 

 1882) a net that is used in those islands for tak- 

 ing blackfish, as the grind or pilot whale is called. 

 This net is usually 200. fathoms long by 8 

 deep, and is made of nine-yarn rope. It has been 

 found very useful in holding the small whales 

 within narrow waters until the fishermen can go 

 among them and use the lance. 

 Q 



