254 HISTORY AND METHODS OP THE FISHERIES. 



piece of canvas, extending under the bead sheets or perhaps simply under a flap of oiled canvas 

 nailed to the boat. It is made fast to the forward "hoisting-strap,"* by means of a laniard to 

 prevent its loss overboard, as its recoil is often so great as to prostrate the gunner. It is dis- 

 charged from the bow by the officer, and is aimed and tired in the same manner as the ordinary 

 shotgun or rifle. 



THE DAKTING-GUN. It has been the custom of American whalemen for the past three 

 decades to "fasten on to" the whale with the harpoon, and then, standing off at a safe distance, 

 kill it with a bomb-lance. But the great bowhead, which yields excellent baleen and the next 

 best oil to that of the spermaceti whale, has been the means of bringing about a change in the 

 modern art of whaling. When fastened to in the Arctic regions the home of this cetacean with 

 the ordinary harpoon, the great polar whale may dart under the ice, and if the crew do not care 

 to follow it they must "cut line" and lose the whale and such material as it carries away. Capt. 

 Eben Pierce and Mr. Patrick Cunningham, of New Bedford, have respectively perfected an instru- 

 ment, known as the "darting- gun," expressly for this fishery. This weapon consists of a stockless 

 gun-metal barrel (a) attached to an ordinary harpoon pole (B). A harpoon (C), with the whale- 

 line attached, fits loosely in two brass projections or lugs (d d\ on the gun. The apparatus is 

 loaded with a cartridge or charge of ppwder and the bomb-lance (b) and darted at the whale. 

 The harpoon entering the blubber brkfgs a long wire rod (g), projecting over the muzzle of the 

 gun, in contact with the whale. - This rod is the trigger, and by impact the bomb lance is auto- 

 matically thrown into the very soul of the cetacean, as the harpoon simultaneously fastens it to 

 the boat, and if mysticetus is not killed he is thoroughly disgusted and willing to succumb. Were 

 it not for this kind of gun, ice-whaling could not be successfully pursued.t 



THE WHALING ROCKET. The whaling rocket is of recent invention, and is intended to be 

 projected from the decks of vessels. The " gun," so-called, is merely a rest from which the rocket 

 is discharged; it is supported by an iron standard, and flred while resting on, and not against, 

 the shoulder. The projectile is a large rocket, harpoon, and bomb-lance combined, weighing 18 or 

 20 pounds, and is pre-eminently the most powerful and destructive agent ever used for killing 

 whales.f 



Mr. 0. D. Voy, of California, in a letter to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, cites 

 an instance where a rocket at short range was flred entirely through the body of a whale and 

 toggled itself on the side. He also says that during a series of experiments with the bombs on 

 the beach one of them "carried a whale-line almost 60 fathoms, which shows what power they 

 have, since a bomb and 20 fathoms of line weigh about 55 pounds." 



THE BOMB-LANCE. Robert Allen, of Norwich, Conn., invented the first explosive lance in 

 America for killing whales. This occurred in 1846. The lance, a type of which is preserved in 

 the National Museum, is long and slender, and the absence of guiding- wings rendered it uncertain 

 in its effects. It was just as liable to strike the whale, as the whalemen express it, "broadside" 

 as with the point; hence it failed in its mission. In 1852 C. C. Brand, also of Norwich, made 

 improvements in the Allen lance, and was mainly instrumental in introducing the present form 

 into the whaling fleet, thus inaugurating a new mode of capture, which iu part revolutionized the 

 process. 



* An iron rod or strap, with a projecting eye at each end of the boat, by means of which the boats are hoisted 

 aud lowered to and from the ve.ssi'l. 



t When darted at a whale'tue gun is regained by means of a laniard attached to the shank of the socket. 



{This weapon, like the darting-gun, serves two purposes; it both fas'ens on to the whale, and kills or seriously 

 wounds it. Both actions are simultaneous. The chain and toggle are released when the bomb is exploded to pre- 

 vent the implement from withdrawing. 



