152 REPORTS ON THE STATE OF SCIENCE.—1912. 
Whaling-boats.—Vhese are somewhere about 100 feet long, and 
are capable of attaining a speed of about 10 knots per hour. To 
enable them to turn quickly while chasing, many have perforated 
keels. There is a crow’s-nest placed high on the forward mast. It has 
been the custom to paint the bottoms of the boats a green colour, the 
idea being that the hull would be made less visible to the whales, and 
so less likely to frighten them. 
Captain Bruun thinks, however, that it makes no difference in 
chasing the whales, and he now uses the ordinary red-lead paint. 
The harpoon gun is mounted high in the bows of the ship, and is 
arranged on a swivel, so that it can be moved easily and quickly in 
any direction round the bows. The harpoon is shown diagrammatically 
in fig. 3. It is about 4 feet long over all. There is a conical tip with 
—Weyrves vw72 
TWWeeWvE ISO SOL 
Fic. 3.—Harpoon (in gun) (approx. 5}; nat. size). 
three movable hooked barbs, and an arrangement by which an explosive 
shell is attached, the shell exploding inside the body of the whale. 
The harpoon is attached to a strong 3-inch hempen rope, which is 
run round a winch on deck and then over a pulley arrangement 
attached to the foremast, the further end of the rope being fastened to a 
long, strong spring fixed along the bottom of the boat. This latter is 
to prevent any great amount of jarring when the rope is run out. 
The fin-whales, when dead, generally sink, except they be very 
fat. They are hauled up from the bottom, a pipe is thrust into the 
body cavity, and air is pumped in, the hole being afterwards plugged. 
The whales are towed tail foremost, generally alongside the boat, but 
in rough weather they are towed astern. The tail-flukes are cut off 
immediately on capture, to lessen the resistance to towing. 
The harpoons are not fired at a longer range than about 50 yards, 
so that great skill is required in manceuvring the ship. An attempt 
is made to shoot just as the whale begins to dive downwards, and to 
hit, if possible, just behind the shoulder, 
