[11] FISHERIES OF THE UNITED STATES. 281 



the first guns made by Capt. Eobert Brown, of New London, Connec- 

 ticut, were made of iron and mounted on swivels. This is the first 

 swivel-gun, of which I have any information, manufacturd in America, 

 with the exception of the present Mason gun. 



H. W. Mason and Patrick Cunningham, of New Bedford, Massachu- 

 setts, have recently constructed a breech-loading swivel-gun, cartridge 

 inserted in the breech, and the harpoon bomb (56376) in the muzzle, 

 which is to be mounted in such a manner that the effects of the recoil 

 of the gun upon the boat will be neutralized by rubber cushion-springs, 

 for which letters-patent were issued December 12, 1882 [No. 269080, 

 U. S. Patent Office]. Owing to the recent date of this invention, very 

 little can be said of it, except that one of these guns has been used very 

 successfully in the Arctic regions, and that others are being manufact- 

 ured for the same fishery. 



The early Dutch whalemen also used a gun with a flint lock and bell- 

 shaped muzzle, a kind of blunderbuss, which was mounted on a swivel, 

 notwithstanding it was provided with a wooden stock similar to that 

 of the shoulder-gun. The first English guns were also provided with 

 flint locks. 



The Bocket-Gun. — The rocket-gun is of recent invention ; it is sup- 

 ported by an iron standard, and fired while resting on, and not against, 

 the shoulder of the gunner. It throws a large rocket and explosive 

 lance weighing eighteen or twenty pounds, which acts in the capacity of 

 a harpoon and bomb, and is used mainly in coast whaling or on sound- 

 ings. 



The rocket-gun was patented January 22, 1861, by Thomas W. Boys, 

 of Southampton, New York, from which the California whaling-rocket 

 is an outgrowth. Mr. C. D. Voy, of California, tells me that it was used, 

 as far as the apparatus was concerned, very successfully on the steamer 

 "Daisy Whitelaw," and also on the "Pocket" off the California Heads; 

 hut owing to the scarcity of whales (finbacks) in that locality, the en- 

 terprise was a failure. Mr. Wilson, of Sitka, Alaska, tells me 



that it is also used successfully, from the deck of a small steamer, by 

 the Northwest Whaling Company in the capture of finbacks and hump- 

 backs on the southern coast of Alaska. 



Gun-Hakpoons. — The harpoons intended to be projected from guns, 

 technically known as "gun-irons," may be used in connection with the 

 shoulder- guns or with the swivel-guns. The shoulder- gun irons are sel- 

 dom used, as the weight of the whale-line has a tendency to deflect the 

 instrument from a true course of flight. The swivel-gun irons are em- 

 ployed on soundings, the heavy charge of the gun at short range over- 

 coming the difficulty just mentioned. 



Harpoons of this class may be made with double shanks joined at 

 either end with adjustable loops composed of several wires so deftly 

 intertwined as to conceal the ends, or of rope into which one end of the 

 iron strap (rope) is made fast; they may be made with single shanks 



