APPENDIX. 
217 
shank, however, is too short and too thick, of which de- 
fects, Captain Manby is now aware ; nor do they, indeed, 
in the least degree lessen the merit of the principle. I 
am also in some doubt whether the withers towards the 
point be not too weak : this likewise has no reference to 
the principle : in old fish, the fibre of whose blubber is 
very tenacious, I believe that Captain Manby’s harpoon, if 
sufficiently strong in manufacture, could not be withdrawn 
by the strength of a whale line, though such a line is ca- 
pable of sustaining a weight of more than two tons, per- 
haps 2| tons, when new, of the best hemp, and manufacture 
2J inches thick. But in young fish, there is little doubt 
but that this or any harpoon might be drawn through the 
whole thickness of fat, though no cut whatever had been 
made for its insertion, in consequence of the want of 
strength of the tendinous fibre of the blubber. 
Captain Manby ’s gun-harpoon is on an entirely new 
principle, both in its construction, and in the manner of 
firing it. It is represented by figure 6. 
Fig. 6. 
