19th-century weapon found in whale

Here I hope this gets things back on topic;

Harpoon gun on the bow deck of a whale catcher boat.
The harpoon used for killing and catching baleen whales was (is) a formidable and heavy weapon. The harpoon itself is re-useable and consists of a long shaft that fits in the barrel that ends in four large hinged barbs. In front of the barbs is a large threaded boss onto which screws the (in this case) pointed and explosive harpoon head. After use, the harpoon is recovered, straightened out and re-used with a new explosive head being fixed to the front. The shaft is not solid but has an open groove running it's whole length, a rope is fixed into this groove, when the harpoon is in the gun, the rope is slid to the front and here is seen hanging down ready for firing. The barbs of the harpoon are held back by wires which break when the harpoon has hit its target and the explosive charge detonates.

The harpoon itself is about 6 feet long (1.8m) and weighs 120lbs (54.5kg), it is made of high quality steel. The gun has a bore of 3in (76mm) and uses a charge of around 14oz (390g) of gunpowder.

The gun itself is quite a crude instrument, it can be swivelled easily by the gunner and tilted up and down, the sight is the long metal rod seen on top.

The real key to the effective use of this gun is the gunners skill and experience. Gunners were the top rank of all whale men, they were treated with the greatest respect and easily earned far more than any other rank in a whaling fleet. If a gunner didn't do his job properly, then the whole enterprise was a failure, if he did do his job properly it would mean success and riches for all, the majority of a gunners considerable pay was linked to how many whales he could catch.

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Those are exploding heads in the harpoons. I read that if fired accurately death can be almost instantaneous. Much more humane than the ancient methods, where it might take a whale hours or days to die.





[edit on 19-6-2007 by Sparky63]

[edit on 19-6-2007 by Sparky63]

by Beezwaxes:

As far as surviving in the northern latitudes, yup, tough gig. Reminds me of an old Sam Kinnison skit where he talks about groups asking for donations to help people starving in the desert. The punchline is "why don't they move where there's food?" and is pretty friggin funny if you haven't heard it and yeah I know a lot of them don't have the means and would never think of it in the first place. Just trying to lighten things up a little here.

See what you mean but the people up here wouldn't think that funny at all. They do very well up here and enjoy their lifestyle. What the anti whale hunting people should concentrate on is the international whale hunters. Japanese, Norwegians, etc. who claim to have a right to do so but are really in it for the bottom line, make a profit. I just don't understand that when it comes to whales!

Dude, I think that might be Moby Dick!

WHY?!!!!!!!!!!!! THAT POOR WHALE!!!!
HE COULD'VE LIVED A LONGER LIFE!!!

Originally posted by sensfan
Tell me junglelord. Are you a Vegan, do not eat any meat/dairy/fish products? Do not wear or have any leather accessories of any kind? If so, I applaud you for your beliefs, but to state that you hate people that kill animals is a little extreme do you not think? I enjoy a good steak or nice juicy lobster. I love my leather jacket.

It's called survival of the fittest. do you cringe every time an animal kills another animal for food? We, as humans, are animals too...we are carnivorous by nature.

Now I want a bbq'd steak!!!

I love these kind of posts. They look really well put together at first, until you actually see the most obvious flaw hidden in amongst it which only comes from a HUMAN mind.

You call killing animals survivial of the fittest, therefore making it a part of nature and okay right? Then you class humans as animals, therefore also making the survival of the fittest seem okay for us to go out and kill whatever?

Then tell me how you would feel if another human, remembering that you're both ANIMALS, went out and slaughtered/butchered yourself? No, let's not stop there, butchered your whole family and eat you? (There are cannibals out there.) From what you just said, you should find that 100% okay, as it is SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST.

You see it's comments like these which make me cringe. We are so surpreme over other creatures and believe we are mortal gods on this planet who can kill whatever and then spout nonsense like that!

Senfan, have a swim and let me shoot you! It's survival of the fittest, animal killing animal and all that, eh?!

Originally posted by junglelord
That sickens me

Still whale hunting today

I hate people that kill animals when there is no need

The way we treat the earth and the enviorment and the animals is disgracefull

This majestic creature of great age....shot for what??????

[edit on 13-6-2007 by junglelord]

culture.....culture which is out dated and should be shaped and formed into a manner that it runs straight with the value's of the 21'st centure.

Originally posted by Arawn

Originally posted by sensfan
Tell me junglelord. Are you a Vegan, do not eat any meat/dairy/fish products? Do not wear or have any leather accessories of any kind? If so, I applaud you for your beliefs, but to state that you hate people that kill animals is a little extreme do you not think? I enjoy a good steak or nice juicy lobster. I love my leather jacket.

It's called survival of the fittest. do you cringe every time an animal kills another animal for food? We, as humans, are animals too...we are carnivorous by nature.

Now I want a bbq'd steak!!!

I love these kind of posts. They look really well put together at first, until you actually see the most obvious flaw hidden in amongst it which only comes from a HUMAN mind.

You call killing animals survivial of the fittest, therefore making it a part of nature and okay right? Then you class humans as animals, therefore also making the survival of the fittest seem okay for us to go out and kill whatever?

Then tell me how you would feel if another human, remembering that you're both ANIMALS, went out and slaughtered/butchered yourself? No, let's not stop there, butchered your whole family and eat you? (There are cannibals out there.) From what you just said, you should find that 100% okay, as it is SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST.

You see it's comments like these which make me cringe. We are so surpreme over other creatures and believe we are mortal gods on this planet who can kill whatever and then spout nonsense like that!

Senfan, have a swim and let me shoot you! It's survival of the fittest, animal killing animal and all that, eh?!

Arawn....u should take your knowledge with a grain of salt.

Human's as an ANIMAL have no offensive or defensive means of survival, so we were forced to use tool's to get the essential proteins that our brains needed to develop.....a simple side-effect of tool usage and the brain development at the same time gave humans the SURVIVAL INSTINCT to use tools for defensive uses and Weaponry for offensive uses. when you see an inuit spear a whale its no different then when a cave man spears a gazelle or a jaguar taking down an gazelle, accept for the fact that killing a whale is a GREAT ACCOMPLISHMENT in the inuit comunity.

reply to post by Infadel


Yes, culture which has existed for many centuries. Even today they find North Sentinel island to be inhabited by a stone age tribe, they have found tribal cultures in the Amazon that haven't made contact with modern day people until quite recently. With your logic then we should go up to them and destroy all their idolatry and impose our religion (its what the Europeans did), we should take away their pelts and give them denim, we should take away their drums and give them iPods. We should strip them of their names and their languages so that they are "streamlined" into our culture so that they may go reside in slums and cities instead of the simple lives they'd been leading for thousands of years. What good does your thesis create? You erase history, the history of the land and the history of the people all because by your twisted logic their culture isn't a match to the societies of the Occident.

When I get a chance, I'm going to Newfoundland & Labrador and joining the seal hunt to help preserve the practices and values of ancient cultures. I hope I see you there.

Originally posted by NovusOrdoMundi

Originally posted by sensfan

Originally posted by junglelord

I hate people that kill animals when there is no need

[edit on 13-6-2007 by junglelord]

Tell me junglelord. Are you a Vegan, do not eat any meat/dairy/fish products? Do not wear or have any leather accessories of any kind? If so, I applaud you for your beliefs, but to state that you hate people that kill animals is a little extreme do you not think? I enjoy a good steak or nice juicy lobster. I love my leather jacket.

It's called survival of the fittest. do you cringe every time an animal kills another animal for food? We, as humans, are animals too...we are carnivorous by nature.

Now I want a bbq'd steak!!!

I know this question isn't directed at me, but I want to answer anyway..

I don't eat meat. The only dairy products I consume are milk and cheese. Neither require killing an animal. I hate seafood. I don't own leather or use leather. I don't use any products, to my knowledge, that require killing animals.

Leather isn't necessary for survival. Hunting for fun isn't necessary for survival. Limited hunting for scientific purposes, that could be excused. Hunting for food purposes, fine. Animals hunting other animals, just part of nature. But us doing it just for the hell of it is wrong. Animals have just as much right to live as we do.

I don't agree with people who feel pouring BBQ sauce on steak or piling other accessories on meat is wrong. But I do think it's wrong to abuse our technological and intellectual (allegedly) advantages over animals for entertainment of fashion purposes.

Mod Note: Trim Those Quotes - Please Review this link

[edit on 15-6-2007 by DontTreadOnMe]

The fasion purposes I can understand. I buy synthetic leather which has similar wind breaking properties and doesn't require the death of an animal. However, our species is omnivorous. We eat both plants and animals. I personally go on game hunts, and I always eat my kill. I think there is nothing wrong with that because I am in essence an animal hunting another animal for food. This one Deer / Elk / Moose will feed me and my fiance for a few months. (the meat fills my freezer usually). I usually only get one animal a year for anyone who calls me a monster. Hunting for food is not bad!

This particular land, where it not hunted, would be overwhelmed with mule deer. They would become very overpopulated. Just so happens they are tasty too!

I also fish (more often practice catch and release unless it is a very common edible species). Doing both these things (at least for me) gives me that much more respect for the wild. That much more respect for habitat and for the environment and conservation more than both. I pay my respects to every animal to which I feed upon. Do not throw hunters into this category unless that hunter is irresponsible and only does it for the thrill of the hunt. Hunting only for enjoyment is wrong.

There is nothing wrong with eating meat! Have you never had a nice juicy T-Bone steak that was so tender and so delicious that you could have died that moment a happy man? I have...

I do agree with you that using animal fur / skin for clothing is wrong when we have developed cotton and synthetic fibers that can mimic the natural, but to say hunting is included in that is a fallacy. (we may keep the skin but we already ate the meat.)

On a side note.

STOP THE WHALING!!

[edit on 19-6-2009 by DaMod]

[edit on 19-6-2009 by DaMod]