The harpoon is a hunting tool primarily used in the pursuit of whales and other sea animals. It is one of the oldest hunting tools known to man and was developed by prehistoric people as a variation of the spear. Originally the harpoon was hand thrown like the spear, but had a double-flued head like an arrow and a line attached to the shaft so the animal could be retrieved after a chase. This remained the basic design of harpoons for hundreds of years. Its major drawback was that the head tended to slip back out of the entry wound once the animal began to thrash around. As whaling became a more lucrative pursuit, people sought to improve the effectiveness of the harpoon. In the 1830s, a single-flued model was introduced and became the standard by 1840. The advantage of the single-flued design was that once the head entered the whale's flesh, the force of the animal pulling against the harpoon caused the unevenly weighted head to bend at a right angle to the entry wound. Thus the head anchored itself in the whale and held firmly as the snared beast struggled to become free. In 1848, Lewis Temple improved the head design even further. The Massachusetts blacksmith developed a toggle head attached to the shaft of the harpoon by a rivet that allowed the head to turn ninety degrees from its upright position. The head and shaft were held in alignment by a piece of soft pine inserted through a hole in each part. Once the line attached to the harpoon was pulled taught by the whale, the wood piece snapped and the head swung into its ninety-degree position. This design proved much more reliable than its predecessors and cut down on the number of harpoon heads lost during the course of catching a whale. Primarily, harpoons have been hand-thrown for most of their history. Although various methods of propelling the harpoon were tried at different times, the weight of the weapon and the need for accuracy demanded that it be thrown by hand at close range to the prey.
In the mid-nineteenth century, however, whalers began to successfully experiment with mechanical enhancements to the harpoon. American ship captain Ebenezer Pierce developed a darting gun that was attached to the shaft of the harpoon. Although the harpoon was still thrust by hand, the darting gun helped immobilize the whale much more quickly than other methods. Upon entering the whale, the barb of the harpoon triggered the gun which released an explosive-tipped lance. The explosion normally killed or stunned the whale, allowing the whalers to deal with their quarry more easily. Pierce's invention was first used in 1865 and continues to be used by whalers in the Arctic regions. In 1868, Norwegian whaler Svend Foyn (1809-1894) introduced a viable harpoon gun. The gun was swivel-mounted which allowed it to be raised, lowered, or rotated on its base; it was outfitted with steel springs to absorb the recoil from its discharge. Foyn also redesigned the harpoon for use with his gun. He constructed the head with a set of hinged barbs that opened once they had penetrated the whale's skin. As the barbs opened, they broke a small vile of sulfuric acid, lighting a fuse that was connected to a packet of gunpowder. The ensuing explosion had the same effect as Pierce's darting gun, stunning or killing the animal instantly. Modern harpoons are still based on modifications of Foyn's design. Fired from a gun mounted on the bow of a whaling ship, the harpoon is composed of a shaft with a line attached, four barbs and an exploding head at the end. Instead of using a chemical ignition system, however, these harpoons use an electric charge. Once the harpoon has been fired from the boat and is lodged in the whale's flesh, the barbs hold the head in place until it is detonated. The whale is then towed back to the ship by the line attached to the harpoon's shaft. Through minor adjustments over the course of time, the harpoon has developed into a reliable and efficient means of hunting and capturing large sea animals.
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