The explosive harpoon was only documented for the use of whaling. It is suggested that the exploding harpoon was invented by Captain Charles Freeman, a Brewster sea captain. Freeman was a whaler sailing out of Stonington, CT. Membership Donate Contact Us Volunteer. In the Attic Join us as we explore items in our collections both on and off display. The plug was made with a nipple for a percussion cap extending into the rear tube of the head; it also had a small hole through its length to transmit fire from the percussion cap to the forward tube.
The forward tube was made with a solid, pointed tip for penetrating the whale during darting, and was filled with gunpowder. The assembled explosive head was not forged to the shank, but fit loosely over the end of it. The solid shank entered the hollow rear tube a short distance.
A small wood shear pin held the head to the shank for darting; the end of the shank was thereby held a short distance back from the threaded plug with the percussion cap on it. Pivot barbs were installed in a mortise through a widened section of the shank, and they pivoted on a single, common pin. The two pivot barbs were spring-loaded open by small leaf springs mounted to the shank. A sliding collarover the ends of the barbs held them in the darting position.
The aft end of the shank terminated in a forged socket for mounting the iron to a wood pole, the same as standard hand-darted harpoons. In his patent specifications Briggs described the action of his harpoon: Patent drawings for the Theodore Briggs explosive harpoon. It is thrown by hand in the usual manner, so as to cause it to penetrate the skin and thick mass of blubber of the whale, and the tubular end then coming in contact with bone is suddenly arrested, while the momentum of the body and balance-shaft of the implement causes the breaking of the wooden pin During penetration the resistance of the blubber caused the sliding collar to move back to release the spring-loaded pivot barbs that would then open to secure the whale.
If the wood shear pin was weak, the initial impact against the side of the whale could have caused an explosion before penetration. If the shear pin was strong enough to to resist breaking during penetration, and the harpoon did not hit bone the mechanism would not function. It would be very unlikely that the harpooner could dart the iron to hit bone.
The Briggs harpoon was never popular. No example of this explosive harpoon could be found. This harpoon shot an explosive head farther into the whale before exploding. The hollow head was filled with gunpowder and sharp, angular pieces of steel to act as shrapnel. A long hollow tube filled with explosive was screwed into the rear of the head.
This tube acted as a time fuse, igniting the powder in the head through a small hole at the forward end of the tube after the propelling charge had ignited that far. The tube fit into a corresponding hole that acted as a gun barrel in the stationary portion of the head which contained a firing mechanism. The patent specifications describe a trigger wire extending from the hammer of the firing mechanism back along the shaft of the harpoon to a crosspiece.
When the iron was darted, the resistance of the blubber on the crosspiece caused the wire to be drawn back, releasing the firing mechanism and igniting the explosive to propel the head farther into the whale. The crosspiece was described as a ring of thin metal positioned edgewise around the shank.
The ring also attached to a "discharging-rod" that acted as a trigger, parallel to the shank. In the event that penetration was insufficient to allow the blubber to act on the crosspiece, a small line was provided by which the harpooner could actuate the mechanism manually. A large brass toggle barb acted to secure the whale after darting. The choice of brass may have been to prevent any spark that may have ignited the powder prematurely; otherwise brass was weaker than iron, and would have caused corrosion when in contact with iron.
This toggle barb was farther back on the head so it would not have been damaged by the explosive. More of this detail can be seen on the patent model, and patent drawings, which differ somewhat from the actual iron that was produced.
The Silas Barker explosive harpoon is vey rare; not many were made or used. Silas Barker Patent Drawings above and patent Model left. The shell was designed to explode on contact and impale the whale with the harpoon. Furthermore, who started whaling? Whaling as an industry began around the 11th Century when the Basques started hunting and trading the products from the northern right whale now one of the most endangered of the great whales.
They were followed first by the Dutch and the British , and later by the Americans, Norwegians and many other nations. Albert Moore's explosive harpoon It was invented on March 16, U. Patent No. This was the first handheld explosive harpoon ever invented. No other equipment was required, and a small boat equipped with these harpoons could take down a whale or other similar marine creatures.
The hand-thrown harpoon has two sets of sharp barbs and is made in two parts, the lily iron, about 5 inches 13 centimetres long, which contains the barbs, and a shaft about 18 in. The gun-projected harpoon explodes when it has struck the whale, expanding the barbs and killing the animal instantly. How did they kill whales? The cold harpoons were banned, and penthrite grenades became the standard method for killing whales.
Traditional whalers in the United States use hand-held harpoons to ensnare whales, and then kill them with high-powered rifles. They have also used penthrite bombs and black powder. Why do people harpoon whales? Whaling is the hunting of whales for their usable products such as meat and blubber, which can be turned into a type of oil which became increasingly important in the Industrial Revolution.
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