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The dangers of the hunt and the rewards of a
successful kill led to ongoing improvements in weapons design.
 or Basque whalers, who
first hunted off our shores for slow-moving, passive right whales,
the simple, hand-held barbed harpoon and the lance were adequate
weapons. After these whales became scarce, other more elusive and
aggressive species were targeted.
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The dangers of traditional whaling,
19th-century lithograph
(Courtesy: National Archives of Canada
C-32706)
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During the nineteenth century, new harpoon designs emerged, and
the use of firearms to propel harpoons and bomb lances was
pioneered. In the 1860s, Norwegians revolutionized whaling with
the development of cannons that shot harpoons armed with exploding
tips that detonated inside the whale after impact. The guns were
mounted on steam-driven catcher ships that could overtake whales
swimming in open water.
Widespread use of this technology led to the wholesale slaughter
of whales and to near extinction of some species.
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Diagram of a harpoon with an exploding head, 2000
Artist: Jeff Wiebe, Ottawa, Ontario
Diagram of a harpoon with an exploding head and related apparatus
suitable for a 60 mm breech-loading harpoon cannon. The shell
casing was charged by the whalers. A cloth bag containing
gunpowder was inserted into the casing and held in place by fibre
disks. The end of the harpoon fit into the casing next to a rubber
disk that sealed out moisture. When the gun was fired, the harpoon
was propelled out of the gun and the casing was recovered for
future use. When the cast iron harpoon head entered a whale, its
detonator ignited the gunpowder in a second cloth bag, and the
resulting explosion shattered the iron, sending shrapnel into the
vital organs of the prey. The harpoon shaft could be retrieved
after the dead whale had been winched along side the catcher ship.
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