Ethnographic Arms & Armour - View Single Post - 19th-century weapon found in whale

Jim McDougall · 22nd June 2007, 10:36 PM

Apparantly these 'bomb lances' were 'invented' about 1846 in New Bedford, and were fired from a shoulder gun much like a heavy guage rifle.Some sources say these were produced only in New Bedford and for only about six years (1879-1885)...not sure what followed.....bazookas?
Just thought that was interesting

This thread did inspire me to watch "Moby Dick" out of curiosity, and still was wondering about 'albino whales', never found much more on that topic.
Naturally cannot be sure that harpoons in the context of these New England whalers could be considered 'weapons'...but certainly in the ethnographic context the implements used in hunting, fishing, whaling etc. were often multipurpose. In any case, learning about the harpoon forms (they were termed loosely 'irons' by whalers) is interesting from a developmental standpoint, and correlates in that regard with similarity to weapon development.

Best regards,
Jim

22nd June 2007, 10:36 PM	#8
Jim McDougall Arms Historian Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Route 66 Posts: 10,284	Apparantly these 'bomb lances' were 'invented' about 1846 in New Bedford, and were fired from a shoulder gun much like a heavy guage rifle.Some sources say these were produced only in New Bedford and for only about six years (1879-1885)...not sure what followed.....bazookas? Just thought that was interesting This thread did inspire me to watch "Moby Dick" out of curiosity, and still was wondering about 'albino whales', never found much more on that topic. Naturally cannot be sure that harpoons in the context of these New England whalers could be considered 'weapons'...but certainly in the ethnographic context the implements used in hunting, fishing, whaling etc. were often multipurpose. In any case, learning about the harpoon forms (they were termed loosely 'irons' by whalers) is interesting from a developmental standpoint, and correlates in that regard with similarity to weapon development. Best regards, Jim