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Whaler's Harpoon with Toggle Head
From the collection of National Museum of American History. Free to download, adapt and use — no permission needed.
About this work
The first step in catching a whale was throwing at least two sharp harpoons into its back, to ensure that the whaleboat was securely fastened to its prey. Harpoon shafts were made of soft wrought iron, so that they would bend and not break off when twisted, which risked losing the wounded whale.
National Museum of American History’s own descriptionCredit lineWhaler's Harpoon with Toggle Head. 1882. D. & D.. National Museum of American History, Jonathan Bourne through J. T. Brown. CC0.
