Bent American Double-Flued Whaling Harpoon

Identifier: 1992.0160.001
Title: Bent American Double-Flued Whaling Harpoon
Creator: George Swain, Jr. (American, 1791 - 1880)
Measurements: 55.8 x 22 cm (22 x 13 inches)
Materials: iron (metal)
Technique: blacksmithing
Date Created: Before 1861
Location: Nantucket Historical Association
Subject: Harpoons; Hunting--Equipment and supplies; Whaling
Description: The iron head of a harpoon, one end a flared socket where it would have been attached to a wooden shaft and one end shaped like an arrow with two barbs. There is a tight twist in the middle of the shaft. The boatsteerer was not always successful at attaching the whaleboat to the whale: the contact between a soft iron harpoon and a whale’s thick blubber could cause the harpoon to bend.
Inscriptions: Stamped: GS