Most of our contemporaries believe that a harpoon is something like a spear for catching fish. Most often it is confused with spear. This is understandable: for hunting and fishing “for fun”, the classic harpoon is almost never used, but among the indigenous peoples of the North, who live in traditional crafts, this tool is still in honor. "Civilized" Europeans and Americans now use a harpoon gun, and it has little in common with an ancient weapon: this rather complex tool has undergone significant changes over the many centuries of its existence. Of particular fame was, of course, the whaling harpoon described in detail by Herman Melville, but there were others that were different in design and purpose. We will try to highlight their common features.
The meaning of the word "harpoon"
The compilers of explanatory dictionaries agree that this term (harpoen) owes its appearance to the Dutch whalers, who in the 17th century knew no equal. The word comes from the late Latin harpo ("hook"). However, there is evidence that the concept arose even earlier - among the Basques, a people living on the territory of modern Spain. Translated fromBasque language "harpoon" is "stone point". In Russia, a harpoon was called a carousel or a knitting needle.
Design. Harpoon and spear
The simplest device for a harpoon for fishing. Such a harpoon is just a jagged spear. In some cases, it has a ring for tying to a boat. A harpoon is sometimes called a spear (and vice versa), but in fact a spear is a completely different tool. It has several long teeth and is not intended for throwing. The hunter hits the fish with it without letting go of the shaft from his hand. A harpoon for hunting aquatic animals (seals, walruses) is a throwing tool that consists of a shaft (usually wooden), a tip (can be bone, stone, metal) and a rope connecting them. In conditions of scarcity of materials and tools, it is not easy for a hunter to make such a harpoon. The photo clearly demonstrates what a complex design this device can have.
The tip, as a rule, is flat and serrated, inserted into the shaft, but connected to it loosely. After the hunter has made a throw, the shaft is separated from the tip that has entered the body of the victim. It is not always possible to kill an animal with one throw. The wounded animal tries to hide, the rope is stretched, and the shaft, which floats on the surface of the water, indicates to the hunter the direction of his movement. The victim cannot get rid of the point that has settled in the body: this is prevented by the lateral teeth.
Harpoon from different peoples
The harpoon is an international weapon. People have learnedcarve them back in the Paleolithic (Early Stone Age). They were made from bone (northerners - from walrus and mammoth) and antler, more often deer. The points of ancient harpoons were made by the Eskimos, Aleuts, Chukchi and Koryaks from flint, bronze, native copper and iron. However, the peoples of Alaska did not disdain solid wooden harpoons. Some African tribes use a harpoon (with an iron point) to hunt hippos. In the Andaman Islands, wild boars are killed with them. In the caves of mainland Europe (at a considerable distance from the sea), bone tips from complex harpoons were found, which were apparently used to catch large fish and hunt forest (not aquatic!) animals. Neolithic bone arrowheads have also been found in Russia. They hunted with harpoons both in summer and in winter, from a boat, near a hole or simply in the water. Since ancient times, harpoons have been used by the Indonesians to catch whales, dolphins and sharks. Their design did not provide for the separation of the tip, the harpoon was simply tied to the boat with a long line. It should be noted that the Indonesians do not throw a harpoon at a whale, but, without letting go of the shaft from their hand, jump on its back and stab it like with an ordinary spear.
The harpoon is an ancient whaler's tool
Shapes of harpoons were very diverse. The classic European or American whaling tool has an iron shaft and a wide, short blade. Most often, such harpoons have wooden handles, for which they are tied to the boat with a very long rope. In the 19th century (and earlier), whales were pursued on small rowboats (whaleboats). Approaching to a distance of 6 meters, the harpooner threw inwhale their weapons (more often - two). When thrown, the tip did not separate from the shaft. The line tied to the harpoon was rapidly unwinding, and the whale dragged the boat along the waves with great speed until it was exhausted. Then the whale was killed, but not with a harpoon, but with a spear, and it was not the harpooner who did it, but the captain of the whaleboat. However, a good harpooner was highly respected.
Northern hunters still come across whales with twisted 19th-century guns in their bodies. One such harpoon is shown below. The photo, even so laconic, shows that the whale was more than a dangerous adversary.
Norwegians even had a law according to which a man supporting a family could not be a harpooner.
Evolution of the gun
In the second half of the 19th century, the whaler's harpoon was replaced by a harpoon gun invented by the Norwegian engineer Foyn. She made whaling safer and much more unsightly. An ordinary harpoon has evolved into a spear gun. But these devices retained the main elements of their "ancestor": a sharp tip with teeth directed backwards, and a cable that does not allow the hunter to miss the prey.
Indigenous peoples of the North continue to use the same tools as their forefathers. The harpoon is a universal fishing tool. Despite the fact that firearms have become available to the inhabitants of Alaska or Chukotka, they are not going to abandon hunting methods and means that have been proven over the centuries.
