Museum Artifacts.
| Here are just a few glimpses of some of the items in the museum’s collection that aren’t on display at the moment. |
 Head of a whale harpoon, launched from a harpoon gun. |
 Detail of the the firing mechanism of a hand held rifle used to launch small harpoons. |
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| Tip of the bomb lance from the gun above. |
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| Flight from the bomb lance above. |
 The gun is very heavy and I should imagine would produce quite a kick on firing. |
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The hand-held shoulder gun was invented by the American whaler Captain Eben Pierce around 1868. Used in whaling during the late 18th and early 19th centuries. The projectile was a bomb lance or whaling bomb, which exploded when it hit the whale. Bomb lances were introduced with shoulder guns to solve the problem of getting close enough to a whale to lance it, particularly in ice fields, and eliminate the often hazardous hand lancing operation. The bomb is provided with a fuse which is set to fire automatically when it is discharged, and burns for three seconds before exploding the bomb itself.
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