Pierce's Darting Gun
date: label: date made
content: circa 1865
label: This type of gun was invented by Capt. Eben Pierce
content: August 22, 1865
notes: label: Description
content: The “Pierce darting gun” is named after Eben Pierce, the New Bedford whaler who invented darting guns in 1865. Prior to Pierce’s new technology, whalers had to risk their lives by coming within reach of the whale to kill it. In the earlier system, they would first prevent the whale from escaping by hand-throwing a harpoon to attach a rope to the whale, then getting close enough to the wounded whale to puncture its lungs or heart with a long hand-held lance. Darting guns eliminated the danger of lancing; instead, they allowed a “bomb lance” to be fired at the whale from a distance. This not only made them safer, but more efficient than hand harpoons.
label: Description
content: Although technology improved, Pierce’s period, the late nineteenth-century, saw the decline of the whaling industry. Whales had been hunted for their oil and their bones, but the demand lessened as petroleum oil began to replace whale oil in the 1850s. Simultaneously, whales themselves—once abundant—had become scarce due to decades of overhunting.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
topic: label: Subject
content: Whaling
setName: label: See more items in
content: Work and Industry: Agriculture and Natural Resources
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 1990.0018.103B
label: catalog number
content: 1990.0018.103B
label: accession number
content: 1990.0018
objectType: label: Object Name
content: Harpoon Gun?
label: Object Name
content: Darting Gun
physicalDescription: label: Measurements
content: overall: 1 7/8 in x 17 5/8 in x 3 1/4 in; 4.7625 cm x 44.7675 cm x 8.255 cm