barbed point, used to
strike whales and other fish. The harpoon is furnished with a long
shank, and has at one end a broad and flat triangular head, sharpened at
both edges so as to penetrate the whale with facility, but blunt behind
to prevent its cutting out. To the other end a fore-ganger is bent, to
which is fastened a long cord called the whale-line, which lies
carefully coiled in the boat in such a manner as to run out without
being interrupted or entangled. Several coils, each 130 fathoms of
whale-line (soft laid and of clean silky fibre) are in readiness; the
instant the whale is struck the men cant the oars, so that the roll may
not immerse them in the water. The line, which has a turn round the
bollard, flies like lightning, and is intensely watched. One man pours
water on the smoking bollard, another is ready with a sharp axe to cut,
and the others see that the lines run free. Seven or eight coils have
been run out before the whale "sounds," or strikes bottom, when he rises
again to breathe, and probably gets a similar dose.--_Gun harpoon._ A
weapon used for the same purpose as the preceding, but it is fired out
of a gun, instead of being thrown by hand; it is made entirely of steel,
and has a chain or long shackle attached to it, to which the whale-line
is fastened. Greener's harpoon-gun is a kind of wall-piece fixed in a
crutch, which steps into the bow-bollard of the whale-boat. The harpoon
projects about four inches beyond the muzzle. It consists of its barbed
point attached to a long link, with a solid button at its opposite end
to fit the gun; on one rod of this link is a ring which runs to the
muzzle, and is there attached to the whale-line by a thong of seal or
walrus hide, wet. The gun being fired, the harpoon is projected, the
ring sliding up to the button, when the line follows. Some of these
harpoons or other engines have grenades--glass globules with prussic
acid or other chemicals--which sicken the whale instantly, and little
trouble ensues.

HARPOONER, HARPONEER, OR HARPINEER. The expert bowman in a whale-boat,
whose duty it is to throw or fire the harpoon.

HARP-SEAL. The _Phoca gr[oe]nlandica_, a species of seal from the Arctic
seas; so called from the form of a dark-brown mark upon its back.

HARQUEBUSS, OR ARQUEBUSS. Something larger than a musket. Sometimes
called caliver. (_See_ ARQUEBUSS.)

HARR, OR HARL. A sea-storm, from a northern term for snarling, in
allusion to the noise. Also