Harpoon left
H ARPOON
C ANNON
Harpoon right

Green cannon
Whale cannon from the S.S. Green
mmbc collections

This harpoon cannon was removed from the S.S. Green after she sank at her pier in Victoria in 1968. The S.S. Green was the last of the Consolidated Whaling Company's long defunct fleet of whalers. The tip of the cast iron harpoon was filled with 3/4 pounds of explosive. One end of a forty fathom manila rope (6 feet per fathom) was attached to the shank and the other end was secured to a steam winch.

Utilized cannon
Using the cannon
mmbc 4512.04P

The explosive charge would ignite after impact with the whale causing the barbed hooks to expand and secure the rope to the whale. While this usually secured the animal, the blast often served only to wound it and it was often necessary to attack the creature with further thrusts of hand-held harpoons to bring about its death.

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