Thar She Blows!

Modern day shoulder-mounted rocket launchers are typically employed in times of war. However, the history of the Rocket Propelled Grenade includes an interesting appearance on the creaky boats of the North Atlantic. These rocket-propelled harpoons even came equipped with a circular blast plate to protect the individual from the rocket's exhaust. This cutting-edge technology report is taken from the February, 1870 issue of Harper's Magazine.

The rocket-harpoon gun, for capturing and killing whales, invented some years ago by an American captain, is now used with great success in the Greenland and Iceland fisheries. By this apparatus a steady aim may be taken at the whale to be attacked; and by pulling a trigger a harpoon is discharged with unerring precision into the body of the animal, the rocket bearing a shell, which explodes immediately on penetration, causing death almost instantaneously. The harpoon may be sent to a distance of nearly a hundred feet—much further than an ordinary harpoon can be thrown by the arm of the stoutest whaleman. The rocket-harpoon has been used successfully in the capture of the sulphur-bottom whale, a species proverbially difficult to secure, as well as extremely dangerous when attacked at close quarters, so much so that very few of even the most experienced whalers ever undertake to kill them. These whales generally require to be hauled up from the bottom after being killed.

Image via Solar Navigator

Labels: 1800s, Animals, Inventions, Science