Rotary harpoon

There was a diversity of implements for sea hunting: harpoons, spears, missile boards, bows and arrows. Large animals that were difficult to wound deadly with just one blow were hunted with the help of rotary harpoon – a genius hunters’ invention. An ivory point was attached to the shaft; when thrust into an animal, the tip separated, but remained linked to the shaft by a long line. The shaft floating on the surface of water pointed to the spot where the animal dived. When the animal came to the surface to take a breath, the hunter made a new thrust. The rotary harpoon is most effective in places where there is floating ice. In areas of solid ice or in open waters it was rarely used. The time and the place of the invention of the rotary harpoon are unknown. But as early as several millenniums ago it was used by sea hunters in the northern part of the Pacific ocean as well as along the Atlantic coast of North America. In Europe the rotary harpoon was never used.

Kiril Yermigov throwing harpoon. USA, Alaska, Aleutian Islands, Umnak. The Aleutians. V. I. Iohelson. 1909		Tip of rotary harpoon. USA, Russian America, before 1843.