The hand lance, often referred to as the killing iron, was the primary tool used to kill a whale after it had been securely fastened with a harpoon. When the harpooner, known as the boatsteerer, successfully embedded a harpoon (ideally two) into a whale, he would swap positions with the mate, referred to as the boatheader. Up to that point, the boatheader had been steering from the stern. Only the mate was permitted to kill the whale using the hand lance. The harpooner then took over steering duties, allowing the mate to use the lance to deliver the fatal blow. The lance was thrust into the whale's "life" area, targeting the large arteries holding oxygenated blood essential for deep dives. This method of hand lancing had remained unchanged for centuries. In 1625, Thomas Edge described this technique during a whaling expedition to Spitzbergen:
"... in lancing him they strike near the fins he swims with, and as low under water near his belly as they can; but once lanced, he thrashes and strikes with his tail so forcefully that he often splinters the boat when he hits it.
Having received his mortal wound, the whale then spouts blood instead of water, signaling the beginning of his end."
The lance itself was made up of an iron shank, about five to six feet long and 3/8 inches in diameter, with a socket forged at one end to mount it onto a wooden pole. The blade was oval-shaped, roughly five inches long, two inches wide, and 1/4 inch thick, sharpened to a razor edge on all sides. It was crafted to penetrate deeply and easily, allowing for repeated use until the whale spouted blood, a sight referred to as "chimney afire."
A short lance warp was tied around the shank of the lance forward of
the socket with a double round hitch and eye splice, similar to the attachment method of a harpoon warp. This short warp ran along the lance pole, secured in two places with marline, and often passed through a hole at the butt end of the pole, emerging from the center. This setup facilitated the easy retrieval of the lance for multiple uses. Unlike the rough iron pole, the lance pole was smoother and straighter.
Photograph taken during filming "Down to the Sea in Ships," 1922.
There were two types of hand lances: the common lance and the steel lance. Common lances had blades forged from wrought iron, while steel lances featured blades made of cast steel forge-welded to the wrought iron shaft. Steel lances were marked with the words "CAST STEEL" on the blade. Common lances were in use before 1864. Records from the whaling agents Swift and Allen in New Bedford listed both common and cast-steel lances in their inventories from the early 1850s. Common lances were initially less expensive than steel lances. However, after steel production increased in the United States in 1864, only steel lances were used because they maintained a cutting edge much better than the softer wrought iron.
Common Lance (above) and steel lance (below). Author's collection.
Some British hand lances featured two large half-round grooves running lengthwise along the blade, with one on either side of the shaft axis on each face of the blade, making four grooves in total. These grooves were designed to facilitate the egress of blood, but this feature was never adopted on American lances.
Walrus or sea-elephant lance. Length is 48-1/2". Hand lances with very short shanks were used specifically for hunting walrus or sea elephants, not whales. Sometimes, damaged whale lances were repurposed aboard ships to create these shorter walrus lances. Instead of being mounted on a long lance pole, these were fitted with a short wooden handle. Walrus and sea elephants were killed by hand on the ice, rather than from a boat..
Kelleher Explosive Hand Lance
Kelleher hand-darted explosive lance, detached from pole. Length of the lance excluding pole is 48-1/2"; lance blade is 5" long, 2-1/2" wide, 3/4" thick. Photograph courtesy of History of Technology Division, NMAH, Smithsonian Institution. In 1878, Daniel Kelleher of New Bedford, a prominent machinist and later a bomb-lance manufacturer, patented a hand-darted explosive lance (U.S. Patent No. 201,794, March 26, 1878). This lance featured a thick, hollow-cast blade attached to the front of a brass
bombshell, which screwed onto a lance shank. A wire connected to a friction primer in the bomb extended from the aft end of the bomb and ran back along the shank in a designated groove. The wire detonator cord was secured to a sliding piece around the shank that could move freely forward of the socket. A thumb screw on this sliding part held it in place to prevent accidental discharge. A closed-seam socket at the rear of the shank allowed the lance to be mounted on a standard lance pole.
When Kelleher's hand-darted bomb lance was prepared for use, the thumb screw was released, and the lance was darted into the whale. As the lance penetrated deeper, the sliding part around the shaft made contact with the whale and stopped moving, pulling out the detonating wire, which ignited the friction primer and exploded the bomb. The penetration depth before explosion could be adjusted by altering the length of the detonating wire.
Patent drawings for Kelleher Explosive Lance.
Kelleher's lance was costly, and if it failed to kill the whale on the first attempt, it couldn't be retrieved for reuse. Consequently, it never gained popularity, especially compared to the more efficient gun-fired bomb lances available at the time.
There were also poison hand-darted lances. These are often grouped with poison harpoons because they share many similarities, and discussing them together provides a more comprehensive understanding of poison implements. Click her to go to poison lances.
© Website originally created by Thomas G. Lytle.
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