Two flue irons have been in use for hunting whales and large fish for over a thousand years. A whaling scene on the seal of the Basque town of Biarritz from 1351 depicts a harpoon with a two flue head.
An engraving from 1611 also clearly shows the two flue harpoon.
This illustration is from Hans Egede's "Beschryving van Oud-Groenland," re-engraved for "Churchill's Voyages" (1745) and included in George F. Dow's "Whale Ships and Whaling: A Pictorial History of Whaling during Three Centuries" (Salem, Mass.: Marine Research Society, 1925), p.60.
Frederic Marten described the two flue design in 1671, noting:
"It is shaped like an arrow before: it hath two sharp beards, they are sharp at the edge, and have a broad back, like unto a hatchet that is sharp before and blunt behind, or on the back, so that it may not cut with its back, for else it would tear out, and all your labour would be lost."
Two flue irons have been in use for hunting whales and large fish for over a thousand years. A whaling scene on the seal of the Basque town of Biarritz from 1351 depicts a harpoon with a two flue head. An engraving from 1611 also clearly shows the two flue harpoon. This illustration is from Hans Egede's "Beschryving van Oud-Groenland," re-engraved for "Churchill's Voyages" (1745) and included in George F. Dow's "Whale Ships and Whaling: A Pictorial History of Whaling during Three Centuries" (Salem, Mass.: Marine Research Society, 1925), p.60. Frederic Marten described the two flue design in 1671, noting: "It is shaped like an arrow before: it hath two sharp beards, they are sharp at the edge, and have a broad back, like unto a hatchet that is sharp before and blunt behind, or on the back, so that it may not cut with its back, for else it would tear out, and all your labour would be lost." Early American colonial harpoons were used to attach a "drug" to the whale to slow and tire it. The drug, or drogue, was typically a block of wood about two feet square, crossed planks, or some other float attached to the iron by a short warp no longer than seventy-five fathoms. Sometimes called log harpoons, these early irons had smaller heads as they only needed to withstand the force required to pull the drug through the water, not the heavy load of a whaleboat. The shafts of these early irons ended in a shoulder with a small spike at the base, rather than the later familiar socket used to fasten the iron to a pole.
By the mid-1700s, the use of drugs was largely abandoned in favor of attaching the whaleboat to the whale with a "tow iron." Clifford W. Ashley, in "The Yankee Whaler," notes that this shift occurred between 1761 and 1782. This major change understandably caused concern among whalemen. Thomas Beale related an account of the introduction of the tow iron in "The Natural History of the Sperm Whale" (1839):
"An American whaler, who had been bred from his boyhood in the service informed me that his grandfather had been employed on a whaling expedition in a small vessel off the coast of America, and that, having experienced a great deal of ill success in consequence of their being unable to capture any whales by means of the log harpoon, the captain of their little barque wished them to make trial of the method of which they had just heard, by the boat and line; but to his irresolute seamen the idea seemed monstrous; the mere thought of having the boat they were in attached to an infuriated leviathan by a strong rope struck terror among the whole crew. 'What,' said they, 'shall we be dragged to the bottom of the sea? Shall we be towed with the velocity of lightning to the other side of the world? Shall we be torn to pieces by the jaws of the monstrous fish that we may be fastened to?' In vain did their captain explain to them the various means they could employ to avoid those anticipated dangers; he urged their reason to note the excellence of the plan, but his eloquence proved of no avail; so fearful were they of this dangerous innovation on their old method, that the very rope which the captain had prepared for the service was pointed through the ship's stern during the night, and allowed to run overboard. But nevertheless, others more daring undertook the trial soon afterward, in which they frequently came off victorious, so that the new method was established among them, and has since been much improved."
Back to top of page British two flue harpoons (and other British irons) featured stop withers, or reverse barbs, sometimes called beards, at the flue tips. This addition appeared around the mid-eighteenth century. Captain William Scoresby explained the action of these stop withers in 1820 in "An Account of the Arctic Regions," vol II, p.224:
"When the harpoon is forced by a blow into the fat of the whale, and the line is held tight, the principal withers seize the strong ligamentous fibres of the blubber, and prevent it from being withdrawn; and in the event of its being pulled out, so far as to remain entangled by one wither only, which is frequently the case, then the little reversed barb, or 'stop wither' as it is called, collecting a number of the same reticulated sinewy fibres, which are very numerous near the skin, prevents the harpoon from being shaken out by the ordinary motions of the whale."
The stop withers were occasionally used on some New England harpoons but were a rarity. In 1822, a bill from New Bedford blacksmith Nathan Taber for the whaleship William Rotch lists:
32 harpoons @ 90ct, $28.80 - 18 bearded ditto @ 1.20, $21.60 .. 50.40
It appears that making harpoons with stop withers was more complex and hence more costly. There were two types of stop withers—acute and obtuse, with a sketch illustrating the difference. Obtuse stop withers, likely a later version, were less effective than acute ones.
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William Carsley Iron
The earliest United States patent for a harpoon was granted to William Carsley, a New Bedford blacksmith, in 1841. Two flue irons had a significant drawback; they would often pull out too easily. Several reasons for this issue (discussed under single flue irons) included the harpoon head and entry wound being of the same size, allowing the iron to pull back out through the entry cut it made.
William Carsley patented a variation of the two-flue harpoon to address this issue by ensuring the head did not align directly with the entry wound after it was darted (reference US Patent No. 2195, July 29, 1841). His design involved slightly offsetting the flues in opposite directions, theoretically causing the iron to twist in a spiral during entry, preventing alignment with the initial cut. Carsley mentioned that this feature could be applied to both two-flue and single-flue irons. However, in practice, this twisting motion did not occur. The blubber was soft enough to shift around the slightly offset flue tips, and the harpoon's mass was too significant to force into a spiral motion. Consequently, the Carsley iron was not successful, and few were produced.
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Charles F. Brown Harpoon Patent Drawing for Charles F. Brown Harpoon Another invention that incorporated the twisted-flue concept was patented by Charles F. Brown of Warren, Rhode Island, in 1850 (reference US Patent No. 7,610, Sept. 3, 1850). This patent did not include the twisted flues themselves but focused on a method for attaching and securing the line without using knots or splicing. This was achieved through a sliding ring on the shank of the iron and a rounded, blunt front end of the socket. The ring was too small to pass over the socket. The end of a line was passed from the rear through the ring, bent around the shank in front of the ring, and finally passed back through the ring to the rear. When the line was pulled tight, the ring pressed against the rounded end of the socket, pinching the line to secure it. In his patent specifications, Brown stated that the harpoon head "may be made of wrought-iron steeled at the cutting edge, or of cast-iron chilled." The head was designed with a chisel-shaped cutting edge.
The straight, parallel sides of the head were not cutting edges and terminated at the rear as rounded sides to the flue tips. The two flue tips were inclined in opposite directions to cause a rotating action, similar to the 1841 Carsley iron. However, the twisted flues were not claimed in the patent.
Another feature of the Brown harpoon was a wrought-iron pole instead of an ordinary wood pole. This pole was described as screwing into the base of the socket at the forward end and having a large knob at the butt for a handhold. A swinging link, or loop, through which the whale line passed freely, was fastened near the middle of the pole. This link was meant to keep the line in position along the pole for darting. I have not been able to locate an example of this harpoon.
Back to top of page Holmes and West Harpoon In 1846, John Holmes and Abner West from Tisbury, Massachusetts, invented a new type of hand-darted, two-flued harpoon (reference US Patent No. 4,865, Nov. 24, 1846). This harpoon featured a stationary two-flued head and a separate part with two barbs nested behind the stationary flues. The rear part could rotate around the harpoon shank's axis and was held in place for darting by a small wedge or grommet. Once embedded in the whale, the rear part rotated due to the whale's movements. The rotation was not limited, resulting in four barbs instead of two, enhancing its grip to prevent withdrawal.
The patent claims by Holmes and West included this two-part head construction and a multiple-rod shank. This shank used a bundle of small diameter, solid rods instead of a single rod shaft, aiming to provide greater flexibility and reduce the risk of shaft breakage.
An 1844 newspaper article optimistically reported on the new invention:
"John Holmes, Esq. at Holmes Hole, Marthas' Vinyard has invented a whale Iron which promises shortly to supersede those now in general use,"
Patent drawing for Holmes and West Harpoon
However, this promise was never fulfilled. One potential issue was the flexible shaft, which may have bent too much during penetration. Additionally, without a positive mechanism to ensure the rear barbs rotated, they might not have rotated at all. This problem was addressed in a later patent by Mayhew Adams in 1863.
Back to top of page Meyhew Adams Harpoon Photograph courtesy of History of Technology Division, NMAH, Smithsonian Institution.
In 1863, Mayhew Adams of Chilmark, MA, patented a hand-darted harpoon that used a similar rotating rear head part as the Holmes and West design (reference U.S. Patent No. 38,207, April 21, 1863). (see above) Adams' design featured a two-flued head with a rear portion that could rotate around the shank's axis. Internal ramps or steep screw threads engaged corresponding parts at the rear of the stationary head, causing positive rotation when tension was applied after penetration. This rotation was limited to ninety degrees, positioning the two parts at right angles. A small wood shear pin held the head parts aligned for darting.
U.S. patent drawing for Meyhew Adams harpoon
The patent claim for this iron stated: "The application to the harpoon of a semi-revolving head resting upon segments of screws or angular pivots, causing the harpoon to turn at right angles with the semi-revolving head when fast to a whale and a strain set upon it, and then to remain fixed or coupled together.""
There were several other variations to the harpoon to prevent it from pulling out too easily. A basic modification to the standard two-flue iron was the single-flue iron.
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