Page:Journal of a Voyage to Greenland, in the Year 1821.djvu/273

Rh blank direction, the small orifice which it makes, and its power of retention whenever it penetrates. "Capt. Manby's idea of affording a method of destroying whales by shells and carcasses thrown from a gun, seems to be quite original, and promises, if the shells have power of penetration sufficient, to be an admirable auxiliary means of capturing whales: for attacking "wicked fish," fish at the edge of packs, finners, razor backs, &c., these destructive implements might be of uncommon service. There can be little doubt that a shell, exploding among the viscera of a fish, would produce instant paralysis; this being the ease, fish might then be attacked without hazard at packs, or in a sea, or amid bay ice; when, in the ordinary way, they could not be struck without the most imminent risk of the 1oss of lines and materials, while the chance of succeeding in the capture is small. Such are Captain Manby's inventions: they are the result of a persevering, thinking and comprehensive mind: a mind devoted to philanthropic objects, and to the public good."

The shells were of cast-iron in an oblong form, $1 1⁄2$ diameter in length; the fuzes were of brass having a strong thread, to screw them securely into the mouth of the shell, in which was cut a female screw to receive it: the fuze was driven with powder (of the strongest quality) mealed, and the length graduated to burn as nearly one second as possible, and the head was pierced with four holes for pieces of quick match drawn through them, to ensure the fuze igniting from the flash of the gun.

The carcasses were of similar form to the shells, with a much larger mouth (where was also cut a female screw,) to receive pieces of an unextinguishable composition which generated a gas destructive to vitality; the mouth was closed by a screw to prevent the pieces of composition being blown out: and in the sides were holes (filled up with mealed powder moistened with spirits