The harpoon is a hunting tool primarily used in the pursuit of whales and other sea animals. It is one of the oldest hunting tools known to man and was developed by prehistoric people as a variation of the spear. Originally the harpoon was hand thrown like the spear, but had a double-flued head like an arrow and a line attached to the shaft so the animal could be retrieved after a chase. This remained the basic design of harpoons for hundreds of years. Its major drawback was that the head tended to slip back out of the entry wound once the animal began to thrash around. As whaling became a more lucrative pursuit, people sought to improve the effectiveness of the harpoon. In the 1830s, a single-flued model was introduced and became the standard by 1840. The advantage of the single-flued design was that once the head entered...