Harpoon

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The harpoon, or 'unaaq' (Canadian Inuktitut dialect), is a tool traditionally used to hunt sea mammals.

In Greenland, saaqqutit, refers to all of the throwing weapons (literally meaning the weapons that lie in front of the kayaker). There are various types of harpoons: (source, H. C. Petersen's "Skinboats of Greenland").

http://www.qajaqpnw.org/sstiks123.jpg Ted Henry photo. Bladder dart.

Alligaq, or bladder dart, is one of the most ancient of throwing weapons. It is not attached to harpoon line and contains its own small float, thus it can be thrown very long distances. In flight, the small float allows the weapon to corkscrew through the air, and this spin adds accuracy.

Unaaq, the heavy "knob harpoon" is used with a harpoon line and a large float, avataq, for hunting larger seals and other marine mammals.

Ernannaq is the "winged" harpoon. It is similar to the knob harpoon except the tail end has dual bone "wings" acting like the fins of a dart, for stable flight. Unlike the knob harpoon which has the throwing board mounted to the side of the shaft, the winged harpoon is thrown with the end of the throwing board resting directly against the butt end of the shaft (between the wings).

Mamagoq or tuukkallik is the name for a practice harpoon. The practice harpoon that Maligiaq used at Qoornoq was 83.5".

http://www.qajaqpnw.org/ChrisHarpoon.jpg Ted Henry photo. Bird dart.

Nuiq or bird dart is used for hunting birds. This lightweight dart has in addition to the primary point, three or more side prongs (like a frog gig) to "wing" birds in flight, should the point miss its mark.

In addition to the throwing weapons there are various lances used to deliver the final blow to wounded prey.

The majority of Greenland harpoons are thrown using a norsaq (throwing stick), which effectively lengthens the throwers arm for more speed and power. The norsaq is not flexible like an atlatl.

Photos of Harvey Golden [1] [2]

http://www.qajaqusa.org/temp/knob_harpoon3.gif QajaqUSA sketch by Greg Stamer

I have drawn-up a sketch in the style of Scavenius Jensen, in his work Den Gronlandske kajak og dens redskaber. This is not an exact duplication of one particular drawing but ties in several elements from his excellent illustrations.

Jensen is very good for exploded drawings such as this, that makes it easy to see how the system functions as an ingenious whole. In the case of the harpoon, the key to understanding its function is largely the way the norsaq mates to the shaft, by the twin pegs, and how the harpoon head, trailed by line and the float, detaches from the wooden shaft.

The line tension holds the socket at the base of the harpoon head, tight against the blunt tip of the bone foreshaft. When prey is struck and struggles to escape, the foreshaft "dislocates" (temporarily snaps sideways) which prevents the wooden shaft from breaking under the stress and causes the line tension to go slack (the exploded view of the foreshaft shows it separated from the shaft -- ordinarily the lashing holds them close together). The slack allows the domino-like bone "line tensioner" to fall off and thus the wooden shaft is able to float free (the line tensioner shown has multiple holes to easily adjust the tension).

If the wooden shaft were not to separate, it could cause the harpoon head to be torn out by the struggling of the prey, or for the shaft to be broken.

After the throw the hunter watches the "knob" at the base of the shaft, and if it "hitches" as the harpoon disappears under the water, signaling a hit, the hunter quickly reaches around with his right arm and throws the float overboard. Thus the harpoon head is lodged in the prey, followed by the line, followed by the float. While the seal is fighting the buoyancy of the float, the hunter can retrieve the wooden harpoon shaft.

Petersen's Qaannamik Pinnguaatit has a diagram for three different blunt-tipped "practice" harpoons, a side-thrown weapon (used with a throwing board, like a knob harpoon), a shorter end-thrown weapon (used with a throwing board, like a wing harpoon), and long harpoon thrown by hand.

The knob harpoon is the weapon most commonly used in the championships. The dimensions shown in Petersen's book calls for a length of 2m (78 3/4"). The blunt tip (included in the overall length) is 5cm (2") long, the base of the tip is 3.5cm (1 3/8"), tapering to 2.5cm (1") at the tail.

The rear peg for the throwing stick (angled 45° toward the tail) is located 58cm (22 13/16") from the tail, and the forward peg (bored straight-through) is located 95cm (37 3/8") from the tail. The throwing stick shown is 45cm (17 3/4") long.

Due to copyright issues it would not be appropriate for me to scan the diagram, but the book is inexpensive and easy to obtain, should you need it.

I would love to obtain an English translation. The book begins with a drawing of a Greenlandic mother, moving the arms of her baby in a paddling motion, to begin his early kayak training, a diagram of a balance board for the youngster to practice on (a flat platform with circular supports at each end), includes a short bit of information on sculling, rolling, harpoons, and the rope exercises.

Competition rules:

http://www.qajaqusa.org/cgi-bin/GreenlandTechniqueForum_config.pl/read/734

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Harpoon

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