William H. Tripp Collection T-1514
[T-1514 Strapping Iron]
Putting gear for boats
“Strapping the Iron” Tony & Frank
William H. Tripp (1880-1959, American)

STRAPPING IRON
Boatsteerer Frank Crowie and foremast hand Tony Duarte fasten a toggle harpoon to its shaft or “pole” aboard the schooner John R. Manta in 1925. The harpoon is carefully rigged to a sturdy whale-line that will hold the whale fast to the boat when the whale is harpooned.

“Boat-steerer and foremast-hand fastening the harpoon, or 'iron,' as the whalemen call it, to its pole. The harpoon has a movable barb that 'toggles,' or tips, at right angles to the shank when darted into a whale. The shank terminated in a socket into which a hickory pole, six feet long, is driven. A short piece of whale-line with an eye-splice at one end, termed a 'strap,' is wrapped twice around the shank below the socket and close spliced. This 'strap' is stretched around the windlass bitts and secured tautly to the pole with two seizings of marline. The harpoon is not used to kill the whale, but merely to secure him to the whaleboat.” (William H. Tripp, mss inscription on verso of photograph)