Sealing Spearhead

spearhead

Head of a sealing spear. Long, narrow speadhead on tapered conical base; remnants of wooden pole found inside base. Used by elephant sealers from the mid-decades of the 1800s, likely from a U.S. sealing vessel (U.S. fleet dominant in the Antarctic peninsula, 1840s - 1880s). Found on March 1, 2016 on James Ross Island (65 degrees14.8'S, 59 degrees 26.8' W), off the northeastern coast of the Antarctic peninsula by National Science Foundation funded researchers in the Antarctic Treaty Area.