Ernest's Speargun Item No.28

Origin:	Croatia, Europe	Collection:	Ernest Vidulic
Year:	~1956	Description by:	Ernest Vidulic
Maker:	Ernest Vidulic	Info and Photo by:	Ernest Vidulic
Do you have more info about this item?		Last updated:	02.04.2006.

 

 

 

Description

This unique hand made speargun was built by Ernest Vidulic in his early teens, in Rijeka, Croatia. He clearly remembers that after getting his first mask and Hans Hass fins he was anxious to try spearfishing next spring.

Complete gun without rubbers and spear

This speargun was built from steamed beech wood, and it vas reinforced by copper plates. Complete gun was 58 cm long and quite heavy.

Gun with handle in extended position

As photos show, gun was built as a cockable rollergun, much like the guns shown as item 02 and item 03. Probably idea for a rollergun came to him after seeing serial production guns.

Gun rollers - top view

Rollers are spread apart somewhat, probably due to his first experiences with small sling type (bow and arrow) spearguns. The gun used a 10mm diameter rubber band which was at the time sold in local shops as "parachute rubber".

Handle detail and trigger detail

The gun was used to fire a spear made out of Fe welding electrode of 5 mm diameter and with sharpened tip. It wasn't attached by a string to a gun. Precise operating range was only about 1 m, but according to Ernest it was enough to catch some medium and small sized fish.

Trigger mechanism top

One of more interesting details is the trigger itself shown above and on sketch below. From these pictures it is easy to understand how it worked, and it was quite sophisticated for this gun.

Trigger mechanism - Ernest's sketch

Apparently these boys never went below 5 m depth because they didn't know about ear pressure equalization. For this purpose they used ear plugs made out of cork plug.

This speargun is amazing since shows a great desire in young boys to explore the underwater world and challenges of "underwater hunting" at the time when little was known and nothing was available to them but their own imagination and skill. A very big thanks goes to Mr.Vidulic for submitting these photos and description of this speargun as well as some nice stories from that time. Photos & Description © Ernest Vidulic

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