All photographs provided by David Preston, Oahu, Hawaii.
David Preston from Oahu, Hawaii recently brought a very interesting speargun to our attention. This specimen appears to be hand built from oak wood and preserved with many layers of varnish. It has a rifle like 'stock' behind the hand grip. The grip is in an elevated position assuring accurate trajectory of the arrow when fired. Streamlined appearance is joined with several traditional Pacific island speargun details. This is a very attractive and functional gun. It's origin was mysterious, but with some research and collaboration from world-wide spearfishing experts, the origin of this interesting piece seems to have been established.
The gunbody is 54" in length and 1" in width. The handle has additional koa wood laminated onto it. There is a rubber pad on the gun butt. The spearshaft is 1/4" in thickness and appears to be made from carbon steel (probably heat-treated spring steel obtained from a 'Hinge Gun'. The overall length of the spearshaft is 56 1/8 ". Over all length is 64 1/8". This information has been provided by David Preston.
This nicely crafted piece of functional equipment was a mystery, until Ron Mullins contacted his friend John Iwaniec on Oahu, Hawaii. We were fortunate because John was definitely the right guy . A year ago, John had been introduced to a 75 year old man named Paul Horalan who has been making these spearguns in a town near Pearl Harbor. One of John's close friends owned one of these guns himself. He recognized a similarity between the spearguns John had made and the ones which were originally made by Paul Horalan. The introduction between the gentlemen speargun builders was destined because they both had converged upon a successful ergonomic design - the rifle stock attached to a rear-handled wooden gun. On another page, you will see the similarity between the speargun made by Paul Horalan and the speargun made by John Iwaniec.
Details of Paul Horalan's Hawaiian speargun
The Paul Horalan speargun uses a mix of design elements which have been seen from the Pacific Islands to Japan. Note the trigger is a bent piece of stainless steel rod which forms a round hook. This hook protrudes through the flattened, spring steel spearshaft. The trigger is spring loaded with a stretched length of natural latex rubber tubing, secured with a knot below the trigger guard. This pre-tension assures the trigger will be in place when the spearshaft is introduced below the copper shaft keeper. Two bands are hooked to the single 'tab' brazed upon the spearshaft in front of the shaft keeper. When the diver pulls the trigger the stainless rod is pulled down from the hole in the shaft and it can fly free to it's target.
The bands are attached to this gun in a manner which more closely resembles the small Japanese rollerguns we have seen. Strong D-rings hold the bands. There is a continuous stainless steel strap which secures the D-rings to the front of the gun without weakening the wood with a large hole. Note the ligature on both of the bands. The two bands are made from a single length of black speargun rubber.
Spearshaft details of the Paul Horalan Hawaiian speargun
This spearshaft appears to be spring steel, much like which is used in the 'Hinge Guns' commonly used around the shallow reefs of Hawaii. The spearshaft is 1/4" in diameter, relatively thin in comparison to most of today's guns. No doubt the arrow really was quick. Double wings helped secure the impaled fish. A stainless steel slide ring was used to retrieve the shaft. heavy monofilament line was used to secure the fish.
We are grateful for all the quality photographs that David Preston of Oahu, Hawaii has provided us with. The excellent quality of these images allows us all a visual window by which we can discover work by one of the old master speargun builders from Hawaii, Paul Horalan.
The next page will illustrate the physical similarity between Paul Horalan's spearguns and those produced by John Iwaniec. You will see an ergonomic development - the rifle stock as it has been applied to spearguns. More to come. The next page is under development.