Lewis Temple

The toggle iron harpoon was designed in 1848 by Lewis Temple, a blacksmith, this was the standard harpoon in American whaling from the mid-19th through the early 20th centuries. The toggle iron harpoon was also called "Temple's Toggle" and "Temple's Iron". Lewis Temple was born in 1800 as a slave in Richmond, Virginia. He obtained his freedom and moved to New Bedford, Massachusetts in 1929 where he worked as a blacksmith.