Lewis Temple revolutionized the whaling industry in the mid-1800s, despite never having gone to sea himself. His invention, the toggle harpoon, changed maritime history forever and was crafted by a man who had once been enslaved. In the early nineteenth century, New Bedford, Massachusetts, was a bustling hub for America's whaling industry. Whalers ventured into perilous seas largely equipped with inefficient tools. Lewis Temple, an African American blacksmith who had gained his freedom, saw an o