A ship's crew discovered a bomb lance fragment, which had been made more than 120 years ago in New Bedford, Mass., in the flesh of a large bowhead whale.

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Capt. Arnold Brower and his crew discovered the artifact in the neck of the whale while cutting it open after their hunt in Alaska, the Standard-Times of (New Bedford, Mass.) reported Thursday.

John Bockstoce, adjunct curator of the New Bedford Whaling Museum, said be believes the lance fragment was manufactured in New Bedford before 1885 and it had been fired around 1890, the newspaper said.

That date would mean the whale was probably more than 130 years old when it was killed in May.