LIFE OF A WHALER.

Auckland Star, Volume LXI, Issue 227, 25 September 1930, Page 9

LIFE OF A WHALER.

EASY IN MODERN TIMES.

ANTARCTIC EXPERIENCES.

SOLDIER TELLS HIS STORY.

"Whaling?—well, to tell the truth, it was not' nearly such hard work las I expected. In fact, it was the- only real holiday I have had for years. T joined, lip last season more for devilment. I wanted to see how it was . done, and believe me it was a thrilling experience." These remark? were made this morning by Major R. McFaiiane, who joined the whaler Southern Princess last season and spent five months searching for whales in the Ross Sea.

"Tho main thing," continued Major JMcFarlane, "is a good pair of boots and a fur liat. It is absolutely essential to keep your feet dry. I remember once jumping off the side of the ship.waist deep into icy slush, and before I could get back on board my boots were frozen to my feet. I had to thaw them off." "Dirty" Work. Major McFarlane went with the whaling vessel in the capacity of a labourer. The work of the labourers was to cut up any whales caught, and according to the speaker it was "dirty" work. A labourer was paid £6 10/ a month, a farthing for every barrel of oil, and 2/ overtime. They worked in twelve-hour shifts, "And we deserved the pay." Asked how long- it took to chop a whale to pieces, Major McFarlane said that the first took a whole day to dis-, pose of. Towards the end of the trip,' however, they dealt with the mammals at the rate of one an hour. Men were working night and day at the job, and everything on the vessel became saturated with oil. Hot showers were provided for the men to wash, but no matter how clean they kept themselves their bunks soon became full of oil. "They were so full," he continued, "that you would slip and slide all over the place in them." After the whale had been cut into small pieces, eyerything went into- the

cookers except the baleen in the mouth, This he described as the "shrimpstrainer." Nothing was wasted. The" oil was drawn off the cookers by pipes, run through separators, which graded the oil and separated it from the blood - and water, and stored it in the vats. The bone of the whale was like honeycomb, and was full of oil, and when boiled could be ground to dust with the hands. ' ( The staple diet'of the whale was| shrimps, and on one occasion .Major; McFarlane found over one and threequarter tons of shrimps inside, one of, the huge mammals. "The shrimps themselves are full of oil," he.continued, "arid I think that if the whalers could get in amongst them when they are like' iriilk on the.water, and boil them down, they., could get as much oil as they otherwise get." ■> ■ ■ '•••.■•■ ■■; The Southern Princess had a most successful season, and bagged all told 870, Avhalcs, producing about 00,000 barrels of, oil. The biggest fish caught was some 106 ft long, and weighed 106 tons. Whalers generally estimated the weight of a catch by its length. For blue and fin whales the weight was about one-ton a foot. . Five-inch Whale. To Major McFarlane stands the credit of obtaining what was probably the smallest whale ever caught. Fully developed, this mammal of the humpback species, was only sin long. Regarding it as a curio, Major McFarlane pickled it in the Norwegian drink, "akavith," which smelt something like methylated spirits. " This specimen he brought back with him, and after it had been properly preserved he presented it to the Dunedin Museum. "How I came to look for it," he said, "was becausethe mate spun us a yarn that he had seen a whale two inches long. He was only pulling our legs, but I was curious, and when the first whale was brought aboard T looked inside her and found my fiveinch specimen. Its mother weighed 40 tons, and the "youngster" only eight ounces. I examined hundreds of whales afterwards, but never found a sperm: under a yard long." Major McFarlane also brought another curio home with him, which he presented to the Dunedin Museum. This was the: eye of the largest whale caught. It was slightly biggei , than the top of a jam jar. "The eye," he said, "is like a solid bone, and when the pupil is taken out of the setting it makes an excellent- salt cellar." Locked in the Ice. Whaling with gun harpoons was, in the speaker's opinion, the easiest tiling, in the world. A good shot, could "kill ; a

whale in one smack. The Norwegians could not : hit a whale at long distance and, [would try. and get as.near, as. possible before firing. They could tell where one. was. going to come up, and< would manoeuvre to be on ; the ; spot. The moment;the .harpoon hit the whale the engines-of the ""chaser /were _ put. ,fuU speed) astern. The whale would - sound, come up and ret. off at full speed. He would.drag the. boat with him,- despite the fact the eugines were going full-Speed astern."' "They' don't seem to 'be., exerting' themselves at all,"' he 'said, "and they could! not go "any. faster even if .the boat'.were not behind." Having caught •; a -whale,' the crew' on- the chaser ■would -blow: it-.up, stick a. flag in' it and, put it r overboard again.' It would -be floating about when they, came back after "a ; day's ' work and they would take it , in tow ba'ck' to the base-ship. ■ "Wβ I were the ■ first' ship to.' tackle the ice last year^' , concluded Major MeFarlaiie, "and. we got blocked." It took us eleven , - days' of hard work . to. get clear. -We h : ad to-eaw the ship, loose, and that ; was- the, hardest job of the lo.t. T . We : used ; big whale saws for the purpose,, and as fast as we ' saw.ed througli the ice 'it. froze again.. The teihperatur'e was 40 degrees below zero at that.stage.' Eventually we got clear and commenced operations which lasted for five months." . .