DEEP-SEA WHALING.

Auckland Star, Volume LXI, Issue 229, 27 September 1930, Page 10

DEEP-SEA WHALING.

"And Then the Fun Began."

Scourge of the Sea,

IN THE DAYS OF SAIL. OLD MARINER RECALLS PAST. DANGER AND ROMANCE APLENTY.; "Five months' cruise and 870 whales, and the work considered a holiday! Hot sliowei's provided for the men! What a difference from the old days. What a 'difference!" Thus nominated Mr. H. H. ; -Bootes, of Devonport, author of "Deep Sea Bubbles, "Deep Sea Pilgrims, etc., who is ca old whaler, when he read the article on .modern whaling in the "Star." . "For ' two, ' and. sometimes three years," he said, "we roamed all the waters of the earth from Behring. Strait to the Great Ice Barrier, seeking' after these great mammalia, and we considered ourselves lucky if in that time we captured'lso or 200." . ■ "Not in my time was the gun harpoon," continued Mr. Bootes. / "Sometimes we kept to a catch all day'and then missed it." He described the scurry and orderly disorder on the ship from the moment the'words of 'the man in the look-out, "There she blows, two points on the weather bow," was tossed away, adown the wind, and the romance of the old days crept into his tale, and coloured his words, and unconsciously he made apparent the hardiness of men in frail craft venturing to call such monsters their legitimate prey. There, is no danger, and less romance in merely chug, chugging up to whales in a motor boat, with;a deadly gun.

Old Theories Exploded. , Incidentally he mentioned how the use of fast motor boats exploded many, of the theories of old deep-sea men. "From the moment we tumbled into the boats on the order from the 'Old Man,' 'No. 1, No. 2 boat away,'" said' Mr. Bootes, "we; preserved absolute silence,' enjoined by sundry cursiifgs from the steersman. We even spoke in whispers,f and ,woe betide! the-man who broke the surface with -hi's'' oar. We thought that the brutes would! hear us, take fright, and away. But ! to-day they merely chug, chug up to them and the rush of' the swift waters, past the bows makes enough , noise to frighten anything; but the)whale takes not the slightest notice." f ■

From the viewpoint of one of.'the old hands ho described some of his-experi-ences in a whale-boat. ' "When we got the order 'Stand-by,'" he said, "all' the; running gear was cleared and the harpooner in the bow sorted, out liis lines coiled under the thwarts, -chose. his; harpoon and braced himself ready. The lines were woven especially for the purpose and were about. as thick as a; man's little finger. They were coiled in tbree tubs under the seats, and each tub ■contained half a mile of rope. -Then, as the craft came into the ierd; about' a dozen feet away from its prey, the harpooner in his for'ard position braced.' himself and .waited his chance. The wliale gambolled on the surface-much in: the same -way us a porpoise, and the best time for a cast was when it reached the top of its plunge. The spot aimed for by the master harpooner was just before the dorsal fin, under the 'shoulders' of the fish.

"And then the fun began," said Mr. Bootes, and he'spoke of the chase in sentences that were Hense and words short-bitten as he lived it again. Nobody knew what the whale would do once it felt the sting of the harpoon, he said, and it was that minute of uncertainty that counted for the -safety of those in the -boat. Sometii-es the great mammal "sounded," and then the steersman had to be ready Tgrith a fliclc of the oar to avoid the great tail as it passed the boat. Mr. Bootes said he had seen whale-boats smashed to atoms by just being grazed by the tail. "Sometimes the whale would merely circle round in seeming surprise, and then the nose of the boat was turned, ever facing it. "Sometimes, without warning, the monster turned and came straight at us open-mouthed. I was in two -ships where that happened, and it is quite useless to try and describe the feeling. The thing came at us like an express, with a yawning cavity in front, about as big as ■ a room in length, depth and breadth. We didn't see much, but the next we knew -was the coldness of the water and a few pieces of splintered board. Of the whale there was nothing to be seen. Perhaps again, in startled fright, it would make straight for the horizon, and, curiously enough, if there was any wind, right into the J .:cth of it, with the boat tearing along behind at express speed. The line in the boat was searing through it; proper channel and there was a man ready with axe uplifted to strike if the slightest- hitch occurred. As soon as the line slackened at all it would be hauled taut again so that no ground was lost, but it was a ticklish businesfe. It was possible to tell by the movement of the line on the boat what the whale -was doing. Often, if the water was at all 'shallow' the whale would make frantic endeavours to rub the harpoon off on the rocks, and the line would jerk and tug. violently. When finally the whale was tired out enough for them to get within striking distance, the harpooner would try and drive a lance home.

"The death struggle was a terrible thing to witness. The whale spouted blood and water and blubber, and the sea was dyed red. Sometimes other harpoons were seen in a whale, and often it j back was scarred and pitted. Sometimes there were great depressions. These were the results of conflicts with gigantic squids, which were the stable diet of the sperm species. The suckers of squids more tremendous than any ever seen by man tore away great lumps of hide and flesh and blubber from the whale.

"The killer whale is well callcd the scourge of the sea,''. Mr.. Bootes said. "Once we had struck 'a whale, when in its death-agonies it was attacked by a whole herd of 30 killers: In its agonyit rolled over and over, and the killers leapt out of the water on either side of it, some of them ; with ' jaws agape —<and the jaws are one-third of a total length of 30 feet—landed on top of the whale's hack and others on all sides of it. The water: was lashed- to a crimson foam. Then the whale sounded. We had been careful to keep well away from the battle, but to our consternation, the 'dyino- brute came up right near to ourcraft° and the killers fcQlowc. 1 it. There were several more lightning rushes from the attackers, and the whale was dead.' Its jaw dropped ri:d immediately the mouth was jammed full with fighting, tearing killers after the choicest portion -—the tongue. . . ■V "•, "Different ?—yes they were different, but it was a battle which bred.: crafts;meij, . and that'race is dying, and all that remains are the tales they tell."