THE WHALING INDUSTRY.

Press, Volume LXVIII, Issue 14289, 27 February 1912, Page 9

THE WHALING INDUSTRY.

HI • lil LIFE AT CAMPBELL ISLAND. (Sr-ECHL TO " THE PRESS.") j "-; INVERCARGILL, February 2G. V 5 Nine of tho members of tho Campbell '" Island Syndicate returned to Bluff on Saturday from Campbell Island by the auxiliary schooner Hurunui, the remaining member of tho party being left on the Island to attend the sheep, of which there are between'six and seven thou- " ' sand. Speaking to a "Southland Times" reporter, Mr Allan Thomson, who is a * member of the Syndicate, said that its r ' rnembCTS were ten young men belong- - in" to Picton. They had acquired an! interest in the sheep on the .Island, which had been leased from the Govern- ] '' 'taeat.bj tho Hon. Captain Tucker, \ /->3LL-C., for a term of twenty years, f'ii nrven-yeari of which had still to run, * itnd it ban an area of 45,000 acres. Thi* io the" third year that the party has been on the Island, the main attrac-'i tion being thi* whales that abound in ' - theso waters. Since last April thoy captured eight whales, and several others, were lost, and they did not have aj -■•singlo accident. Their whaling equip- j ment is a launch and a whaloboat. The! ' . first year they caught thirteen whales,; r and last year ten. but three were on! tho small side. The whales this year; -ere very large, the "bone" being 7ft; !■ '-oin in length. The Syndicate confines its; attention entirely to "right" whales. - - tho commercial value of which lies m thewlinlebono, which is used for various " purposes, including ladies' corsets. The "bono" in' tho upper jaw of a right ■> whale is north from £900 to £1500! , ' per ton. Four good whales will supply ' a ton of this bone. It is only in right -■hales that bone of this description is found. Messrs Jagger and Cook', who havo the whaler Hana--ut 11., a ' io exploit theso waters, and t)»y br.ve built works on the Island for trying out the oil, sperm whale* being in their objective. Th© > Hana-ili If- whales in the southern and futprn nines of tho Island, nnd tho Syndicate on tho north-west side. The AnwWa viiited the Island on December'lst, and members of tho party underwent a terrible disappointment whea'they discovered that their mails had "been overlooked. This is quite understandable when ono realises that from the previous April they had heard .no news* from tho outside world. Tho consequence was that thoy did not receive- their mail -until th© Hurunui ar- , • rived, and there was thon no time to read tho newspapers which had been ,' sent them. There ar© at present two ' botanists on th© Island, Captain High-' ■ man, R.N.R.. and his son, and it is imdorstood that they ar© engaged. by the New Zealand Government. They •kere landed there by tho Amokura on ;jier"last trip. Mr Thompson said that i (_« members of the party intend visit\ing.their homes at Picton. They will ' -■''return to tho Island..n th© Hurunui ' ia. April, and tho. prospects aro so good i - j that they ar© expected to more than compensate for the isolation and rough .j, living that has to be endured. ';"' THRILLING EXPERIENCES. I. '< , 'Tho auxiliary schooner Hananui II to Bluff this evening from'a -*«iccessful whaling cruise. Chatting ' . • about tho men's experiences an officer '- r -of'tbo vessel gave details of several i ' thrilling escapes. Ho stated that a , . whalo was sighted in a very rough sea * ' Mid the whaloboat was hastily manned )} SKr eight men. It transpired that, only -.tnrc© of them could swim and this ,'almost resulted in three of the nonIV swimmers losing their lives. The /whale was ."mccessfully harpooned and monster took up. tho slack of the -rope co suddenly that tho whaloboat ' --was capsized and all the eight men •<"'\>iio flung into the water. One of ' , those- unable to swim had th© mis- » fortune, whon tho whale was coursing ' away through tho water- with the slack - . of the rope, to catch his foot in a loop and he was dragged through tho sea for'somo distance. At intervals he - fought to the surface for breath, but . '-. 'had to • duck under again. He was v 'iaktm through tho water at a very '. Sjreat speed and was almost exN , nausted, when lbs foot became freed. , ; '.He"was then picked "up by another "'' .boat from the ship. During the same . ' capsize two of the men - managed to 1 ,' (grasp a spar, and they bung on to this ', awhile tho whale took spar, boat and ■ 1j..,.r0pe through tho water at its best ' speed. ■; All tho men were eventually ,' ;. .rescued, and strange to say all will . \ .again" tako part iv the Hananui's next cruise. v i-r J mm—mmmmmmmmmmmmmtmmm