TASMANIAN WHALING

Evening Star, Issue 21286, 15 December 1932, Page 17

TASMANIAN WHALING

GROWTH AND DECLINE OF AH INDUSTRY Pearl-grey in the morning haze the foothills rise from the still waters of the Derwent Estuary (writes G. H. Johnson, in the Melbourne ‘ Argus ’). The lordly bulk of Mount Wellington is tinted with the gold of sunrise. Down the waterway glides a squat barque, clumsy of hull and stumpy of mast. The crew works lethargically in a group by the catheads. Above, at the maint’gallant masthead, the crow’s nest is one of the many symbols of the romantic trade of whaling. Below the maintop are the huge “ cutting-in ” blocks, the try-works forward of the main hatchway, a triced-up stage to starboard to afford footing for the crew when cutting up the whales, and the beautifully designed and kept whaleboats. In the ’fifties the whaling trade was probably at its zenith in Tasmania, for whales were plentiful and sperm oil was being sold for about £77 a tun , (approximately 216 gallons). It was

customary for vessels to leave Hobart for six months, and to sail to bleak South-west Capo, by way of Maria Island. Sperm whales were iairly plentiful at South-west Cape, but the weather was usually very rough, and captains were often compelled to lose valuable whales to save their ships. About 1870 the skipper of the small brig Maid of Erin had an experience of this nature with a large whale which had caused endless trouble in the harpooning. The crew was, engaged in cutting-up when a sudden southerly galo arose, accompanied by pouring rain and flying spray. Three times the mighty bulk of the whale broke away from the ship, and it finally snapped four heavy chains. Captain Shelton ordered that two whaleboats should be launched to tow the whale. The first was smashed against the body of the whale, and the second against the hull of the brig. As the sails of the brig began to split and were in danger of carrying away the attempt to save the whale was abandoned. PIONEERING THE TRADE. In 1789 the great English whaling firm of Champion sent the small armed whaler Albion to pioneer the trade in

Australian waters. The vessel was remarkably successful, and in a low years the trade had attracted the young men of Australia to such an extent that there was an acute shortage of agricultural labour. The Tasmanian trade was founded in a small way about 1815. Humble black whales abounded in colossal numbers in the Derwent. One contemporary writes: “ One could often count as many as fifty or sixty large whales in .the river at one time.. The trade rapidly extended until it embraced the waters of Polynesia, of New Zealand (particularly near the Solander Rock), of the Timor Seas, and even of Japan. The greatest dangers of the trade were encountered in the island waters, where there was an ever-present menace from savage head hunters and Malayan pirates. Many battles were fought between savages and the crews of whalers. If they were prepared the white men usually won, but sometimes crew's were taken by surprise and massacred. Iho brig Pilot was watering off the Nicobar Islands in 1840, and the crew was taking no more precautions than if she were moored at a London dock. No adequate resistance could be offered .when a horde of Malyan pirates

swarmed on to the decks. The crew was massacred, and the Pilot was ransacked and destroyed.

Captain. Copping’s Hobart barque Emily Dowling was cruising down the Tasman Sea on one April day in 1870 in company with the barque Planter. In the morning the Planter’s whaler made fast to a big whale, and after a time the harpooner made a kill. The whale was hooked in alongside, greatly to the envy of the crew of the Emily Downing. Suddenly the Planter lurched, and her mainmast carried away and crashed over the side. The ship staggered helplessly in the swell, and it became imperative that the whale should be cut adrift. When all the wreckage had been cleared away it was evening, and the captain of the Planter scanned the seas in vain for a sign of a floating whale. But the Emily Downing was still visible to leeward, and, strangely enough, her crew was engaged in cutting up a large whale. Bitter imprecations were hurled in the direction of that innocent-looking barque. In June of 3896 the barque Helen loosed her topsails in the Derwent, outward bound on the last whaling cruise

under sail in the colonies. In sixty-five years a great industry of Hobart had been born, had flourished, and had died. The Waterwitch and the Helen carried timber round the coasts for a few more years. The Derwent Hunter was burned near Hobart about 1907, and the Sydney whaler Fanny Fisher was still afloat in 1907, although she left the slipways in 1847. The Runnymede, built at Hobart in the ’fifties, was driven ashore in a hurricane on Christmas Eve of 1878. The Maid of Erin and the Planter were both wrecked a year before —the former at Port Davey and the letter, I believe, at Flinders Island. The last whaler of Sydney was probably the so-called “ comic opera ” ship Costa Rica Packet. She sailed on a whaling cruise from Port Jackson for the Timor Sea in the ’nineties, and was arrested by the Dutch in the East Indies and charged with piracy on the high seas. The ship was confiscated, but the charge was later proved to have been ridiculous, and the Dutch Government paid a large sum in compensation a year or two later. But whaling days were over. Many vessels had become filthy hulks. One or two disappeared with the grim epitaph of posted niissing.’’