SEALS AND SEA LIONS

Evening Star, Issue 21316, 21 January 1933, Page 3

SEALS AND SEA LIONS

CLUBBING AND SKINNING THEM EXPEDITION OF THE ’EIGHTIES " Marly in ISSO I left Port Chalmers iu the schooner Friendship on a sealing trip to the islands, and returned at the end of August." a Port Chalmers man informed a- ‘ Star ' reporter. As the man is an .esteemed resident of Port, an officer of the Old Identities' Association, and a hale aftd hearty old timer, the reporter listened attentively. The schooner Friendship (51 tons'! was built, he said, m Hamilton Bay on the south side of the famous Pulling Point in the lower harbour. The timber for her construction was mostly obtained on the bush-clad hillsides overlooking the harbour. Her lines were by no moans yacht like, hut she was freely aeknowklgcd to be a good sea boat, safe and comfortable so far as her size wont. The vessel was owned by Messrs 'Thomson Brothers, of Port Chalmers. who also owned other vessels, including the topsail schooner Beneleugh. ami the whalers Othello and .Splendid. One of the brothers. Mr J. Inches Thomson (at present residing in Dunedin) visited the Auckland and Campbell islands. and was once marooned on Macquarie Island through the loss of the Beneleugh. The Friendship rescued the castaways. Air Thomson iu his interesting book—‘ Voyages and Wanderings in Far-olf Seas and Lands ' —describes the Friendship as ‘‘ an old-fashioned, bluff-bowed, serving mallet and an excellent sea boat." The Friendship was in charge of Captain John Wilson, our informant said, when she left Port Chalmers in ]8S() with a crew of eight or nine men all told. A call was made at the Antipodes. These islands, which are 400 miles from Taiaroa Meads, were discovered in 187.4 by Captain Waterhouse in H.M.S. Reliance. The highest peak is 1,:300ft. As no anchorage was found the Friendship was hpve-to under shortened sail. The captain and the cook wore, left on hoard, the rest of the erew going ashore in the whale boat. On reaching the shore one of the men stayed in the boat to keep her off the rocks. The foreshore where the others landed was so thickly covered with penguins of all sizes that they had to be kicked out of the way to got a footing. An overland survey of the coastline of the island disclosed no seals. Albatrosses in large numbers wore nesting on the higher land. On returning from their prospecting trip round the island, the men noticed that the schooner was getting perilously close to the rocks against which the westerly swell was pounding heavily. Getting into the boat the men hurriedly put off. to find nobody on deck when they reached the schooner. They immediately headed her off' shore and gave the vessel more sail to carry her well clear of the breakers. Then a search below decks disclosed the captain and the cook sitting in the saloon, one on each side of the table, very happy and unconcerned. exchanging confidences in low tones. Those officials were shocked to learn the ship had been in imminent danger of being dashed against the rocks by tbe pounding waves. While the crow had been ashore prospecting for seals the captain had taken a leg offshore and hove-to the schooner with a good offing. Then accompanied by the cook who was also chief steward, he had taken a look through the ship’s stores to make sure that everything in the lazaretto was m good order. In the stores department there was safe storage accomodation provided for the medical comforts, carried in case of sickness or accident. The medical outfit included .several bottles of rum. and it was these, more so the shortage of one bottle, that the crew hold responsible for the schooner being so close to the rocks and for the " after guards ” omitting to observe how the ocean current was setting her.

As there were no seals on the j Antipodes the schooner's course was set lor the Auckland Islands, j The Auckland Islands, which are j situated 200 miles from the south end of Stewart Island, and cover an area of about twenty-eight miles by sixteen ! miles, were discovered in ISOCf by Captain Abraham Bristow, in the whaler Ocean He named them after Lord Auckland, the name applying particularly to the largest island of the gloup. ’J ho islands are mountainous, the highest peak (2.000ftl being on Adams Island. Enclcrby Island is the most northerly of the group. Some of the islands show considerable areas of scrub growth. The Friendship was anchored in Port Ross, a beautiful harbour, which could accommodate a fleet of such vessels. The entrance is studded with small islets, which afford a natural shelter, lint do not unduly hamper navigation. One of Ihc- Government castaway depots, placed throughout those islands as a provision in ease ef shipwrecks, is located in a lint at the inner end of Port Res'THK FIRST SEALS The Friendship's crew immediately commenced sealing operations They walked across the island. and j on the western side descended i the high steep clitic to hunt the seals amongst tho rocks near the sea level. In some instances they went ! down by narrow tracks, having to hug the rocks in working their way round corners where there was barely room to stand on the ledge, with a drop of (iOft to 100 ft. In other places the men descended by means of ropes, and the : sealskins and pelts of sea lions were ■' hoisted to the top of tin? cliffs by the ropes. Usually the blubber was also carried overland to the harbour to be melted down in a trypot there. When the conditions were exceptionally dillicnlt. or the distance from the harbour meant a very long carry over difficult ground, the blubber was left ami only the skins removed. On one occasion onr informant and the mate of the schooner, on regaining the top o! the cliffs, missed the others in a fog, and after trudging all night in the open discovered, when the fog lifted, that they were in a valley on the far side ; of the island from tiie camp. On another occasion they discovered at the bottom of a cliff a beautiful cave about TOft long and loft high, containing n sparkling assortment of stalagmites and stalactites, their tips in some eases almost meeting—but no seals. The smaller islands wore also visited in quest of syals and sea lions. On Enderby Island were the remains of the hutments used by the survivors from the wrecked General Grant, which had bullion on hoard that numerous subsequent expeditions failed to salvage. The Auckland Islands proved fatal to other ships, including the Derry Castle, the Grafton, the Invereauld. and the Dunclonnld. I RABBITS AND WILD GOATS. The Friendship party carried their own lent for camping. Emlcrhy Island was then overrun with .rabbits, 'there were also a limit, two dozen white goats rui"iing wild, very wild. Alter a good deal of hunting two nannies in in ilk were captured. The captain enjoyed the milk as a great treat. But it was toilsome and risky work tramping overland, sealing cliffs, carry- ■ ing skins, and trying out the trans-

ported blubber before shipping it through the surf to the schooner. Sometimes the boat was overturned and its contents, emptied into the rushing, roaring surf. The boat bad to be righted and its contents retrieved. A RUSE. One day shortly after arrival the captain gave orders that the casks containing -the sealskins secured se tar should be rolled into tl.-e scrub and hidden. Each' skin was rolled mp by itself neatly, the carcass side inwards ami well sprinkled with salt to preserve it. The rolled skins were then packed tightly into the casks for transport, 'the schooner’s ere tv had evidently commenced sealing prior to the opening dale of the sealing season, which was a risky thing to do wore the Government steamer Hmcmoa to turn up (or periodical inspection of the castaway depots on the islands. The sealing hands never gave a thought to such matters, and therefore did not attach any particular importance to the foiling of the casks into a dense part of the scrub which extended down to within 200 ft or so of the shore. But _it did seem a coincidence when the Hinemoa steamed into the harbour next, morning. Her arrival proved to be a welcome break in the dreary routine of sealing. Very friendly relations were immediately established between the two vessels. The steamer borrowed the schooner’s whaleboat and crow for a um-dav cruise of inspection of the islands. , Every cave and cranny and food depots were inspected, hut no indications of shipwrecks wore I omul. Ihe whaleboat crew enjoyed the outing. During the cruise the steamer procured several casks of fur skins as samples, and live specimens of penguins were shipped. The steamer’s crew helped in the hunt for the sample pelts. The skipper of the steamer was a sociable old shellback, and the evening before sailing he provided a fine bonfire by firing a piece of scrub well up the hillside After collecting all the skins and fat available in Port Rose, the schooler was sailed round to a new base in another harbour further south. An Invercargill scaler, the Awarua, was found to be operating there, and her captain enticed the Friendship’s sealing expert to desert to the Awarua. The loss of their leading man handicapped the newcomers, and strained relations between the crews. After the Awarua sailed n few days later for Bluff her whaleboat was found carclully stowed away in the scrub. She came in handy for firewood, as a result of the strained relations, am! the loss of the sealing expert was avenged. CAMPBELL ISLANDS. Leaving the Auckland Islands the Friendship proceeded to the Campbell Islands, which are •‘US miles from Stewart Island, and coyer an area of

nine miles by eight miles. \ ery bad weather was experienced on the passage. The schooner was hove-to for days at a time. Her good seagoing qualities were then highly appreciated. Only one man was needed to keep watch on deck —the others were down below. Arriving in harbour at the main island, sealing activities were renewed To get down to one seal | rookery at the bottom of the chfls a , lull coil length of rope had to be car- ; ricd across the island. Food and blankets had to be similarly transported. I Usually two men were lowered down to J each rookery. They were often down for a week cleaning it up. On one occasion two campers ran out of food and I firewood, and as a last resort had to hand-over-hand it to the top of the 1200 ft cliff, up the dangling rope by which they had been lowered down in the first place. The camps were usually made in recesses at the base of the cliffs, but at one place three huge slabs of rock formed the roof and two sides of a square enclosure like a room. But for the size of slabs the shelter might have been artificially constructed for the convenience of the campers. Fur seals were always found in crevices, sometimes small caves, bej tween the boulders, whereas the sea i lions would land on beaches or shelving i rocks. Equipped with a small gaff and ; a hand club, the hunters sought out the | seals in the crevices. The gaff was handy when a seal was too far into a narrow, dark crevice for the club to be used as it lay. His bead was gaffed , round towards ;lio light for clubbing. FIGHTING SEA LIONS. The docile seals contrasted with the fierce sea lions, which often attacked the clubbers and had to be shot with the rifles which were included in the sealer’s equipment. The sen lions, which ' favoured the more sheltered eastward side of the islands, varied from young ones the size of a sheep to old bulls weighing perhaps two tons. The old bull was usually accompanied by a number of females and resented ; any approach to his harem. When two ' of those sultans of the sea quarrelled j it usually meant a light to the death of one of them. The conqueror’s harem j was then enlarged. The beautifully 1 marked sea leopard would, it was j I alleged, occasionally fight a bull sea j lion, but Hie Friendship’s men did not see such an encounter. They, however, captured a sea leopard on one occasion ! and. muzzling it. brought it aboard the schooner. But it did not live long in captivity. A water spout one day lashed the otherwise calm surface of the haibour to a roaring, foaming upheaval. It was a terrifying sight. The whaleboat crew was near the entrance of the harbour and had barely lime to find shelter in a rocky recess when the huge column of water, which seemed to be !

sniralling right upwards to the clouds, swept past like a momentary hurricane, 'j he boat escaped without mishap Eventually the south sea hunt lor fur seals ended, and Ihe Friendship returned to Port Chalmers, the eightmonth trip proving fairly rcrauncraiiv* to the hard-working crew.