ROMANTIC WHALING

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XVII, 30 August 1927, Page 7

ROMANTIC WHALING

THE OLD-FASHIONED STYLE.

HARPOONING AT TWOFOLD BAY Sydney, Aug. 18. There is romance about the whaling station at Twofold Bay, where the other day the first whale of the season was killed.* The bay, situated on the south coast of New South Wales, is a favourite resort of whales cruising to the Antarctic, though many of them are driven in these by their implacable enemies, the killers. Whalers operate in the oldfashioned way of harpooning the monster and then sitting tight until the stricken whale is sufficiently distressed. to be killed. The first whale of the season was seen from Ben Boyd’s old historic lookout near Boyd Town. It was lolling about languidly in the warm waters of the bay, and fell an easy victim to the first harpoon

The whalers, however, were hampered to some extent by the absence of the “killers” who usually come upon the scene and act with the sagacity of sheep dogs. They harass the harpooned monster, and every time it makes for the entrance to the sea they head it off. Finally, when it is dead they receive their reward in the shape of a few choice morsels. As they were absent on this recent occasion several motor launches raced backwards and forwards across the bay entrance to dissuade the whale from making out to sea. This cordon was not so successful as that provided by the “killers,” for the got through the passage, and was only killed after a tow of eight exciting miles along the coast. The occupation is a dangerous one, and requires great skill in manoeuvring to prevent the frail whaleboat from being capsized by the frantic victim as it spouts columns of blood and lashes the sea into a foam in its agony. From the shore a battle between a whale and the whalers, with the “killers’' tackling the monster with the tenacity of bulldogs, is a wonderful spectacle.