LONG WHALING RECORD.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LX, Issue 18296, 12 January 1923, Page 9

LONG WHALING RECORD.

MASTER'S VARIED CAREER.

OLD INDUSTRY MODERNISED.

BOW GUNS AND STEEL NETS. ,

There sailed yesterday from the Waitemata, a little steam craft, which, were it not for her bow gun and the whitepainted crow's nest at her foremast head, might be taken for a tug. But she is a whaler—not a deep-sea whaler, such as figure in old tea romances, but an offshore craft, working out of Russell and in the waters' adjacent. She is the Hananui 11. j

Her master, " Captain H., F. Cook, has been after whales for not far short of half a century. . Forty-four years spent in .hunting the big "fish"—that is his record, and in that quest he has sailed in many different parts of the world, though most of his "fishing"' has been in the South Pacific.

Captain Cook recalls how he began his career as an ordinary seaman in the old American whaler Alaska, owned in that famous whaling port, New Bedford. It was in Russell that he joined the Alaska and two years later, and also at Russell, he paid off from her. That was in 1880.

Russell then' was a well-known whaling centre—not because whales were particularly frequent iii those waters, but because it was the most convenient port for American whalers to take in pro* visions and water, and give liberty for the men and also to get fresh hands. Wearisome Voyages. Four years was the average duration of an American whaler's voyage, and the ship when she put to sea from her home port carried salt pork and beef, biscuits and molasses for the whole cruise. Four-year-old beef does not sound appetising as food at the end of a voyage; but, as likely as not, it might bo 40 years old before it was eaten, because as the whalers came back their unused stores were put out and reshipped into other whalers ready to go to. sea. Wages, as one understands them today, did not prevail, for all hands, from the captain to the cabin boy, were " on a lay"—that is to say, they shared in the venture and were paid by results. The skipper's lay would be from one-fifteenth to one-tenth of the value of the catch, while the foremast hands would receive one three-hundredth to one two-hundredth each. Under such a scheme everyone had an incentive.

In the Alaska Captain Cook had whal- | ing experience off the Kermadec and Chatham Islands, and among the Pacific Islands, lying in more northern latitudes. After arriving in New Bedford, the ship recommissioned, and on her next outward run to New Zealand, by way of the Cape of Good Hope, he had further whaling in the North and South Atlantic, as far down to the south as the Crozets. Through the Islands. Leaving the Alaska in Russell, his next whaling was from the shore in boats at that port, the whales being towed ashore and " tried-out" on land. Then came another sea cruise. At that time Messrs. Henderson and Macfarlane were fitting out the Auckland-owned vessel Kspeculador as a whaler. That ship he joined, and her whaling cruise took him to the Kermadecs and the Southern Sea Islands. The Especulador was lost in the Friendly Islands, all hands being- saved: and Captain Cook found himself again engaged in a shore whaling venture. This time it was in the Friendly Islands. Twelve I months had been spent in the EspecuI lador. and for three years he was at the [ island shore station.

Then camo another change, both of life and scene, for he went to Torres Strait pearl-diving. For a Sydney firm he managed a pearling lugger, and lie also went diving himself. A-'vear. in these sultry, tropical waters sufficed to show, him that, with the working out of tha near-shore beds, pearl diving was best to leave alone.

Returning 'to New Zealand, Captain Cook shipped as' third mate of the. Yankee whaler Niger, for a South Pacific cruise. A year in her saw him back home in Russell, but after a short spell ashore he. was once more afloat in the Auckland-owned schooner Christina —an ill-starred vessel, which had no luck when after right whales, away to the eastward of Chatham Island. No right whales were sighted, and, so leaky was the old craft, that it took her crew all their time, to keep her afloat. Off Kermadec Islands two small sperm whales were caught, and the schooner then came back to Auckland and paid off. On her next passage from Auckland o the West Coast of New Zealand she " turned turtle" at sea, all hands being lost. A Successful Venture. To catch whales in nets would seem at first sight a pretty large undertaking. This, however, was Captain Cook's next step, for he invented a net, of steel wire and rope, having a 6ft. mesh. This net was moored in the track of whales passing along the coast. As the whales got foul of the net they were killed from boats and towed ashore for the extraction of the oil. That process worked very well, and proved quite a success. For a number of years, at Russell, whalenetting was followed, the best season's result being a catch of 19 good-sized whales in a period of two months. — It was in 1912 that the Hananui 11. was acquired, and since then Captain Cook has been in command of her. For the first four years (1912-1916) she conducted her whaling in southern waters around Campbell Island, seeking the right whale. Not so many whales were seen as had been hoped, and as the drop in the price of whalebone diminished the profits, the little whaler was brought back to Russell; and, regularly since 1916, it is from Russell and in those northern New Zealand waters that she has done her " fishing." In one period of 12 months she caught 31 whales, and on an average each whale yielded five tuns of. oil. The bow-gun which the Hananui 11. carries is far more efficient, sure, and deadly than the old fashioned harpoon, and once there is a "kill" the carcase is towed ashore tail-first, and hauled up on a slipway for '" trying-out " by steam heat. This results in a far better yield of oil than was obtained in the old days, when the. deep-sea whalers rendered the blubber down in huge cauldrons enclosed in brick-work on the ship's deck.

Lone Whale's Vengeance. Whaling from open boats on the high seas has its own peculiar perils, and Captain Cook tells of one adventure in which he took part. Only once, he says, has ho had his boat " chewed up." That was when he was serving in the Especulador. Off the Kermadec Islands they were after a big " lone " bull whale, and a whale of this type may be likened to a "rogue " elephant. The harpoon had been sent into him when he turned in anger on Captain Cook's boat. He came at it openmouthed, and bit it clean in two. The men were all, thrown into the water, but none was injured or drowned. Two other of the Especulador's boats were in the vicinity at the time and the huge bull put both of these out of action. One he stove in with his flukes, and the other he broke with hi? teeth, but not sufficiently to sink it. The men in the water were all picked up, and the whale then disappeared from the scene. " That was a badtempered fish," said Captain Cook, "and it was the nearest escape I ever had. It was touch and go."