THE WHALING INDUSTRY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXV, Issue 20111, 23 November 1928, Page 10

THE WHALING INDUSTRY.

ITS ItISE AND DECLINE.

PROSPECTS IN ANTARCTIC. PRESENT MASS DESTRUCTION. EXHAUSTION INEVITABLE IN END. BV I.ONEIIANDEB. No. I. Who were tho first whalora ? What wore llie causes which led to tho decline British whaling in tho Antarctic, and how it came about that tho Norwegians liavo now tho monopoly of tho whaling business, and what is to become of tho wltalo if tho present mass-destruction is not checked ? Theso are questions that were recently asked. Tho answer to tho latter question has til ready been given by Sir Douglas Jlawson, who said that tho unrestricted killing of whales would result in destroying tho whaling business. I know little i>f (ho whale other than what I learned while following tho business for a number of years, yet that little is enough to satisfy mo that what Sir Douglas says is correct. Man will never exterminate tho whale, hut ho well, by tho present way of doing things, so drain the supply of whales that in a few years the business will not be worth following. Thati s a certainty which few with any knowledge of whaling will deny. According to recent accounts, oil valued at £4,000,000 was sold yearly for six years, and tho bulk of this oil was taken out of tho Antarctic Seas. The whales will never stand being drawn on to that extent but for a short time, and tlieii finis will be marked to this age-old business.

Discovery of Greenland Whale. It is said that tho Norwegians were Iho first to take to whale-hunting, but bo far as I know there are no records that can bo depended on, so no date can ho given. Then came what might L»o called tho second phase in tho whaling industry in tho sixteenth century. lu 1596 the Dutch navigator, Baronti, discovered Spitsbergen, at tho same time bringing to light tho Greenland whale, a species of much greater value than any that had been previously hunted. The Greenland or How-head, is an ice whale, and never gets very far away from tho ice fields where supplies of food are found the year round. It has been said that this whale .is identical with tho southern whale, but that is not so.

Roughly speaking, whaling on a commercial scale started about the middlo of the seventeenth century. Holland, Germany, France, Britain and America were tho countries chiefly engaged. In 1680 the. Dutch had 260 vessels and 14,000 seamen employed in the business which continued to flourish until 1770 when it began to decline, and finally came to a close about the end of the century. At the same time tho Germans carried on I lie fishing to a very considerable extent, 79 vessels from Hamburg and Bremen being employed in 1721. During tho years from 1670 to 1719 an average of 45 vessels sailed yearly from Hamburg alone. German vessels continued to engago in the business until 1873. The Spaniards, although they at first supplied tho harpooneers to the crows of foreign vessels, never seemed to have engaged largely in tho northern fishery. The Danes, although early in the field at Spitsbergen fishing grounds, never pursued tho industry on a large scale until after tho commencement of the fishing in Davis' Straits in 1721, in which year they had 90 vessels engaged. By 1803 the number had fallen to 35.

Dominance o! America. Americans, in early times, were chiefly engaged in hunting tho sperm whale which was first attacked by them in boats pushed off from tho shore. Then larger craft were employed and longer voyages made. Their fir,s» sperrn whaling started in 1720, but previous to that, oven as early as 1667, whaling was carried on tho north-eastern coast, probably in pursuit of tho black whalo. Capo Cod men were tho first Americans to begin whaling, and it was they who instructed the Nantucket people in tho art of throwing tho harpoon. In 1756 80 ships sailed from -Nantucket, and on the breaking out of the revolutionary war in 1776, 140 ships, schooners and brigs were annually engaged on tho coasts of Guinea, Brazil and the West Indies. Dartmouth (New Bedford) came into the business in 1735, and gradually launched their vessels in pursuit of the whale, and at the commencement of the war employed upward of 40 Bail. From this place was fitted out the first expedition to the Falkland Islands, in 1774. Tho fleet consisted of 10 vessels.

During tho war the whale-fishing, with all other sea traffic, disappeared from the sea, but as Nantucket maintained a neutral position, a specific number of its whalers were nnt only authorised by the British Government to continue their operations, but some were actually permitted to transport their oil into England. After tho war was over tjie decayed liulks were repaired and new ships built and launched and the business went on again and prospered to such an extent that by 1835 840 vessels of various descriptions, measuring 170,000 tons, and navigated by 12,000 seamen, were engaged in the whafc trade. This was practically one-tenth of tho tonnage of the United States, and it was estimated that more than 70,000 people derived their chief subsistence from the business of whale-catch-ing. Failure of Britain. It was this great fleet and army of men that caused the decline of British whaling. British whaling interests could not stand up against American competition in the whale trade for tho following reasons—Cheaper ships, cheaper provisions arid a nearer port of departure to tho whaling grounds; tho joint stock system of ownership, by which perhaps, from 100 to 150 or more shareholders owned a boat, most of whom benefited in the supply of stores, provisions and requisites f'.r the voyage. Then tho Americans adopted the wiso method of supplying three trained men to each boat, the remainder being made up of young hands, or of natives from the numerous islands they touched at.

11, was different with the London ships, which v.ere principally sperm whalers. Theso si ips were supplied with first-class men, im<»sL of whom required a bigger " lay" or share in tho voyage. Another handicap the Britisher had to cany was that many English ships were sent after Fperm whales only, wheieas the American had a free hand and took anything ho <ould get the harpoon into. All this was hard enough on tho English whaler, hut when the practice of giving bonuses ceased mid the duty on foreign oil was taken off, il. was realised that Britain had no chance of competing against America in the oil market. In tlio year 1830 there were between 50 and 60 sail of South Sea whalers out of the Port of London. On the rluty being taken off foreign oil they were reduced in 1046 to 11 ships.