THE WHALING INDUSTRY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXV, Issue 20112, 24 November 1928, Page 10

THE WHALING INDUSTRY.

IMPORTANCE OF CONTROL.

LIESSONS FROM THE PAST. GROUNDS OVER-EXPLOITED. BRITAIN'S LOST CHANCES.

BT T.ONTBITANDEB.

No. 11. England had boen slow in getting into Rperm whnlo catching. This is shown in Burke's speech on American affairs, when in alluding to the New Engenders, he Said : "No sea but what is vexed with their fisheries; no climate that is not witness to their toils. Neither tho perseverence of Holland nor tho activity of France, nor tho dexterity and firm sagacity of English enterprise over carried this perilous and hardy mode of hardy industry to the extent to which it has been pushed by this recent people, a people who are still, as it were, but in the grisitle and not yet hardened into the bone of manhood."

Tho year after this was said, 1775, England sent out hor first sperm whaler into the Atlantic Ocean. An English ship was tho first to take sperm oil in the Pacific — tho Amelia, Captain Shields, of London. A total of 189 tuns of oil was tho result of it voyage of 18 months which euded in March, 1790.

New Zealand Industry. About 1802 sparm whaling started on the Now Zealand whaling grounds, and such was the abundance of whales that in a few years a great number of ships were engaged. Possibly other species of whales may have been taken previous to the date mentioned, but 1802 is generally understood as the time when sperm whaling first started in Now Zealand waters. British South Sea whalers chiefly made London their homo port, and at one time there were more than 50 sail engaged in the trade, hut for the reason.') already stated they gradually dropped out of tho business.

The Britisher seems to have' been more at homo in the Greenland fishery. This impression is gathered from records of the early part of tho 19th century. During that period thero was scarcely a seaport of any importance on tho east coast of England but was represented in the Arctic iseas. However, like the Southseamen, ithe Greenland whale fishers slowly faded out of the industry. Of the northern ports Peterhead and Dundee held on the longest. In 1893 Peterhead, which in 1857 «ent out 34 ships, ceased to be represented in tho business, leaving Dundee in possession of the field. Dundee sent out its largest fleet, 16 vessels, in 1885. This appears to me to be a small number of tihips for a port which started in 1790, but that is the record. Ports Built on Whaling.

Tho world owes much to the whale. The importance of many places is to be traced nlmost entirely to their intensive undertakings in the whale trade, while other places have been at least largely benefited by embarking in the same enterprise. Several ports in the United States may he taken as instances of tho former. Sydney, and especially Hobart, as instances of tho latter.

In the early years of the last century Nantucket and New Bedford did fiveeighths of the whale trade. The import of oil into the United States for the year 1831 was 110,000 barrels of sperm and 118,000 barrels of black whalo oil, and 1.000.0001b. of whalebone. This big catch was taken by American ships only, and according to the custom of those days many peoplo participated in the profits. Many little places thus got a start. In other places, where the profits derived ifrom the whale went into one pocket, tho benefit was not so marked.

The question as to how it came about that the Norwegians have now a monopoly of the whaling business is not hard to answer. In the first place the Norwegian has had half a century In which to experiment and perfect his plans without any serious opposition from anyone. Why this should he so is the difficult question. There has not been, so far ns T know, any reason why other nations have stood aside and allowed the Norwegians to rnonopoli3e the industry other than want of enterprise. Some time ago it was stated in the local press that n company had been formed in England to exploit the whale fisheries in the Antarctic Ocean, and the company anticipated an annual production of oil worth £750,000. It is to be hoped that British enterprise will bo rewarded, but ifi is a bit late to expect anything more than ordinary profits unless new grounds are opened up.

Cream Already Taken. The Norwegians have alrnady had the biggest catches that are likely to be made on the already known grounds. This is an old time whaler's opinion based on what happened in the Arctic Btia.s. When the Greenland whale was first discovered off Spitsbergen no less than 2000 whales were killed in one season, and as this was done with the oldfashioned weapons it is safe to say that many whales escaped badly wounded, so that probably a few more hnndreds could be added to the number that were killed in one year. After that it was inst ordinary whaling. The same thing happened when the American bow-head was discovered. The master of the American whale«hip Superior, wearied with the ill-suc-cess which had so long attended the whale fisheries in other quarters, determined in the summer of 1848 to penetrate info the Arctic Ocean by way of Behririg Strait and there to try his luck. Fortune smiled on the bold adventurer, nnd in a few weeks Captain nays filled his ship with oil and retnrned port elated with his present success nnd still more so with the hope of what ttio next year might produce. Excessive Slaughter. In consequence of the reports he brought back, borne out as these reports were by the palpable evidence of his success, the United States determined next year to despatch into the same region a fleet of 154 sail, each ship on nil average manned by 30 men. In a few It tnok 206.050 barrels of oil and 2,404,6001b. of whalebone. The next year the operation was repeated, and the success was still more gratifying. Thin time the fleet brought back 245;600 barrels of oil and 3,634,0001b. of whalehono. And then followed, as it alwavs does, just ordinary whaling which would " n ' no whatever to a 20,000-ton r oarnnr such fis is noorlflrl nowjulavs Jh.s is what will happen in the Antarctic seas. l<or a few seasons a limited number of ships will do well and then it will be thn s/irne old story.