THE OLD WHALING STATION ON TAIERI ISLAND

Otago Daily Times, Issue 12638, 16 April 1903, Page 3

THE OLD WHALING STATION ON TAIERI ISLAND

TBS LAST OF THF OLD WHALEES.

(By F. A. Joseph.)

The, whaling station at Taieri Island .in 18W was a four-boat station, and the boat 6teererß wore Harry Wiokson, Tom Ashwell, Jim Phillips, and Charlie Rowley— •Englishmen every one of them, who had either left their country for their country's good, or merely in quest of a life of adventure. In accordance with the customs of ihe time, each whaler had a Maori wife.. As tho Maoris very jealously guarded tho honour, of their women folk, the whalers found it wise policy to tako to themselves ■wives' from among the Native women, who were generally foilnd willing partners to tho bargain. Ohasland's wife, ,Puna, was a relation of the Otakou chief Taiaroa, who at that time, ihad his headquarters at. Port Levi. Concerning this woman Mr Tuckett wrote: "She is one of the few. Maori women that I have seen capable of being a helpmate tc a civilised man, and they keep a very comfortable fireside, not the less so from the bleak .barrenness which surrounds their dwellings; nowhere, perhaps, do 20 Englishmen reside on a spot so comfortless as -this nancd, inaccessible isle." Further describing the island, Mr Tuckett adds: "Sometimes at low water there is a dry bank to the mainland; at other times the entire beach lias shifted, and tho mouth of the river has taken its place." The bank is a shifty thing even to this day, and while there are times when, at low tide, one may ■walk dryahod from the mainland -to the island, at other times, in Mr Tuckett's words, "the waves break to and fro so that it seems impossible to get across without being swaped." The whalers built their huts on the western slope, where now is a rank growth ci tall fern, and where a few mutton-birds roar their annual brood. On a fine day the sun shines warm against the elope, but when a S.W. gale sweeps over the, island and lifts'tho spray from the curving breakers no bleaker place' for human habitation could well' be "imagined. The pilots had their houses at. the northern end, where the shoulder of the hill gave Bonio shelter from southerly winds and weather; but it was exposed tc the full force of northerly and south-east gales, the latter being the more disagreeable, for when a south-easter blows home tho cast coast of the island is exposed to the full force of the giant waves' that roll shoreward and fall with deafening crash on tho rocks, sending tho spray in drenching showers clean over the lower slopes of tho island. The site chosen by the whalers was completely sheltered from that wind. It was, moreover, the most convenient for the men who 3iad the try-works and tho boats to look after close below them. The fresh-water cave, where a supply of the clearest, coolest fresh water-can be obtained on the hottest surnmoi day, wn« close at hand. It k the only place on the island where fresh water can be obtained, and the pilots had to carry it right across to tho other end, where their houses stood, since it was impossible to use the water off the roof, so often wet with fait sea spray. Dr Monro, ■who accompanied Tuckett, gives a description of * the Waikouaiti whaling station, ■which fairly well describes whaling stations in 'general at that time. . He says the shed ■in which the oil was tried out smelt "likea thousand filthy lamps"; while "thewhole beach was strewed with gigantic fragments of the bones of whales, and flocks of gulls, cormorants, and other sea birds, and savageHooking pies prowled about to pick up the refuse. The place altogether, liko other whaling stations, is a picture of the most perfect neglect of anything like order or neatness. The huts in which the men live —rickety things—are stuck about in all directions, and not one of them possesses a garden. There seemed, however, to be abundance of poultry, .19 well as dogs and pigs; and another common feature of whaling stations was also to be seen there in perfection, in the shape of a variety of dirty Native women, half-dressed in .tawdry European clothes, with a proportionate number of half-caste children." Dr Monro, in his journal, embodied in Dr Hoeken's book, refers to the landing of the party at Taieri Island, when trying-out operations wore in full swing. He says: "Olcse to where we landed an enormous whale's head, stripped of its blubber, was anchored, which I mistook for a large rock, and on a projecting ledge the process of trying-out was going on busily, and diffusing a most grateful odour of train oil." The■ landing place at the boat harbour he describes thus: "We were rushed up a species of wooden railway by a following eea which thundered into foam about us, a number of the men being ready to receive the boat and drag it high and dry. We then ascended a sort of staircase along the edge of a steep cliff, with a rude balustrade to hold on by, and on a little platform at the top found a number ol grass huts, tho Habitations of the whalers. We were here most hospitably entertained by a Mi.Chasland, the head man si the island, while his active Maori wife acquitted herself most respectably of the household duties of,cboking and bedmaking."

When I first made my acquaintance with Taiori Island huee whale bones—ribs, vertebra, ete.—lay scattered about, but these wero subsequently taken away by visitors to .tho island, or collected by a small craft ■which picked up the bones scattered about at Tautuku and the other whaling stations, with a view tc having them converted into bonediret. The segments of the vertebra; were utilised by the settlers on the adjacent mainland for milking stools, for which purpose they wore admirably adapted. From the highest pinnaclo of the island, where a trig station is now fixed, the whalers had an extended view over a wide whaling ground. The ample bay laying between Quoin- Point and Cape Saunders, with Saddle Hill as a midway sentinel, was a favourite feeding ground for gigantic cetaceans'. Although their only representatives now aro. small porpoises that desport themselves in the surf or a fine day to tho needless alarm of the bather who enjoys a dip in. the briny when the lazy surf cnfls gently on the silvery sand, yet the oldest inhabitant told me some time ago that he well remembered seeing gigantio sperm whales close to the shore, nibbing their aides along the roeks as they slowly moved along, to jcrape the Wrrnacles off their skin. He also heard, he said, the muffled bellowing ot the " bulls" as they challenged each other m passing. But that was before the Bteamere plyine up and down the coast scared the timid leviathans from their feeding grounds. Before the advent of the goldCeekers the waters of the Taieri were clear, and the sea Around the island always blue. Bui-now the mingling of the waters, claycoloured with the gold-washing, has destroyed one of the finest fishing; grounds on the east coast. In the whaliaie days the blue waters were teeming with fish. Often the surface was red with shrimps, or whale-feed as they were called,' while off-shore a deep water bank was alive with squid, upon which the sperm whales feed. Over a reef a mile off the island I have often caught large proper stuffed full of squid swallowed not an hour before. But that was before the river wafl soiled-with the diggings on the Upner ■Taieri, Now a layer of muddy ooze has covered reef and sandy bottom in a bed of alimo, nnd clean fecdingi fish have left for other feeding grounds. Instead of the orow's nest on board ship, the highest point of Taieri Island constituted the look-out. •Schools of whales were constantly passinpr to. and fro. Keenlv the horizon was scanned from early morn till past noon, for after that it was too late to send the boats out, except when whales wore sighted near the island. When the man on the look-out uttered his well-known cry, " There she blows" (he boats, always kept ready, were rim down the

wooden platform into the.sea, and with a few strokes of the oars shot round 'the south I point and out into the eca. Tho men in the I boats took their directions from the-man on the took-out until close up to the whales, i when they made the most of such circum- | stances as opportunity offered. Often the pursuit of a whale took the-boats well down to the neighbourhood of Green Island, near Brighton, 10 miles distant from the home station, and when a whsde was killed tho boats had to double bank, or sometimes all four get on to the tow-line for tho long tow to the try works. If more than ono whale was killed then there was nothing for it but to anchor one carcase while the other was being towed homo. But, 'as' a rule, so plentiful were the whales sporting in the bay that the whalers were able to chooso their placo to kill with a view to the easiest tow to the island. It was found good policy to have ono or two carcases on hand, for often a stiff blow camo up from one direction or another, and for days tho sea would be too rough for the boats to go out. At stated intervals a vessel from Otago Harbour eamc to take away the oil, and replenish tho men's larder with necessary supplies. But about the time Tuckett and Dr Monro - saw the whaling station at Taieri Island the great whaling industry was dying out. The enormous annual slaughter had left its mark upon the unwieldly monsters 'that were powerless against the wiles.- of' cunning man, and before the advent of the Otago pioneers four years afterwards, the men had been withdrawn from the'island. What eventually became of the redoubtable Tommy Chasland I havo not been able to find out. He had several children by his Maori wife, but whether any ot them aro still living is not known. His eldest sen, who gavo tho promise of being at least as good a man as his father, becoming impatient of. parental control, early cleared out from home, and nothing further concerning him is known. Of all those fearless, reckless men, who found the wild, adventurous life of whalefishing congenial, old Bill Palmer was the last i survivor—a link with a past, fast fading into oblivion, Pnrara, tho Maoris called him, and Titi, his Maori wife, bore him nine children, of whom several are still living. Later in life he married a half-caste woman who was tho mother of 15 children. Like the patriarchs of old, Bill Palmer has left behind him a numerous progeny of children ahd grandchildren; aye, and great-grandchildren, too. Down though the generations there is nothing telL like British blood, and it is no marvellous tiring that some of Bill Palmer's sons should display the courage of their sire. In that awful night when the Wairarapi lay on the rocks with surf-swept decks, and the pitiless waves were beating the life out of the shivering wretches clinging lo the rigging, young Harry Palmer worked his way aft at great risk and with infinite difficulty with a rope, which he made fast to the after rigging, and so enabled some to scramble forward '.o a place that afforded greater safety. Poor Harry helped to save others that night, and escaped with his life, only to lose it a few months afterwards i through being caught in the machinery of a gold dredge on the Molyneux. Frank and open as the clear light "that pcinlillatcd in his fair bluo eyes, Harry Palmer was a' fine 3 - oun,g fellow—of a type of which any country might bo proud. Ho was generally beloved, and a wide circle of friends felt keen sorrow at his untimely death. . In the years gone by Bill Palmer was a smart man, and master of several handicrafts.

When his old occupation died out, ho set about boat-building, arid a six-ton boat built by him. at Taieri circumnavigated the. South Island at the lime of the West Coast gold rush, The boat left Taieri loaded with flour, and bricks wherewith to build a baker's oven on arrival at Hokitika; but when off Cape Campbell, in "a'fresh S.W. gale, the bricks had to go overboard, while a couple of hands with buckets kept tho boat from foundering. From tho West Coast the boat afterwards cruised southward through'all the Sounds, and proceeded to Eiverton, rounding the West Cape, under jib only,, in a westerly gale. From Riverton riio took a prospecting -party to Jaek?on's Bay, where her owner sold her. She was, what is known as a. sealing boat—that is, a large kind of her feagoing qualities were proved by her long suectt-sful cruiso round a stormy coast.

When I first mado the acquaintance of Bill Palmer. living then near Henley, he wa3 a man. rathw alwvo medium height, litho and active, with ke?n blue eyes, and energetic manner. That his eye was keen and hand practical I havo often seen verified by tho unerring aim with which he used to -harpoon the porpoises from, the fishing boat, in the days when gropr-fishine; wa.s my boyish delight. When I interviewed him six or ueven years ago I was astonished U hear tho ready alacrity with which lie. replied to my quest-ions concerning tho olden timet, but on a recent visit to the old man I found that the intervening half-dozen years had wrought fad havno with thews and sinews and mind. "My memory is failing," he complained; but at 90 there am few who can recoil at-will the scenes and incidents of a life thickly crowded with adventure.

The surf still heats on tho rock-bound coast, and a3 the sea ghostsoiimb the rooks on Moturata lliev bemoan the past with its scenes of busy life. Of that past there remainb but a trace to mark with the stamp of reality -what might otherwise, at this distant date, be deemed .romance. And, indeed, a halo of romance clings about tbo=e surf-beaten rocks, where a number of hardy Englishmen, self-banished from, homo and friends and civilisation, eked out a precarious living by as wild and adventurous an occupation as one could well imagine.