THE WHALING SKIPPER’S LAST DRINK

Otago Witness, Issue 3865, 10 April 1928, Page 77

THE WHALING SKIPPER’S LAST DRINK

By

Henry Ette.

(Special fob the Otago Witness.) : -My late friend, the sealing and -whaling skipper, Bemt Iversen, was one of the Arctic Ocean’s cleverest sealers, but he was far too greedy, and too fond of the bottle. In one year alone, he took 12,000 young seals, 4000 bladder-noses, and 3000 Darrels of oil. As his part alone was £lOOO, and he had six-sixteenths, you can reckon out yourself what the sixteenth part was that year. In the olden days one-sixth of the gross catch was the man’s part, and there were 50 men on board, so you can easily see that in these times the shipping companies paid out the money in streams and got it back in rivers. There was still a lot of money to be made in the Arctic Ocean in those days, and Captain Bernt Iversen took a good share of it. His conscience always pricked him, however, after a particular jolly evening aboard, or when he had been on a spree in Tonsberg 1 On board his sailing steamer Albert, one of Norway’s biggest sealers, he used to throw all his bottles overboard, both full and empty ones. But, of course, he was sorry for it afterwards. Yes, of course, he was very sorry indeed, and then he had to go borrowing. He was the first Arctic skipper to introduce the new drink, whisky, for in those days only cognac and brandy were known. I did not like it, because it had a smoky taste at that time, but my friend Iversen always had a couple of cases of Scotch on board. Regularly once a month he got drunk, and it was easy to see when that happened. “ Could it really be seen from such a - distance? ”

• “ Well, not just directly, but indirectly, because then he never showed himself on the bridge or in the crow’s nest—the barrel on the maintop.—but gave his orders standing, with only his head visible.” Why? For the wind to blow away the cobwebs? ’’ “ Exactly! Once, in the Greenland’s ice we caught an exceptionally big shark. We brought it up with'the winch so that the belly hung just over the railings. My first-mate cut-dt open, but just after the liver was exposed—as sure as I’m alive out fell a round fat bottle, which would have been smashed if it had not fallen right on to the large pink, shivery liver. The mate picked up the bottle, of course, and saw that it was a full one. He was just making off with it when I stopped .him, for as you know. I don’t care about my crew having bottles in their possession, and I generally make a tour of inspection just after leaving Norway to see if there are any concealed. The pitching overboard of bottles from sealing and whaling boats is not at all unusual. " .You wiil get your reward all right, mate,” I said, “ but I will distribute it.” bo I took it down to my cabin. * Mv word! a fat, round, full Clan Mackenzie"! 'lhe label had been digested, of course, but the glass had been too much even for a shark’s stomach. It was untouched. Now I will give him a lesson! ” thought I. Of course he had just been throwing bottles overboard, and the shark had swallowed one. , In the evening I sent my mate on board to fetch Captain Iversen for supper, and after he had eaten I produced th e bottle and glasses havino- previously labelled it with a label from a bottle I once got from him in exchange. Thanks for the bottle of whisky vou sent me yesterday by your mate. I’ve saved it, you see, until you came to share it with me.” Captain Iversen opened wid e his eves.. Beg pardon? ” Thanks, I say, for the whisky you sent me, old man.” “ Did I really give you a bottle of whisky, Samuelsen?” “ Yes, old man, didn't you know it?” and I. drew the cork. ■ - You must have kept the bottle ever since you borrowed-it,” said the skipper. ■Kept the bottle! Here, steward! Just ai : moment! ” and a moment later my steward came to the door of the mess. “ Do you hear what Bernt says ? That live kept the bottle for three months • have you ever heard anything so extraordinary before ? ” “ No, captain,” said the steward, “ many strange and wonderful things happening on sealers I certainly have heard of, and also experienced but anything so remarkable as a bottle’of whisky uncorked for three months I have never yet heard, and I would never believe it, even if I saw it in print.” An hour later, when I accompanied the captain to the lighter, I said. “ You haven t the slightest remembrance of what have you been doing my drunken friend. If ever you do such a thing only once again during your monthly bout, I will tell your wife! ” I knew the only .thing between heaven and hell he was afraid of. was his wife and with that ringing in his ears he left the. ship Viking. .-1 “ I’ve had my-last, drink, for sure. Captain Samuelsen,” he said. And he’went on board. “ Did he keep his word?” . ” Whether it was because he at last could see the wrong of it. I don’t know, but that evening, in my cabin. th e skipper of the Albert drank his lart dron for three vears ; Now he is dead. He lost the Albert in the Greenland ice intentional Iv.” “ Intentionally ? ” “ He was too greedy, wanted too much, and. tried to cut out the rest of us. That year he was th e first man in the ice, and had already found out where the biggest ■catch of bladdernose . was to be made before we others had got a glimpse of

them. Then one evening, when there was a fog, he invited us all to a big party on board his brother Ole’s sealer. At first I thought it rather strange, but when he explained that he had so few. spirits on board hmself,; I thought it was all right. We were eight skippers in all, and it was altogether a jolly evening. Then, when we had emptied nearly all the bottles, Bernt suddenly remembered that he had a couple of bottles of good old port wine on board which he would fetch, so off he went to his own ship. We had been sitting about half an hour, we others, when I thought I would like to go up and take a look at the weather. It was slightly foggy, but one could see all the ships—all except Albert ‘Where is Albert?” I said . to the lookout on Samson’s bridge.”. ‘‘Albert? Sh e is lying here just on port side,” and he pointed in that direction.

‘ Well, I can’t see her anyway,” I said. Then he had a look. No! He couldn’t see her either. So I went below again.

“. That old fox Iversen has just gone off to the bladdernose catch and will take everything from us.” This caused an awful row. All the skippers wanted to get on board their ships, and rushed on deck to call their crews. The fog had lifted; but still there was nothing to be seen of the Albert.

ft ‘ Damn it! ” said his brother Ole, she can’t have disappeared off the face of the earth entirely.” 'then I went and had a look round from the crow’s nest, but Albert remained out of sight, not even the flag on the top of the masthead to b e seen on the horizon.

Then suddenly I caught sight of a bunch of something floating about in the ice. .It was Albert’s 10 boats, all that remained of the big barque-rigged steamer. Th e prow had been smashed altogether when he steamed out at full speed through the main pack in order to make a big haul while the rest of us were making a night of it.

Captain Iversen was the only one of the 60 men who was not rescued. With the tremendous collision against the icefloe, a 16ft solid mass of oak and iron, bound on the outside with railway rails, was snapped in two. The mainmasttop tel. over against the starboard side but remained hanging just over where’ the boat had snapped. Iversen got caught in the ropes and rigging, and could not sree,35 ree ,3Y he n Albert sank like a stone, -thirty 10ft high iron tanks full of blubber, coal, and water dragged it to the bottom and to the Greenland sharks A whaling skipper’s death. H e had broken his word that evening, and that ne ought not to have done. The crew we others divided amongst us.

It is not often that swaggers who aro helped at the Ashburton Hospital Board office return to give thanks, and to repay what they have received (states the Guarthan).- A few days ago. however, one m^ n l” f onie back, and after returnin" what he had received, he passed over 5s with the remark: “And that is for the kiddies ward balcony.” Mr Robert Yewen. a Sydnev business man, who was in Christchurch last week, found out very regretfully, that he had been misled regarding the scenic attractions of the South Island (states the Lyttelton times). “I asked at the Tourist Bureau in Wellington,” ho said, “and thev told me I would not see much in the South Island; that the scenery was far better in the North Island. Therefore I made a few business arrangements at Auckland and Napier, whereas I could have done so just as easily at Dunedin.”