Whales are Cheap To-day.

South Canterbury Times, Issue 2571, 23 August 1899, Page 3

Whales are Cheap To-day.

105 WHALES SOLITEOR £36.

Thurso, in the first week of July, provided a teal sensation in the laying out on her beach of 105 bottle-nosed whales, a spectacular noveliy, and after a week or two ah olfactory novelty. The longest measured 25ft, and its weight would be about four tons. They were ‘‘ shepherded” by a few boats from mid-day till eight or nine p.m., when with an ebbing tide they were stranded. The repeated rushes of the “school” seaward, in shallow water and within a narrow space, threatened the boats with continual danger, but skill and perseverance commanded success, and after some eight hours of work the first were forced on to the beach, and then, like sheep, thereat rushed on their destruction. The subsequent sight of a crowd of urchins stabbing, hacking, and gashing the poor animals, cutting their initials on their skins with knives of all shapes and sizes, was not exhilarating. Swords were also defiantly flourished, and superfluous blows and cudgellings were rained on the heads of the helpless beasts, who sobbed and groaned in their agony. The sea was crimson with the slaughter. The value of the catch was at first estimated at hundreds of pounds. Dundee was communicated with, but the answer was discouraging, and it became doubtful whether Thurso would be in a position to get her acquisition as easily off her sands as she got it on to them. However, a buyer presented himself, and after six days the whales, measuring in the aggragate 400yds in length were disposed of for a paltry £36. Men were engaged at 6d per hour to strip the blubber and pack it in barrels. The inevitable strike presented itself almost immediately, but it soon ended by the concession of a dram every four hours. A traction engine was engaged dragging the carcases _ towards the harbour, and finally by getting them on board a steamer, Thurso rid itself of their presence.