Thrilling Races And Struggles For Whales.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 17995, 4 November 1926, Page 9

Thrilling Races And Struggles For Whales.

“ THERE SHE BLOWS ” IS SIGNAL FOR LAUNCH COMBATS AT 40 M.P.H. IN THE WATERS OF TORY CHANNEL. (Special to the “ Star.") BLENHEIM, November 4. First the Cachelot, queen of New Zealand waters, then Miss Whekenui, the new pride of the Sounds, and lastly Surprise, cutting the water at forty miles per hour, have been the leaders in the thrilling struggles that have taken place between rival parties in Tory Channel for the possession of whales. “ There she blows” is the signal that starts some of the most .thrilling races and most daring nautical struggles ever witnessed anywhere. There are no traffic cops to limit speed in the channel or enforce rules as to conduct. But at last the Marine Department has had to step in.

A nautical board heard evidence at Pic ton with reference to two collisions between launches owned by rival Perano parties. The feud between Tory Channel whalers now is a matter of common knowledge, and the signal that whales are in the offing always leads to a thrilling race between the launches. Two serious collisions between launches while struggling for possession of a harpooned whale were the subject of a nautical inquiry. Mr W. G. Riddell, S.M., Wellington, presided, with Captain Barrow and Captain Dewhurst as assessors. It is well known that both parties are believers in the doctrine that the fast boat catches the whales, so that when the E. C. Perano party, proud in the possession of the launch Cachelot, in her day the fastest thing afloat in New Zealand waters, made taunting gestures at their outdistanced rivals, the opposition rested not content until they had possessed themselves of the Miss Whekentii, which proved herself capable of giving the Cachelot a start and a beating and then some. Nothing daunted, however, last season the E. C. Perano sy-ndicate maintained their place in the race for armaments by building at Auckland the wonder launch Surprise, which is to the Miss Whekenui what the Miss Whckcnui is to the Cachelot, and sets out after whales at the phenomenal speed of close on forty miles per hour. Since the arrival of the Surprise the signal at Tory Channel that whales are in the offing has always led to a thrilling race between the Surprise and the Miss Whekenui, the prides of the rival fleets, with the other launches straggling behind, and there have been incidents so reckless that at last the

Marine Department has been compelled to take a hand. The Department had nothing to say when the rival whalers casually admitted in evidence in a recent Court case that it was their practice, for instance, to run over the top of a whale and keep it from rising lest the other , launch get its harpoon home first, but j collisions between the Surprise and the j Miss Whekenui while practically struggling for possession of a thrashing, dangerous and harpooned whale could not be allowed to go unnoticed. Hence the nautical inquiry. The evidence was very lengthy, dealing with a collision in which the Sur- : ! prise rammed the Miss Whekenui while ; . the latter was fast to a whale which 1 had just dived under the Miss Wheke- ■ nui so close that the shaft of the un--1 : exploded bomb sticking in its back grazed the keel of the launch. Despite . the collision, which stove in three of i her planks and cut away part of her ; deck, the Miss Whekenui hung on to the thrashing whale, an oilskin being ' jammed into the hole in the boat to keep the water out, and ultimately the ■ leviathan was captured. In the other instance both launches were said to be going all out side by ? side in a race for a whale when the > monster which had sounded reappeared 5 unexpectedly just on the Miss Whekc- ’ nui’s starboard bow. Both launches l turned to the whale and the Surprise • was rammed by the Miss Whekenui, J the impact knocking the Surprise’s gun--5 ner into the sea, whence he was rescued 1 by another launch after both racing 1 craft had passed over him The -Miss 5 Whekenui’s bows were stove in and J only her watertight compartments kept 1 her afloat. The Court reserved its decision.