BAY OF ISLANDS.

Waka Maori, Volume 10, Issue 23, 17 November 1874, Page 288

BAY OF ISLANDS.

Supposed Loss of a Whaleboat with her Crew. (From the New Zealand, Herald, Auckland.) A most unfortunate occurrence, which has cast a gloom over the Native portion of our community residing at the Rawhiti, occurred on Friday, the 16th instant. Some weeks since the principal Natives originated a whaling company, for the purpose of securing some of the humpback whales that usually make their appearance at this time of the year seeking the calm waters of the hay for a rest, as they migrate with their young from the tropical waters of New Caledonia and adjacent islands towards the more boisterous and exposed coasts of Stewart's Island and the Solanders. This company, consisting of four boats' crews, put off from their rendezvous on the above date, under the favourable auspices of a fine day. About 11 a.m. they espied two whales, a cow and a calf, coming in from the seaward. Cautiously approaching, they fastened to the calf, instead of exercising the judgment of experienced whalemen by trying to secure the mother first (who seldom deserts her young when in danger). Unfortunately the boat-header gave the calf a fatal lance, which, in technical parlance, " turned it fin out." This exasperated the mother to that degree that she made for deep water at once, as soon as her instinct was aroused to the fact that her calf was dead. She did not start, however, until a harpoon from the second boat had pierced her side. The two disengaged boats followed in hot pursuit, while the other slowly conveyed her prize to the shore. These two boats finally succeeded in making fast to her about 3 p.m., when many miles off shore, where the rounded outlines of the distant land were just discernible. The boatheader of one of them, a discharged seaman from the ship "Emma C. Jones," recently here, "to the manner born," soon despatched her, and she was then taken in tow, and the crews laboriously tugged at their oars until nightfall, when a proposition was made by this seaman to cast' the whale adrift and make for the land at once, as from long observation and experience he could see a storm was brewing and would soon be down upon them; but he was overruled by the others, who were too intent upon gain to think of safety. They continued on until about midnight, when the full force of a S.E. gale, with heavy rain,

burst upon them. Again the seaman suggested to cast off, but the Natives demurred, until becoming convinced by the heavy sea that danger was imm£ nent, they hastily abandoned their fancied prize, and started for the nearest land in company. The wind was then blowing with such force that they could not face it, and the rapidly rising sea necessitated constant bailing to prevent swamping, so that great care was required on the part of the steersmen to guide them m safety over the turbulent waves that the surrounding gloom obscured from view They then tried to make a course for the Cavilla Islands, and plodded on side by side in silence. Soon a hail from one of the boats (the one that first fastened to the whale) announced that the headsman and boatstecrcr had succumbed to the over-exertion, and had lam down in the bottom of the boat, leaving only the three men to pull and one to steer. They then came together and proposed to cast that boat adrift and divide the crew between the other two, but the headsman declared he would die before he would leave his boat, although he could do no more towards saving her in his exhausted condition, so they again started on their way, and as a matter of course soon lost sight of the boat. All through the night they battled for dear life with the elements, and all the next forenoon, bewildered and dazed, in their efforts to reach the land they could not see. They were just upon the point of despairing, when an abateinciit of the gale enabled them to make better progress, and they soon saw the land. Strange to say, about this time they picked up the boat sail and three iron poles belonging to the boat they had abandoned to fate. These ariicles are said by my informant (one of the crew) to have been in the boat at the time they left her. During the darkness the two boats had become separated. The boat that found the above articles landed on the shore just to the north of the Cavilla Islands about 2 p.m. The crew were completely knocked up, and they stopped there until they saw a Native, who conducted them to Ngaere. The other boat made the land just south of Whangaroa Heads—the boat-header (the seaman of the " Emma C. Jones) breathing his last as they struck the beach. They remained there that night, and buried their ollicer the next day, and, trucking along the coast, mot the other boat at Ngaere, and both returned to the liawhiti under the escort of the Natives of the settlement. Messengers were despatched along the coast both north and south, but nothing has been seen or heard of the missing boat or her crew, and the general impression here is that the boat has been swamped and her crew drowned. The result that has ended out of the capture of a small whale that may yield a ton of oil, is the loss of seven men out of a community of thirty-one. The Natives say they will carry on the business, and are not daunted at the result of their first attempt at whaling. [We have received an account of the above lamentable occurrence from the survivors, which we shall take an early opportunity of publishing.—Ed.]