MODERN WHALE HUNTING

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 74, Issue 190, 13 August 1931, Page 9

MODERN WHALE HUNTING

INDUSTRY IN NORTH DEADLY HARPOON GUN HUNTERS’ UNCANNY ACCURACY. Many have been the methods of hunting and killing whales since the early days, when it was first realised what profit could be made by the capture of those huge mammals. In the earlier times row-boats were used and the harpoon driven home by hand. Then came the muzzle-loaded harpoon gun, which was reputed to kill at both ends, such a jar did it give to the man who lired it. This had a short life and a breechloader took its place. In 1860 that grand old man of Nor wegian whaling, Captain 15vend Eoyn, invented the gun harpoon, which he improved later, as the combination bombharpuon. His idea was to hunt the whales in a small steamer and have the ; gun mounted in the bow. The harpoon, j which was lired into the whale, would • have four hooks, which would open out ias soon as the whale made off. As soon as the hooks opened out, they would cause a detonator to lire the loaded bomb at the head of the harpoon. This charge would injure the vital organs of the whale and make death quick and it would not be dangerous to the harpooner. The harpoon-gun is used to-day, with modern improvements, on whales the world over. The Hananui 11., the steam whaler which operates off the northern coastline of New Zealand, is so fitted. A launch, too, is used as an auxiliary to the steamer at Whangamumu and is j fitted with a harpoon-gun ot similar de- < sign, but on a much smaller scale. ( Whaling by Steamer. ! The Hananui 11. is a typical whaler as used by the Norwegians and has an . over all length of 100 ft. She is fitted with powerful engines and winches. A man in the crow’s nest can see a whale at a good depth and is able to call o|t • to the harpooners when it is coming up. The steamer uses what is known as slow ; tactics, and gets more or less friendly j with the whales so that they come almost alongside to blow. ( Sometimes whales travel iu pairs, a j bull and a cow. Others travel alone, A while as many as eight have been seen f together, passing the grounds at Wha- ( nagamumu. The usual speed for | whales to travel is from four to five 1 knots and when they are quiet they arc - c easily followed by the steamer. They , cruise in and out the small bays on the f coastline at Whangamumu and go very ( close to the rocks at times A peculiar t feature is that when they reach the ( waters of Whangamumu Harbour they t sense dead whale and make off. i Habits of Whales. t The humpback species, which is hunted in the North, is the only kind encountered there, with the exception . of the blue whale, which is too wild t<r ‘ handle. The sperm whale, which has a huge lower jawbone and teeth, is seen off the Three Kings, East Cape and within sight of Stewart Island. The ( sperm whale can keep under water for from 45 to 60 minutes. The blue whale 1 can keep down much longer than the - humpback, which comes up for air every few minutes. The humpback can be distinguished at a distance by its , hump and by the way in which its j flukes come right out of the water when ; it sounds. Knowledge of the habits of the whale . seems to be a sixth sense with experi- , enced whalers such as the skipper of T , the Hananui 11., Mr. H. F. Cook, who -

■is also the harpoomst. The uncanny aci curacy with which they determine the ! direction which a whale will take after sounding is fully brought home to the uninitiated. Sometimes the chases arc very short. When hunting, the steamer gets close to the whale; so near that the spout of air sent up blows at times over the harpoon stand and the noise of the escaping air can plainly be heard. If, when the harpoon is fired, tho bomb docs not kill the whale instxntly an'other bomb is shot in, or the whale is brought alongside and lanced. A Spectacular Chase. It is often noticeable also that if whales are in pairs, and one is harpooned the other will stop in the vicinity and there is every chance of its being captured. The free whale sometimes gives a great demonstration around its stricken companion and dives and sends its flukes high up in the air. Other whales disappear as soon as their companion is hit. A very spectacular chase took place at Whangamumu recently. A whale was sighted with a number of cowfish playing around it, as porpoises do around a boat. The whale was doing its best to evade them, evidently being very frightened. The cowfish aided the look-out on the steamer in determining rhe whereabouts of the whale. It was evident early that it would be a short chase. The skipper said the whale had doubled on its tracks twice and that it would do this again. The ship waited and sure enough the whale came to the surface close by and made an easy mark. Mr Cook said he had seen killer whales off Cape Brett only once, this being a few years ago. A school of killers, a small species of whale with teeth, attacked a- humpback, their objective being to keep it down and thus drown it. One killer whale kept trying to get into the humpback’s mouth and fasten on to its tongue. The tongue of the humpback is the part oaten by the killers. Mr Cook said he had never seen sharks attack a whale, although two whales had been taken which bore teeth marks of sharks.