THE WHALES ASHORE AT MURIWAI, KAIPARA.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XV, Issue III, 20 July 1895, Page 60

THE WHALES ASHORE AT MURIWAI, KAIPARA.

TWENTY-SEVEN whales in one bay must be considered a very fair haul, and the Mr Moore who discovered them must admit that he is a distinctly lucky man. Our photographs of the whales are by Mr Pegler, of Onehunga, and were specially taken for us. The twenty seven huge beasts range from 30 to 50 feet in length. The male and the female were stranded in pairs. One picture shows male and female, and the calf which was prematurely born after the stranding. The school had evidently been driven ashore in the westerly gales. This is the season when the ‘ right ’ whale generally comes up northward along the New Zealand coast in large schools, and it was evidently one of these that was sent ashore. Moore came to town to sell the whales, which should prove a valuable haul. Sperm whales of the size mentioned should be worth about /"too each. Arrangements will no doubt be made for ‘ trying-out ’ and boiling down the stranded whales. Some time ago a school of about a dozen whales was stranded not very far from the Kaipara Heads, and the finders realised a handsome profit out of the oil. The twentyseven whales found extend for two miles along the coast.