Whale Hunting.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XLI, Issue 5, 29 July 1908, Page 34

Whale Hunting.

THE WORLD’S GREATEST FISHPOND. The world’s greatest fish-pond is so far within the Arctie circle that the fishermen who venture there must sometimes be shut, of! from the rest of the world for years, since Hudson Bay is held so long in the grasp of winter that it is impossible to enter or leave it after the season of what is called midsummer in the temperate zone. In the waters of Hudson Bay. however, are found the great bowhead whale, one of the largest of all marine creatures. Years ago the bowheads were hunted in the North Atlantic Ocean, as they were numerous in the vicinity of Newfoundland and off the coast of Labrador; but they are so valuable that the whale-fishers of the world searched for them, and vessels from nearly every country in Europe as well as Newofundland and America were fitted out for their capture. Consequently they are seldom seen in any ocean, and have gone in to this Arctic sea, which is almost inaccessible.

So difficult and so dangerous is the quest for the bowhead that only a few whale-hunters now pursue them. Most of these come from the old town of New

Bedford, in Massachusetts. Here steamships are built and equipped especially for the service. In addition to powerful engines, they carry a full suit of sails, while their hulls usually consist of two skins of heavy oaken plank bolted to the frame-work of oak or steel. Great strength is necessary, because they may be obloged to force their way through hundreds of miles of icefields, and during the long, bleak Arctic winter they are so embedded in the ice that its movement would erush the vessels if they were constructed in the ordinary way. * * * * * When a whaler leaves for the long voyage to Hudson Bay the captain calculates on reaching its entrance some time during the month of August, sail-

ing from the home port perhaps six months before. As the ship must round Cape Race, it is exposed to the winter gales of the Atlantic and the dangerous passage through Hudson Strait. Reaching the bay, the ship is navigated to some berth where the remainder of the winter is spent; for sometimes the entrance to the bay is free from ice only a month or six weeks during the entire year, and, as already stated, the summer season is very short in this latitude. The crew pass the long months amid the snow and ice as best they can until the temperature loosens the ice and the south winds drive it from the bay. Then they start upon their hunt, losing no time, for they may not have two months of open "water before they are again embedded in ice and snow until the next

year. Seldom do the whalers start on their homeward voyage within two years after they have left New Bedford' and frequently fully three years elapse before they again moor at its wharves. It is a question whether any calling is more dangerous or attended with more hardships than the hunting of the Arctic whale; but the creature is so valuable that its pursuit is as fascinating as the search for the gold-vein. A single specimen may yield oil, bone, and other substances which are worth from three to five thousand pounds. Some have been killed which have actually been worth to the successful hunters over five thousand pounds. The product most highly prized, however, is what is generally called whalebone. As a matter of fact, whalebone is not a bone at all, but a flexible fringe on the creature’s jaw in lieu of teeth, to enable the whale to separate from the sea-water in which it floats the marine animalcules on which it subsists. It allows the water to enter its cavernous mouth, then closes its jaws, expels the brine through this fringe, and swallows the minute food which satisfies its mighty bulk. Each whale has about four hundred plates of this “bone” in its jaws, its teeth being embryonic only. The huge carcase yields much oil, it is true, but the oil alone would not make the venture pay, and the practice has been, after “flensing” or stripping off the outer eoat of fat or blubber, to let the remainder go, and the skeleton, with the covering of flesh which enshrouds it, weighing from forty to fifty tons, usually becomes the prey of sharks.

The bowhead contains far more whalebone than any other species of marine animal, and this is why it is so eagerly pursued. It takes its name from the curved formation containing the whalebone which is found in its head. Occasionally one is killed which has a double fringe of the bone. In the early days of whale-hunting in Hudson Bay, one monster was harpooned from which over three thousand pounds were taken, and the bones sold for three thousand pounds sterling a ton. This single capture paid all the expenses of the voyage, which lasted two and a-half years, and each

man received in addition one hundred pounds as his share of the proceeds. But the whaler usually secures three or four whales each season, so that often the ship returns with a cargo so valuable that, after all expenses are paid, every man receives at least five hundred pounds to one thousand pounds as his share of the hunt. Yearly the number of whales caught is decreasing, and the price of the bone increasing in proportion. In the modern method of capturing the great Arctic whale the harpoon thrown by hand is seldom used. Each

ship carries a small cannon mounted on the bow, and frequently has a small steam launch, which is also armed with what is known as the harpoon gun. When the bay becomes navigable, the vessel starts for the places which are most frequented by the whales. The veteran Hudson Bay whaler knows where the favourite feeding-grounds of his prey are situated. When one has been sighted, the vessel is stopped within gun-shot of the creature if possible. The cannon is aimed at a point over the heart, and its projectile seldom fails to enter the body, so true is the aim of

the gunner. This projectile is several feet, in length, and contains a bomb filled with some explosive which is ignited by a time fuse. The projectile also contains a “head,” consisting of four large steel barbs, which spread out as soon as it enters the body and are caught in the flesh. The bomb is intended to explode inside the whale, and if properly aimed seldom fails to reach a vital part, causing death within a few minutes. If it has not been mortally wounded, however, the whale seldom escapes its pursuers, for attached to the projectile is a stout rope, which is fas-

tened to a steam-capstain or a winch on lx>ard the ship. Sometimes the creature will tow the vessel several miles in the struggle to free itself, but in the end becomes exhausted. Then the captain lowers a small boat. The crew row to the side of the whale, which is killed by plunging a long lance into its heart. If it is young, with soft, yielding flesh, or if it is struck near the tail, the harpoon usually goes right through, and the bomb explodes harmlessly in the water on the other side. In such cases the whale is good for many hours of struggling. An immense bull-whale, the largest ever taken in these waters, was harpooned. and for twenty-six hours dragged the ship alxmt after him, three harpoons in all being shot into him before lie succumbed. So furious was he that the men of the ship had to keep keenly alert all the time, fearing that in his mad rushes he would attack her, in which case he would destroy her with a blow of his head. When he “sounded” into the deep sea a man armed with an axe had to stand by the bow ready to cut the line if danger threatened from this cause, as he frequently pulled the vessel’s bow nearly level with the water. This monster yielded fourteen tons, or three thousand five hundred gallons, of oil. besides an immense quantity of hone; though it cost alxmt twenty pounds for repairs to machinery damaged by the strain he put on it. No other similar case has occurred of such

a long fight being made; but it is not unusual for a whaler to be towed around for ten or twelve hours by a maddened bowhead, though her own engine is going “full speed astern” the whole time in order to tire out the whale. » « « « * In the waters about Newfoundland a fleet of small steamers are engaged in whaling, and occasionally a bowhead is taken, although the prey generally consists of other species. These vessels have a draught of one hundred and fifty to two hundred tons, and they are also armed with cannon having an explosive projectile. They usually remain in the bays which indent the coast of the island, and arc operated in connected with what is known as a “station.” which consists of a place where the carcass can be cut up. and where the oil can be extracted from the whale and the refuse made into a fertiliser. The small whales are so numerous in the Newfoundland bays that many of them are caught within forty or fifty miles of the station by the whalers, yet are attacked in the same manner as the Hudson Bay whales, and sometimes four or five will be captured in a day. As soon as one is killed, it is placed in charge of a boat-crew, and the steamer continues in search of another. At the close of the day the vessel returns from her cruise, picking up the carcasses of the whales on her way, and tows them to the station like a raft of logs or timber. At the station they are drawn out on shore by means of a rope and tackle, and cut to pieces by tools especially made for the purpose. When this whale-fishery was inaugur-

ated six years ago, only the fat, which yielded a plentiful supply of oil, was allowed to drift away, three-fourths of the bulk of the animal being thus abandoned as worthless. But now factories have been established for converting all this previously wasted material into guano, and there is not a bit of the whale which is not now turned to profit. Even the rib and other bones are being split into their component parts to make unbreakable ware resembling crockery, which water will not injure and heat will not spoil, and which can only be rendered useless by being chopped up with an axe. The blood, by a contrivance now employed, is caught in a reservoir as it flows from the body when cut open, and mixed with the fertiliser to increase its richness, instead of being allowed to flow into the sea.