“THERE SHE BLOWS!”

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XLV, Issue 7, 17 August 1910, Page 33

“THERE SHE BLOWS!”

An Account of Present-day Off-shore Whaling.

By

C. R. PATTERSON.

THE old way of hunting and killing the different speeies of whale for the blubber or bone, as the ease may be. is still followed, the methods and appliances employed differing but little from those of a century past, though within the last fifty years there has been a noticeable decrease in the fleets engaged in deepsea whaling. Various reasons are assigned for this decrease, among them being the ever-

increasing use of petroleum products for various purposes. The off-shore whaling industry is entirely different in many ways from the deep-sea business, modern methods being employed throughout, and every portion of the whale is used up. while the deep-sea man. having secured the blubber and whalebone, leaves the carease for sharks to devour. When Captain Sprott Baleom. of Victoria, two years ago announced his intention of forming a company to kill whales for* their oil and bone, and convert the remaining portions into guano for com-

mercial purposes, he was regarded as a sort of mild lunatic, his plans not being considered seriously in most quarters. The captain, whose wide sealing experience had taught a few things, persisted in his endeavours, with the result that the Sechart station was erected, and a modern whaling vessel, the Orion, was built in Norway and brought out under her own steam to Victoria. B.C. The little steamer Orion is well worthy

of description here, being the only steamer of her kind on the Pacific coast. She has the lines of a steam yacht, also the speed, though the buffeting in the big seas of the northern Pacific, as well as the chafing of her sides when handling whales alongside makes it impossible to keep her in yacht like trim, patches of red oxide paint being plentifully distributed along her sides and upper works to prevent corrosion where the body paint has been rubbed ofl. The Orion’s powerful engines have the capacity to propel her at 13 J knots, and all heavy

hoisting is done by big deck winches, masts, etc. The steamer has two pole masts, the foremast being rigged heavier than the main on account of the heavy hoisting operations in which it participates. and just above the hounds a large barrel is securely fastened, this forming a crow's-nest for the look-out man. who makes many wild swings through the air on his perch aloft when the Orion is cutting up capers in a seaway.

The feature attracting the casual observer is the vessel’s harpoon gun. situated forward of everything, from which the formidable harpoon is fired into the whale. The gun looks like a small cannon, and about a pound of powder is used to discharge the harpoon, which is ram med home in the same manner as a shot would be. and tied from the outside end with a small cord, this breaking, of course, when the gun is tired. The harpoon is a very heavy missile, weighing several hundred pounds, which necessitates its being fired only at pretty close range; the lance head pierces the whale and soon afterwards explodes a bomb contained in it. while still farther back on the shaft are barbs, which ex pa nd on entering the whale, making it next to impossible for the harpoon to be drawn out again. Each harpoon, after being fin'd, has to be straightened by a blacksmith in order to again lit the gun barrel. A stout hemp rope, four inches in circumference, is attached to

the hirpoon about IS indies from the point : this line is of great flexibility and strength, am! is ma nufact ured solely for whaling in Norway. A few fathoms of this lint* are coiled on a plate directly under the gun. the remainder Iwing below decks clear to run. There are two of these lint's, each ISOOft in length, and sometimes they are none too long for t he purpose. The Orion's crew number- II all told.

the captain doing .ill the harpooning, ’rhe second day of my stay at Sechart saw me on board of her at 3 a.m.. an early start being necessary to arrive al the feeding grounds in time to hunt. The lines fell from the dork with a splash and were hauled aboard, bells jingled in the engine room and we were soon slip ping past wooded islands towards the open Pacific, and .30 minutes later saw us commencing to climb over the tops of the long south west swells rolling up outside, the outermost of the islands showing deep white fringes at their bases where tin* surf broke and thundered. Soon the lower lands began t( sink, while the snowcapped mountains behind took on more prominence as the Orion sped onward and dm* we-t. and in turn the while peaks gradually lessened. though as long as the weather remained clear we never lost -ight of them by day even at lifty miles away. Shortly after reaching the open sea one of t hi* crew was stationed in the lookout

barrel at the foremast head to scan the sea for the big game. At thirty miles out we heard the wel come cry from aloft, “There she blows!’ the lookout man having sighted the white columns of spray in the distance that is the sure indication of a whah spouting. I'he Orion was headed in 'the direction of the spout, and in a short time we wen* able to make out the whale as he came to the surface to blow. "A humpback.” said tin* captain, “and wv will not bother with him at present; w< are after bigger ’fish,’ the sulphur bottoms." So on we went further to «sea, until when about forty miles from land and no whales, the course was changed, and we cruised in varying directions, the idea being to endeavour to locate the feeding ground of the whales. The different species nave their different foods,

though data gathered would show that the sperm whale will swallow almost anything under a certain size; one of he sperms caught by the Orion having in his stomach a number of devil-fish or octopuses* as wed I as the back-bone of a fish over twelve l feet in length, and some cuttlefish. The capacious throat of the sperm will admit very large fish.

ami he is equipped with a numl>er of teeth, while the humpback, the finback, ami the sulphur-bcr'. tom whaler, these Iwing the kind usually caught by the Orion. have verv small throats and their mouth' are fitted with whale-bone, the lint* upper edges of which act as a strainer and onk admit small articles of food o the throat. The humpback is the lea.-l particular of the three lastmentioned whales, uh he will chase schools of herring and small fish close to shore, often going miles up the sounds along tin* coast, while the sulphur bottom ami finback seem to be con-

tent to feed on the small species of 'hrimp known to whalemen as shrimpbait. and which are found at varying distances from land in enormous quantities, swimming close to the surface in good weatner and sinking deeper when big seas are running. The presence of the bait in large quantities will give that part of the sea water, at close view, a reddish tinge, and when the whale strikes such a spot he is undoubtedly in his glory, as, swimming round in a huge circle several times among the bait, he causes them 'to huddle even closer together, then changing his course he charges with wide open jaws through the bait he has thus rounded up and feasts. This, like all other such data respecting whales is necessarily supposition, but I give it as told me at Sechart by men having long experience with the leviathans. They all admit how verv little

is known, even to science, of the whale and its habits. After an hour or more of cruising, whales were sighted, four or five appearing almost at the same time, and coming from the direction of the land, strange 'to say. Interest again revived, and twenty minutes nore saw us in close proximity to several sulphur-bot-tom whales, they being distinguishable from other species by their manner of spouting and at dose range by their shape and colour—a sort of slate colour. The steamer’s speed was reduced, and 'the captain took his station at the harpoon gun. Suddenly vn our starboard beam a big sulphur-bottom rose to the surface and spouted, making a noise like a rush of low-pressure steam through a very large, wide-open valve, we hearing it plainly, as he was only about 300 feet distant. From his post at the gun tin* skipper shouted, “Full speed ahead,” at the same time signalling by hand to tin? steersman to put the vessel after the whale. The big fellow wallowed along easily, and blew four, five, six times; then just as the captain had drawn a bead on him. no Hipped his tail

a little higher than usual, and sounded. When a whale has sounded, he is liable to come to the surface nearly a mile away, it being pure speculation as to where he will rise next. 1 was just expressing my disappointment to one of the crew at the disappearance of Che game when a shout drew all attention to the water, for another whale had broken water on the Orion’s port bow at close range, and was endeavouring to cross ahead. “Full «-peed astern,” roared the skipper, the Orion shuddered fore and aft with the reverse, another instant and the order, ’’Stop” came from the man at the gun. The steamer still forged slowly ahead, and it looked for a second as though a collision was imminent, but the whale, swerving elightly, just crossed the bow. Up came the broad wet back, glistening in the sun, up went a shower of fine spray as he spouted. On board all was hushed for a fraction of a second, as the captain looked along the barrel of the gun, then came a flash and a deafening report, followed by an upheaval in the sea to starboard that made the waters dance and boil for yards around. Another

second and a huge tail stood up in plain sight, lashed for an instant, then plunged. The harpoon line fairly shrieked in its mad rush over the bow sheave, and the fight was on. Our whale had received a mortal wound, and was fast weakening, and yet he ran not over a thousand feet of heavy whale line, as well as towing the steamer for several miles. What he would have done with a small harpoon in his flesh with a lighter line towing a ship’s boat is hard to say, but that the killing would have taken some time can be safely assumed. After a few' minutes, the harpoon line ceased to run out at speed, and slackened visibly, the opportunity soon arriving when several turns of the line could be taken round the barrel of the steam winch, upon which the whale was played in much the same manner as a fish i«s played by the expert angler, a continual strain being kept on him, slacking sometimes to a wild rush, but always reeling in slack at every opportunity.

From our distance we could see a redlisli tinge overspread the white, a column of red and white *pray shot up in tlie air, and for a minute or so the hugi bulk floated lifeless, then sank. The line was now rapidly hove in fathom after fathom until the heavy strain came, showing that we were taking the weight of the whale, then a. little more time was given to make sure of lite being extinct, the line in the meantime being led through a heavy iron block at the foremast head to heave up the whale front the bottom. Ihe heaving commenced, the tension on the tackle showing the heavy weight involved, and after about twenty minute*’ steady hoist, the big slate-coloured liodv appeared under the bows, only the stout rope entering the body midway along the back suggesting how death came. A rope followed by heavy chains was next passed around the whale at the juncture of the tail with the body; these were then hove in and secured, bringing the whale’s tail on a level with the steamer’* deck. We gathered headway and the whale swung alongside, lacking but some fifteen feet of being the len«th of the Orion. The added weight

gave our vessel quite a list to starboard, but this was lessened when an air-pipe wa* inserted in the stomach of the whale and air pumped in to render the body buoyant. T made another trip in the Orion when big seas were running, the little vessel rolling, pitching and diving in a manner wonderful to behold. "When wo got to close quarters with the whale, the captain clad in oilskins and seaboots, was lashed to the gun, and with good reason, for at times when going at. full speed the Orion would put everything forward under water, then rising, would spill the water off again as quickly as it came. Shooting a whale from a slippery deck that is never still for a moment is 1.0 easy feat; at least so it eeemed to me, and I had a good deal of respect for Captain Nilsen afterward, for a miss is something that rarely happens with him. In heavy weather the whale seems timid, travelling much faster and staying down longer than in tine weather, and the whale hunters generally stay in port when big winds blow, as should they kill a whale the strain on their •hoisting tackle is too great. There is undoubtedly risk attached to the work, even if the odds are nearly all in favour of the hunters, for a wounded whale could sink the steamer with ease if he decided to ram it, or he might do much damage with his tail. It often happens that the whale does not receive his death-blow from the first harpoon, and when the opportunity offers another one is fired into him, and one •instance occurred when 1 was at Sechart of a whale harpooned by the Orion that *ank to the bottom after a short struggle, and remained stationary there, the natural inference of the crew being that lie had succumbed to the death-dealing missile received. Accordingly, heaving-up operations were commenced after a lapse of some thirty minutes, and judge of the surprise of the men on the steamer when after raising the whale almost to the surface to see him commence fighting furiously. Alore line had to be paid out, though only sufficient to allow the big animal good clearance of the steamer, and a favourable opportunity presenting itself, another harpoon was discharged into the side of the leviathan, which gave him hi* quietus. It was found afterward that the first harpoon had broken the whale’s back, but had not extinguished life; evidently he was unable to rise of his own accord from the bottom after sounding, but was able to put up a fight for life after the steamer had assisted him. In hi* first mad rush to the bottom he had rubbed the ocean bed with such force as to drive large stones far into his blubber. The whale hunters stated that Ibis happens frequently, the avhale in his agony apparently becoming reckless of any ohstmdc in his path. At other times it is necessary to lance a Xx halo from one of the steamer’s boats alter the big fellow has been hox’e up alongside, and to keep clear of the xvaving flippers and walloping tail xvhilo Xxatiliing for a chance to thruet is a matfar attended with plenty of risk, but it all ionics ns a matter of course to the xx halers, nil in the day’s work. Sharks are not attendant nt the killing of a Whale, or, rather, after the killing, aa

they are at the cutting up of a xvhale alongside at sea by the deep-sea xvhalens, but on several occasions when the dead xvhale had been allowed to remain at the bottom for a longer period than usual by the captain of the Orion, it was found, on heaving up, that ground sharks had commenced to make a meal off the earcase. When the Orion turns over her catch to the station no time is lost by the men ashore in getting the leviathan in position to be drawn up the slip. Several turns of chain cable are passed around the body near the tail, and heavy tackles with steel wire in lieu of rope are led down and hooked to the chain; the hauling part is taken to a powerful steam winch ami hox’e in, the immense body being slowly brought up the slipway until dear of the tide. As soon a* the xvhale is in place men xvith longhandled knives commence “flensing”— that is, the removal of the blubber. The blubber lays directly under the skin, covering the whole body like a huge blanket, varying in thickness from four to seven inches on the ordinary whale, but attaining much greater thickness on the sperm xvhale. The men xvalk from the head toward the tail, cutting long gashes in the blubber as they go, then a steel hook xvith wire cable attached is hooked in at the end of a strip, the steam winch heaves in on the wire, and the long strips are peeled off’ one after another, exposing the carease to view 7. The whale with blubber removed resembles very much an enormous beef with the skin removed. In fact, I could not help wondering what a big packing house would do with whale meat, for it has the appearance and flavour of good beef, even to the white inside fat. I had the pleasure of tasting whale steak, and I must say that it is as good, and if a person were not told beforehand what it was he was eating, he would think that he was enjoying a good beefsteak.

After the whale is “flensed,” the carcase is removed to the carease platform and dismembered and stripped of meat, etc. The blubber in the meantime has been cut in small pieces and thrown in a machine which chops it fine, anti places it in a series of bucket* on an endless chain. The chain carries the buckets to an upper floor, and empties the eontents into large metal vats fitted xvith steam pipes, and here the blubber is tried out for the oil. Nothing is wasted, the boiling process having apparently removed all the oil from the blubber; the refuse is again treated, and more oil of a lower grade extracted. The meat is also treated, and much oil obtained from it by means of acid processes. This oil is termed carcase oil. A strange thing in connection xvith the working among xvhale oil and over the acid tanks where the oil is being extracted from the meat particularly, is the beneficial effect to persons troubled xvith tuberculosis, a cure being sometimes effected. When tests shoxv that all oil has been extracted from the blubber and meat, etc., the remains are made into guano by a drying process, which dries the material thoroughly and then shreds it fine, after which it is ready for the market, its value as a fertiliser being very high. Seventeen xvhale* were taken in one week by the Orion recently, this being a record. The whales invariably are much larger and fatter than those cf the Atlantic, due, no doubt, to an unlimited food supply.