MODERN “MOBY DICK”

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XVII, 8 December 1927, Page 5

MODERN “MOBY DICK”

FIGHT WITH A WHALE, VALUABLE CAPTURE. Wellington. Dec. 6. A fight which would have done credit to “Moby Dick” was put up by a right whale in Tory Channel. On being harpooned, after well over an hour’s chase, the whale charged the launch, and only skilful seamanship saved serious consequences. The whale was actually under the launch when finally bombed. Two and a-half hours were spent by t*e well-known whalerj Mr. Arthur He belly, and his party in the launch Orea, in chasing and killing it. The riglit whale is valuable, not only for its oil, but for the whalebone or sieve-like teeth. It is estimated the whale caught will produce about nine tone of oil and about 4cwt. of bone ,and should be worth approximately £3040. This is said to be the first time in about 20 years that a right whale has been caught in the channel, and it is only very occasionally that one is secured in the Straits. The species usually caught is the humpback, a different type. It has been reported that a sperm whale was seen recently off the Kaikouras. The intensity of the slaughter of sperm and right whales in the period round about 1830 almost made both these species extinct.