THE WHALING INDUSTRY

Hokitika Guardian, 7 July 1930, Page 2

THE WHALING INDUSTRY

DEVELOPMENT TRACED

ADDRESS BY AIR E. AAGAARD

CHRISTCHURCH, July 3

“People are afraid of the whales being exterminated but I do not think there is very much danger of extinction,” said Afr'E. Aag-aard, formerly °1 the whaling ship, C. A. Larsen, in a lecture delivered at last evening’s meeting of the Canterbury Philosophical Institute. This fear, he added, had been brought about by the terrific rate of the modern killing of whales. When attention was called to the fact that the Greenland whales had been practically exterminated, it had to be iremein’wed that the nort-fif orn whales that were formerly chased were easy to kill. They could be IHI- - f'’om rowing boats. But with tlm f;U whales of the south it was different. The fin whale had s’-'ped to protect it. Actual'-", very -few of the fin whales were killed. A fa** greater number o f these +bat were chased escaped than we"p killed.

Af.r n"-nard’<3 lecture, which was Illustrated hv lantern slides and was +n Hv n muliepep. (halt n* ;i b rUo rnrh- '■’■-torv o c w l '' ,l '’ l ' v and the p’o' l p->*n industry. MV R. T). Milligan presided.

EARLY WHALING. Whaling said Air Anganrd, was not as young an industry as was generally supposed, for it went back to the sixteenth century, and’even then it was followed on a.i large s ale. The English innd Dutch people must have the credit of having made an industry out of whaling. At that time both nations were keen on finding a northern passage to India and the East. They did not succeed in their quasi for such .a. passage but they made a number of important discoveries Spitzbergen was discovered by the Du ten in 1596 hut its commercial possibilities were not realised till fntich later. It was in 1611 that the first whaling expedition—set : out for Spitsbergen. The actual results of this : expedition were not know, 1 but were believed to have been very good. The ensuing quarrels between the English and Dutch lasted a-. very . long,. time. In 1613 the English had a fleet of seven mep-of-war at Spitzertyergen. and they scared the others away.. . There were whales enough there foy everybody and. there was no need to fight. . \

A THRIVING INDUSTRY. Finally territories' 'were defined for each nation operating. Hundreds of ships visited Spitsbergen every year, and settlements were formed in every suitable harbour. Tire largest of them accommodated from 12,0C0 to 10.000 men in the summer months. The boats were quiet small—-about 300 tons —but they did their work, It was interesting to observe that the same system prevailed then as obtained today—the crews were paid a bonus. The lecturer did not think the industry could be carried on otherwise. The weapons were hand harpoons and spears. The harpoon gun’was invented in ]73l,aarid' though it was used with n success in some cases, it often proved as dangerous to the chaser as to the whale. As a result of this the harpoon guns went out of use. The fishing of the whales was often a very long operation in those days. The record time was four hours. It was easy to understand that with whales so plentiful in Spitsbergen the returns were very good. A result was that attempts were made to colonise. Spitsbergen, but without success, mainly owing to outbreaks of scurvey during the winter. Some very large catches of whales were made in those days, large fleets being sent by the English and Dutch. In 1701 the English took 2074 whales, which represented over 200,000 barrels of oil. As an illustration of lioiv 'prolific the catch was, Mr Aagaard reminded his audience tliate the Kosmos took 1800 whales, getting 116,000 barrels of oil. From 1740 to 1750 was the great period for Ithe (English whalers. The industry was encouraged by grants from the Government, which distributed about £3,000.000 for that purpose. Tn that period 2870 ships left English ports on whaling expeditions. DECLINE OF NORTHERN WHALING. Whales that were so slow and so easy to kill could not last very long at that rate. The whalers carried on till they killed the goose that laid the golden eggs. By 1820 there was only

one vesel left in the industry. But the whales retired beyond the ice and could not be got at. The invention of the modern harpoon gun by Sven Foyii revolutionised the whaling business. The year 18(38 was the first in which the new gun was used. .It enabled the faster whales to be killed, by the use of steamers as observers. The first southern whaling expeditions took place about twentyfive years ago. the first areas operated upon being about South Georgia and the, South She+i’ands. The southern whales moved about more than did the northern whales. Their food was a small prawn, which they followed about. Tt was as a result of having to follow the whales that the necessity arose for having shins fitted up as factories. The fin whafe and the toothed whale were the two principal s-oeios that were chased now. The blue whale (which was a. fin. whale), grew to maturity in a year. Tt lived about fifteen rears. A smaller variety of tbe fin whale was second in importance of the blue whale. A third variety of fin whale was what was known as the humpback. It- was tremendonslv fat and looked, somewhat like a balloon. The too-lied whales were a different variety. Chief of them was the sperm whale, which was characterised, by its huge head. Tin’s whale fed on ootopods. which it killed by crushing them on the rock bottom with its head.

ROSS SEA WHALING. Spending of the Ilcss Sea whaling, the lemuier sain Uie pack ice was frequently very hard to get through, and, in tact, last year the factory ship had to stay outside the ice here, |< or about a month the whaling was carried on outside toe ice barrier before nde snips entered the Ross Sea. The wiuuc-s m the Ross &ea were very much fatter than those north of the ice. The chasers were smart litt.e ships, and looked something like. tugs. They had great manoeuvring abnuy, and could turn almost in Uieir own length when travelling at full speed. Harpoons, fired from guns and containing toxp.ijisives with tune fuses, were used in killing the whales, wlaon were .then towed by the chasers to the factory- ship. From about ten to fourteen hours were required to extract the oil from the bludder in the digesters. Mr Aagaard expressed the opinion that there was little possibility of the whales being exterminated. Legislation now provided that cow whaies accompanied by calves should not be killed, neither were blue whales under forty feet to be killed. There were inspectors on; the factory ships to see ; that the law was carried out.' Occasionally whales under forty feet were killed, but where that occurred the crew were paid no bonus.

On the motion of Dr C. C. Farr, who expressed some doubt as to the accuracy of the lecturers conclusions regarding the possibility of the extermination of the whales, Mr Aagnard was accorded a vote of thanks’.