WHALING INDUSTRY

Hokitika Guardian, 30 August 1930, Page 8

WHALING INDUSTRY

RETURN FROM FALKLAND^. LONDON, July 9. The- S.S. William Seoresby, after two and a half years’ research into the habits and needs of whales in thfe Antarctic, hats returned to London. Her work in the interests of the whaling industry of the Falkland Islands will be resumed in the autumn, and while; therefore; the work ... just finished does not approach final.-' J itj r , it is stated that 1 florne conclusions have' been reached as to the length of , ! life and'the period : of gestation.of thewhhle; Similar work is being done by Discovery PI; There is also a research 1 station- at Grytvikfen, South Georgia; and the whole organisation is- being , devoted to the collection of informa- ?, tion which may save wha/les in the Southern’ Ocean’ from extermination and preserve the Falkland whaling; , industry, which has proved more productive than ■ that ; of alt the otherwhaling areas of the world combined. In the course of her latest spell oi work : +he William Scoresby.pushed far into the ice-pack, reaching a< position about 'lat. 70.32 ; south, long. 80 west. She also took! Sir Hubert Wilkins and: his tiny Lockhead monoplane from Dewception Island ae fdr south/ into the * pack- as possible for his aerial survey, f of Grahamsland, hitherto quite un-. known. Though the 1 ship - was never away from'port, usually Grytviken! or Port Stanley, in the Falkland Islands, for more than ' six'weeks at a time; her « work was generally arduous and often ’ dangerous. At one time she was surrounded in the ice-pack by at least , 2000 icebergs. The wonsfc •, storms and the most. unpleasant experiences were met on the-homeward journey in the neighbourhood of the “roaring forties.” At Rio de Janeiro the vessel was eight days overdue, having, fought her "-“v through stovm after storm. Commander John Irving, who brought the vessel home, told a repre-l sentative of the of her meet. ingi with . a succession of icebergs, one of them iSO; miles long and. 11 mile^ - wide, and biggest ever reported, as she- steamed northwards in May. One night she passed seventeen, and dur mg'one fogvv night w iceberg, quite i-Jose,. broke in two with n report lik ■i gun. Tlie following morning th< little ship; .pushing carefully through the fog, came «p head-on to the great iceberg whose sides,' about feet' high, etdod' up ' white like the chalk cliffs - of Ddver.’ This mass' of - floating ice had beerreported in February by the' Norwe gians - as lying-'to the north of : the Sandwich Islands: It had now moved many miles westwards and filightlto the north;: Dvinw guessed' what he had. met but coulc not tell whether .hd was 1 om its shor' or' its long- coast. 'Hoping-' that hi was following its breadth r°ther that length, he sought to tune shelter in its lee- since a north-westerly gab was brewing;. When* he came to r change ; in- its lime and thought he; was wetting round' to 1 its lee- side,- he discovered’ > that he; was merely in- r huge- 'bay, harbouring, half a dozer other great bergs.