LIFE OF A WHALER

Hokitika Guardian, 30 September 1930, Page 3

LIFE OF A WHALER

EASY IN MODERN TIMES. “Whaling?—well, to tell the truth, it was not nearly such hard work as L expected. In fact, it was the only real holiday I have had for year. 1 joined up last season more for devilment. I wanted to see how it was done, and believe me it was a thrilling experience.” These remarks were made by Major R. McFarlane, who joined the whaler Southern Princess last season and spent five months searching for Avhales in the Ross Sea.

“The main thing,” continued Major McFarlane, “is a good pair of boots and a fur liat. It is absolutely essential to keep your feet dry. I remember once jumping off the side of the ship waist deep into icy slush, and before 1 could get back on board my boots were frozen to my feet. I bad to thaw them off/’ “DIRTY” WORK. Major McFarlane went with the whaling vessel in the capacity of a labourer. The work of the labourers was to cut up any whales caught, and according to the speaker it was “dirty” work. A labourer was paid £6 10s a month, a farthing for every barrel of oil, and 2s overtime. They worked in twelve-hour shifts, , “and we deserved the pay.”

Asked - how Jong. * it - a whale to pieces, Major Melarlane said that the - first topic-a,-whole, day to *lis; pose of. Towards the end of the trip, however, they dealt with the mammals at the rate of one an hour. Men were working night and day at the job, everything on the vessel be ame saturated with oil. Hot showers were provided for the men to wash but no matter, how clean they kept themselves their, bunks soon became full of oil. “They were so full,” he continued ‘ th it you would slip and slide all over trie place in them.” ... After the whale had been cut into the small pieces, .-everything went.into the cookers-except the baleen’id the’mouth This he, describes/.ife , the ‘‘shnmpstrainer.” Nqthing-iva.s -wasted. Tlie oil was drawn off the cookers by pipes run through separators; ; which graded theoil and separated it' front the blood and water, and stored, it in the vats. The bone of the whale was like honeycomb, and was full of oil, and when boiled could be' ground to idust! With the hands. The staple: dipt of the .whale'' was shrimps,■:.:an.d off'one occasion; Major McFarlane found over one and threequarter tons of shrimps inside one of the huge mammals. “Tlie shrimps themselves are , full ,of oil,” he continued, “and 1 think that if the"whalers could get in amongst them when they are like milk on. the water, and. boil them down, they.; could .muclreoil as they otb.enrts'e gpt.” The Southern. Princess'.had a jnbst. successful. season,, and bagged -all - tola 870 whales, producing about 60.000 bar-, rels of oil. The biggest flush caught was some 106 ft long, and weighed 106 tons Whaleris generally estimated tlie weight of a catch by its length. I'm blue and fin whales the weight was about one ton a ,f, opt. , . . ■ ‘ FIVE-TNOH WHALE.

To Major McFarlane stands the credit of obtaining what was probably the smallest whale ever caught. Fully developed, this mammal of the .humpback species was only sin long. Regarding it as a curio, Major. McFarlane pickled it in the Norwegian drink, ■ akavith,” which smelt something llKu methylated spirits. This specimen he brought back with him, and after it had been properly preserved he presented it to the Dunedin Museum. “How I .came to look for it,” he said, “was because the mate spun us a .yarn that lie had seen a whale two inches long. He was only pulling our legs, but [ was euriouSj and when the first whale was brought aboard I looked inside her and found my five-inch specimen. Its mother weighed 40 tons, and the “‘youngster” only-eight-ounces.-I examined hundreds of whales afterwards, but never found a sperm under a yard long.” Major McFarlane also brought another curio home with him, which he presented to the Dunedin Museum. This was the eye of the largest whale caught. It was slightly bigger than the top of a jam jar. “The eye” he said, “is like a solid bone and when the pupil is taken out of the setting it makes an excellent salt cellar.” . LOCKED IN THE ICE.

Whaling with gun harpoons was, in the speaker’s opinion, the easiest thing in the world. A good sdiot could kill a whale in one smack. The Norwegians could not hit a whale at long distance and would try apd get as near as possible before firing. They could tell where one was going to come up, and would manoeuvre to be on the spot. The moment the harpoon hit the whale the engines of the chaser were put full speed astern. The whale would sound, come up and set off at full speed. He would drag the boat with him despite the fact that the engines were going full speed astern. “They don’t seem to be exerting themselves at all,” he said, “and they could not go any faistei- even if the boat were not behind.” Having caught a whale, the crew on the chaser would blow it up, stick a flag in it and put it overboard again. It would be floating about when they came back after a day’s work and they would take '*• in tow back to the base-ship. “AVe were the first ship to. tackle the ice last year,” concluded Major Me-