HUNTING SEA ELEPHANTS

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 30, 1 March 1909, Page 4

HUNTING SEA ELEPHANTS

LIFE IX LONELY SEAS. THE SOLGLLUT EXPEDITION. OBOZET AND KERGULEN ISLANDS.

The hunting of strange civiitiivi-s which haunt lonely seas and uninhabited, forbidding shoves seems even more fascinating to the Norwegians thiui tile hunting of purely laud animals, and the reason may, perhaps, not be unconnected with a sea lore, inherited from Viking forefathers, lit a previous interview with Mr 11. J. Bull, of Christiaiiia, Norway, on the possiuility of a revival of the 'whaling industry in New Zealand waters, mention was made of Mr Bull's experiences on the Crozet Islands, in the Indian Ocean, whore' he and his party on board the schooner Cathrine, were wrecked on America Hay Reef, iral Mr. Hull was recently interviewed h.Y an Auckland Herald' representative regarding the Solgliint sea elephant hunting expedition, which journeyed to the Crozets in the same year that the castaways from the Cathrine wreck were brought to Australia and Tasmania. Mr Hull remarked that Captain Hee, who. with two other castaways, s>'t out in nao of the small boats saved from (he wreck, to try and reach Africa or Australia, had been equally convinced as. lie (Mr Bull) that the Crozets oll'ered a |i,.|il fur a g I commercial venture, and upon their return to. S'orway they formed a company, and with a large steamer, the Nosrliuil iSuulieamf, and a crew of To nidi, they started out and leached the OozcN the second time in November. IHII7. During the two following months, December and January, no less! than between 701)0 and 8000 sea elephants were captured, so that it was evident the sea elephant is by no meant as rare he was supposed to be. '•if the hunting of sea elephants was as exciting as the hunting of whales or laud elephant*." .said Mr Hull, "we -would have had magnificent sport, but all a sportsman's instinct revolt against killing the poor, defenceless sea elephant. It is simply butchery, because the game shows no fight, but simply waits to be killed, but in commercial hunting oa« has to put feeling aside, and get over the repulsiveness of the work, for the fat blubber of sea elephants converts into shining sovereigns. The sea elephant belongs to the sea family, and got hifl name from the peculiar warty proboscis, extending about six inches from the snout. The males may attain, a length of 24ft, and a girth of 14ft, while th« females arc about a third less. The animals go on shore about the end of August, and are then exceedingly fat, the blubber of about seven going to the ton. They congregate in herds or mobs of about 30 or 100, and in six days we secured 100 tons of bludder." Mention was made of the fact that the locality must have hud 60mc strange memories for him, and Mr Bull said the poor hut that had given himself and shipwrecked comrades shelter for 11 weary weeks had some strange memories for him. It had been constructed out of wreckage from the schooner Cathrine, and every bit of the rude furniture had been fashioned with primitive tools, and after much labour. The place was overrun with rats, but still it bad been a welcome home in its time. The Christmas dinner of the Solglimt expedition was a very different one from that the Calbriue castaways hail to put up with. Over 700 tons of "oil and 1750 skins were secured, the skins, of course being specially selected.

When questions were asked about the C'rozet Islands, Air Hull said Ihe group looked but mere dots on Ihe map. Their position was 40 degrees south, and the weather was generally inclement, wet, and stormy, but never cold. In summer beautiful days were not infrequent, and then there was a most attractive panorama amongst the lofty mountains, the summits of which were covered with snow. There were line streams and waterfalls coming own from the ranges, and fine grasses grew on the lower slopes. Immense penguin colonies on the green sward looked, at a distance, like a great bank of lilies, their white breasts shining in (lie sunlight. Albatrosses frequented the islands in great numbers. It was evident that the Crosets, discovered iu 1772 by Captain Marion du Fresne, afterwards murdered in New Zealand, had very often been visited by sea elephant hunters, »s old remains of huts, bundles of rusty hoop iron, etc., in a number of the bays, testified to the presence, at different times, of wanting or sea elephant hunting parties. There was a small graveyard near America Bay, and three graves in it were made in the early sixties, according to the dates on wooden slabs. Wreckage was discovered in some of Ihe bays. In 1821 the schooner Princess of Wales was wrecked on Possession Island, and the survivors subsisted for nearly two years on the islands. In 1H75 the ship Strathmore was wrecked on Apostle Island.

ami 44 survivors hail to live for six months on sea elephant flesh and seabirds' eggs. No less than 40 lives were lost in tiro Strathmoro wreck. The Crozets were visited by Cook ill \ui, by .Sir James Koss in 1840, and the Challenger expedition in 1574, ill 1880 provision depots were laid down by Captain East, of H.M.S. Conius, and, althoug'u the provisions were twenty-seven years old when lie (Mr Bull) and the other castaways of the Catlirino wreck found them, some bread, flour, canned meal, and milk were a welcome change to the soup and flesh of the penguins. The Norwegian Government scut with the Solglinit a quantity of provisions, and som» guns and ammunition, which were laid down in the hut at America Bay. In this way the Norwegian Government endeavoured- lb acknowledge the British hospitality received by the castaways of the

Cathrine wreck. Some good scientific work was done by the Solglimt party, beside the commercial work, for which the expedition was planned, and Dr. Svindlauil brought home three living "Ononis." the only laud bird existing on the islands, believing that these rare winged specimens had never before be«n I carried across the equator alive. .Mr Bull also knows Hie Kerguelcn Islands, to which attention lias been attracted by the location of a large Norwegian whaling station there, and he stated Hint the volcanic mountain tope of the main island reached a height, of UOOOfl.and were covered with snow when he was there in the Antarctic. With the lofty range* and -numerous lowering conical peaks, the first view of Kerguelcn was very imposing, although severe and barren. For miles the shore was ■barricaded with high lialastic dill's, with bold headlands, like Crozct Island, and where the range was broken by an occasional valley the same, teeming bird life was met with. The penguins along these uioro accessible rocks, and the shores of the hay, were countless, ami the scene of animation in the rookeries was perfectly bewildering. The principal object ; of the Antarctic in calling a I the Kcrguclens was lo get seals or sea elephants, and the latter were found in large numbers, of a. size unknown to Arctic fishermen. The Antarctic had a lively experience of the Kerguelcn hurricanes, tint secured a cargo of oil, worth over €3OOO. in a few weeks, The islands were over 3000 miles from any mainland, and it was probably their forbidding and sterile aspect from the sen. and the general di«mal climate, that caused Cookto applv the name "Desolation. Islands.'' When iin- firths were entered, however, thi' general aspect of the land was much better, the valleys being covered with succulent grasses', and the well-known Kerguelcn cabbage, while there were plenty of rnbhiK The islands formed a good centre for whaling ami sealing, and they contained workable layers of coal. The Norwegian expedition in Hie steamer Jeanne d'Arc was probably the first attempt to establish a regular settlement, there for any lengthened- period, and the icsult of the expedition would be wailed with interest.