THE SEA-HUNTERS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 139, 5 November 1914, Page 6

THE SEA-HUNTERS.

CRUISE TO THE AUCKLAMU ISiiAINDd. ! AN ADVEVi'UWoS EXPELUTiUiN. TiiH iiAUA'TiS i(jE THE I'Uli. SiiAu Bluff, Oc*lw 3D. Eor the frrst tune lor twenty years the Auckland .Ulaads have-- itiucji aaidej by a ±\'ew Zealand dealing party, wliov. members liave returned to iliu Jiiull, afuer a hazardous, but fairly succiwsiui cruise. Their uuiy lor the season, was. 12541 skin*, made up of im Jur skins and &>0 hair itk.ns. Interviewed by a Lyltelton Times reporter, they gave a very interesting description of their adventures. The party included' several good old sealing names, and wa.i made up as foUowd:— C. .liurp'hy (loader), M. Cross, ii. iiarwood, M. iJoou, JI. VV'aitiri, it. Jiang, U. .Spencer, and it Topi. Amongst the appliances of the party were a motor launch, capa'ble oi ringing up ten knoiis an hour, a whaleboat 'M feet in. length, and. electric torches and lamps, also many other appliances that Were not in vogue ichirty years ago. Three days after .Leaving tho Bin ft the vessel (the brigantine 'Kachael Cohen) picked up the Auckland Islands, and on Jujy 5 they dropped auciior in Poi'K iioss. The party liad spent tli---trip down making acaf-lioojis and clubs, preparing lor a guod start. On July (i. at i'orti rtoAs, they came across a youny sea-lion, which gave some of the young 1 "eons" si i-lianee of Ijryinj; their haiiut. and after two or three hits and misses, first blood was successfully drawn. At Enderby island a day was spent in knocking over about forty hair seals. They are wor.ih about 4s a skin, and the ■profit on each (clear of ship; is only 2s Od, scarcely worth the tabor of kil - ing and skinning. The graves of the victims of the Ui.rry. Castle wreck were found in good order, guarded by the figurehead,oi the ill-fated vessel. ' This Meg Merrilies liguiiiliead is beginning •» rot away, however.

WKECKAUE OX ENEERiiY JLSLAXU. A lingo amount of wreckage w:vi wasted up ou i.n; shore', including hall a ship's wheei, 'but it could nut be ideutilted as belonging to auy particuim vessel. An unusual find was made, tw< unexploded l'Silu. shells wi.ih capper attached to them, indicating that soncwarship had btvn using Euderby islan.i a.s a target. Both shells have been brought .0 the iSiuli'. Next day, on the way to a rookery on the west coast, llio hunters came across an "old wit;' seal, and on pelting on to the rookcr, they were soon amongst (lie "reai thing" in fur seals. Murphy used a revolver, but scared too many seals away before tiie men could gel at them, and that wtapon was tabooed for tin rest of the tr.p. The good old silent way wi;h huolc and club was found, as in the past, to be the best. In one day , they got twenty siais and the nex. day they increased the ta/ly for the rookery for slightly over thirty skins.

A XlGiiT IN" Til'li SNOW. While there was an easterly slant il was -decided ;o try l>;s.ippoiiu:.h.cnt island, several ini.es west of the mam island, Haitm una .Uurpuj went back overland to Port ..jss to get the latuicii round for tue attempt, and also to laii': the party auuaru aim tae skins. Lnu came on ..o b.uw livi-.i' (lie westward w.lu mow. The launch had to make 'b.icii to J'ort iioss, and the party had to struggle baok over tue mils tiirough bogs una snow, /t'liey had no sliclcr and had to .-iti-p out i hal night in their oilskins in tne snow. Tii:v made for Port Hoss in pairs and arrived dead beat, spencer and Topi were jiii.-s-Jng for.a time but they struggled into Port Koss worn out. Tiie cold was perishing and their boots ' were full of , mtlred snow water, and the ground was freezing hard. It was anything ien a 'pleasant experience, and they had '.j leave the skins behind to 'be picked up a fortnight later. For several day'i 1 they knocked around Port lioss and bagged a few hair seals.

AT SMITH HARBOR. Early in Audits;; it was decided to carry out,, a rani from Smith Harbor, and a tent ivu.i pitched. To reach the rookery it was necessaiy 1o em a tr::e„ iiiioiign the bush ami lo can-,- 1.-.'i ia.-ii-oms Oi rope to get, up aifc' down l,; : i: elili's. The cutting puny (Ai.uphv mid Harwood) wire only half-way lhii,;;ge their task wlien it came on to rain and snow, ;ui<! it took tlicin three day-, to get through ten to twelve miles of "bush. When they did yet through -they found themselves tied up with 'bad weather. Evidences of tliu old sealing days w.er... to be found on every hand—-clubs-, tin-., torches, and so on. Alurnhy chanced upon a magnificent pair of boar tusks.

HEAVY S'.NOW ANT) iSEMtSTAIUVA-Tj-UN.

Next day .tliey determined to make a raid, but when everything was ready ;o 'lower over the elilf, it came on to snow heavily, with driving .sleet, ami iu disgust thev liad to abandon the attempt and struggle back to Smith Uarbor. ,t sorry Ijand of pilgrims. .Snow had fallen, three feet deep everywhere, and ;<hc whole land.seape was simply a whit-? plain. It was almost ira'possble lo tell where the stunted Auckland Island Bush began and the level ground commenced. ' l'or hours they could not find Ijlie track, hut when they did hit. upon it, thev pushed on, with the certain knowledge ' that they were practically foodies. The weighs of the snow Jiad pressed- tile 1 trees right across their tracks and on either-hand they could'hear the trucking of the trees which were breaking under the. strain. Huge junks of snow tumbled down on their heads as they trekked on up to their knees in snow, soaked to the skin and their boots full. When they struggled through to Smith' Harbord, they found their tent flattened out with the weight of the snow, and thev had to use a prop to keep up the ridgepole. A fire was got going and they had a meal of the last of "their potatoes and the few remaining biscuits. A bottle of rum undoubtedly saved the situation. For two days they had nothing to n\i but limpets and mussels, caught at low tide. Their meals wen; regulated l.v the tide.

AT ADAMS rSU.WO. V/HALKDOAT SMASHED. After a week's delay ami with rep!™ished provisions, an excursion was made to Fly Harbor, the Adams Inland rookery. It was dillicult to make, a landing, which had to be attempted in the v/haleboat. Waitiri remained in ehai:.', • of the launch while the remainder 01 die party took the wliaHioat ashoiv. Tlviv was a big sea and the whakboat was I hurled against a rock and smashed up. All hands were thrown into the water. After a,few exciting minutes i..e victims Btrujujletl over the rocks and i>i>t ashore. Tliey would have been eomplctcly trapped but for the launch, because they could not scale the cliffs be-

hind the rookery and could not possrhiy get away seawards. It is a tribute to their hardiness that they immedia v\>, salvaged their gear and made for the rookery. Seals were very numerous' ami they had excellent luck. i There was a big element of risk :u ; getting off the rookery as the ia r.v :i | could not get alongside the rookery, a;, i ; each man had to seize his oppoit. • v I and jump. Ultimately all got abo.;'-.!. I For a fortnight they worked tin \a. n •. ! Adams Island rookeries with tin lanii. i! ? i and obtained two hundred fut s';, . : llt was the best business of the li '. i although the locs of the whaleboat j a serious one , j

RISKY ROPE WORK. On returning to Sbitli Harbor ; .. ■ seized a chance to tackle the cave t'-at the snowstorm had prevented tin :n •, '. ing previously. It was bad weather. v< they decided to risk the cliff of 300 '•':-t down which" they bad to be let by a .rope. Although this was a famous rockery in the olden days, the return was only thirty-two skins, which was very disappointing considering the risk run. It was "great fun," they said, going down the rope, but coming up again was quite another matter. The jerk of each succeeding haul was disconcerting.

DOWN A 500-FOOT. CUFF. Red Rock rookery, which is wellknown to every ok! sealer, was the '•- • excursion. This rookery is on Ihe coast and derives its name from a ; ■■■" red island" which lies just oui p." The rock is the color of red brick has the appearance of hcinatit". A ■!. : of over 500 was necessary and had t 1; taken in two shifts, the whole ~' ■ party's 125 fathoms of lin- 1>- ; »i< They spent three day-, tber- 'ir , ■ weather, the sea breiking r-A\\. -.. their camping cave at toaes. T caught on'v seventy s-als, wher"« ■ : expected lo take at least 400 Ti ■'-.. • big job wtting hack even with si'. ■'■ skins. Tt took Cross. Spencer and T ":o to act as a winch for t. r ic neeas'nn. man had 1001b. weight of rope and ■■■'■) to carry back to Port Ross, a disii—' of nine mile'-, over pealv so'hlen ■■<\'-\ Tbe. men were exhausted when t.h"grounded their swags at Port Ross

DISAPPOINTMENT ISLAND. On the fin,t fine da- they slipped out of Port Ross, in another attempt to reach Disappointment Island, the :>ecn<> of tlie wreck of the four-masted barque Dundonald some years ago. They honed to get about one' thousand skTns there, but they did not succeed in landing, and after sheltering a week at North-west harbor, they {rave it up and returned U Port Ho;:-!. It was the disappointment of the expedition.

The last visit was made to Ronnie rookcrv, to the southward of Northwest harbor, and they obtained thirty skins there. That c'osed the season and they had simply then to wait for tin Rachael Cohen to heave in sight. The barr|iient : ne did not arrive until Sep-tember-27.

MOON AND THE "OLD WIG." At Fly Harbor, Moon was very nearly killed. He got into a' hole where he thought there was a seal pup and stirred things up but he found too late that it was an "old wig" warrior, and it at once attacked him. Topi saw: the trouble and. shouted out "Down and sham dead!" Moon obeyed in-tant..., and the seal rushed out over him only to be elubed by Topi in the open. On another occasion Topi was fighting away with a seal trying to get' in it "knock-out"' blow, when the seal mi-.:-denly darted and hit him in the ami. Topi dropped his club and hook and grapped the seal by the flipper and huriiii it against a rock where it was stunned.