WHALING AT WHEKENUI

Korero (AEWS), Volume 2, Issue 1, 17 January 1944, Page 3

WHALING AT WHEKENUI

SMALL NEW ZEALAND INDUSTRIES (l)

By a

Staff Writer

The traditional cry of the whalers, “ There she blows,” has been

heard in Tory Channel for over one hundred years. Whalers were amongst the first white men to settle in the Marlborough Sounds, and as early as 1827 the whale was chased and slaughtered in Cook Strait as it made its way northward from the Antarctic. In those days the men of Captain Jacky Guard’s fleet rowed out into the winter seas, hurled their harpoons by hand, fought and played their huge quarry with straining oars, and despatched it by lance when it could fight no more.

To-day the whalers still speed out into the Strait, but their craft are highpowered launches and their weapons explosive harpoon and bomb. Keen eyes still search the Strait for tell-tale spouts, and the cry of “ There she blows ” still stirs the blood of whaleboat crews as it did in the days when men in open boats first chased the hump-back far out on the waters of “ The Strait of Adventure.”

The “ Tamahine,” on her way up and down the Sounds, passes within a quarter of a mile of the old whaling-station and the new ; yet few of her passengers realize that the broken jetty and the rusting try-pots are the only relics of

“ Old Tar White ” or that the iron sheds that cling to the cliffs of the next cove and the trim launches that ride quietly on the tide are the active machinery of the new industry at Whekenui.

Regularly the whales appear out in the Strait, and until the end of August they pass through this narrow stretch of stormy water. They have come from the south-east and are heading across the Tasman and up the coast of Australia. When they reach a certain latitude they strike out across the Pacific, to return to their original feeding-grounds. Thus the circle is completed for those that elude the chasers waiting in Tory Channel.

The whalers have proof of this long journeying of the whales. A few years ago they caught a hump-back which was found to carry an old harpoon. The shaft was broken, but the head was intact, and on it the owner’s brand was clearly visible. A check of an Australian whaler’s records revealed that the whale had been first harpooned off the Australian coast eleven years before.

The commonest type of whale caught in the Strait is the hump-back, though a larger variety, the blue whale, is sometimes killed. One of these last species was a record for the station, its over-all length being 98 ft. The average length of a whale is about 50 ft.

Since whales are mammals they must come to the surface to breathe. They do this regularly every ten or fifteen minutes, and their exhaled breath (“ blow ”) rises as a condensed vapour to a height of about 10 ft. While on the surface they usually “ blow ” three times before diving. It is these miniature geysers that reveal the whale’s location, and from their look-out 300 ft. above the Strait the whalers can, with powerful glasses, pick up . the whales many miles away.

The modern whale-chaser is a speedboat with a crew of two, one man at the helm and another manning the harpoon gun on the bow. Each boat (there are four in the fleet) is 34 ft. long with a 7 ft. 6 in. beam. Built on long slim lines and driven by engines generating an average of 280 horsepower, the fastest of the chasers travels at 35 m.p.h. and the slowest at 22 m.p.h. Handling them at speed in a heavy sea and manoeuvring them when harpooning or playing a stricken whale is work for highly trained men with strength, steady nerves, keen eyes, and almost perfect judgment.

Nor is the work of harpoon gunner a sinecure. Crouching on the narrow prow while the boat bounds and slews through rough seas with no foothold except a strip of wet coconut matting and no support except his gun, drenched with blinding spray as the waves sweep over the bow, with only a few seconds to sight his prey and fire his harpoon, this is work with thrills and danger enough for the most adventurous.

The gun (40 mm. calibre) is mounted on a standard on the bow. Its loading action is not unlike that of an oversize shot-gun. The harpoon is 4 ft. long and is loaded into the muzzle of the gun. It is propelled by an explosive cartridge. To the shaft of the harpoon is fitted a sharp triangular head filled with explosive and fired by a seven-second time-fuse which bursts to shrapnel inside the whale. Just below this head are three 6 in. barbs which lie back along the shaft while the harpoon is in flight, but which open out when the head enters the whale, fixing the harpoon firmly in the flesh. A 200 fathom line is attached to the end of the harpoon and runs back into a forward hatch. This line is used to play the whale.

In an open look-out high above the Strait wait the crews of the chasers scanning the sea with eager eyes. Suddenly a whale spouts far away to the south. Down the cliff path the crews race, row out to their waiting chasers and roar out from the Channel into the winter sea. From the lookout directions are given to the chasers by radio - telephone, and soon they approach the whales. Yes, there are two of them, a bull whale and a cow. This is luck. Mating whales cruise close together, and if the cow whale is harpooned first her mate will stay close beside her until she is killed, thus becoming an easy mark for the hunters. But if the bull is hit first the cow will desert him immediately. It will be a matter of chance, though, which whale is attacked first. In heavy weather and with only a second or two to sight the whales, differences in sex are not easily discernible.

“ There she blows ! ” but the chasers, too, have been spotted. Taking fright, the whales dive rapidly. A flip of the huge tails and they are gone. Over roar two of the chasers and spread out on the course they think the whales will follow. There goes the tell-tale spout again, and over speed the hunters waiting for the second “ blow.” Up one goes beside them, and round slew gunner and gun. With a crash the harpoon flashes towards the whale. The coils of

rope snake out behind it. Good shot ! The harpoon buries itself in the back of the monster just forward of the hump, but bad luck, too ! The bull whale has been hit and the fickle female has dived steeply and is gone.

Startled and pained, the harpooned bull charges off at full speed and away hisses the rope. After him goes the chaser, holding him while he surfaces, paying out the line as he dives, playing him as any fisherman plays a big fish. A half-horn- of twists, turns, and dives, and the big fellow tires. The chasers close in for the kill.

Cautiously the launches edge in beside the labouring whale, and as one boat passes the gunner drives a long lance

deep into the whale’s back. This is a javelin of | in. piping with a razor-sharp head of inch piping. The head contains four sticks of gelignite and a detonator attached by cable to the launch. As the boat swings away the charge is fired and after a dull explosion the whale lies sickly on the surface. But he is not yet dead. Neither harpoon nor bomb is intended to be immediately vital, and now the whaler must inflate the carcass with air before the death-blow is given. Again the chaser draws alongside the monster and another J in. pipe is driven into his stomach. This is connected to a compressor by ordinary hose-pipe, and for about four minutes air is pumped into the dying whale. Floating now quietly and safely on the surface, the whale is despatched with another bomb plunged into his neck.

The whale is now secured to the chaser and towed off to the fleet’s tug, the “ Tuatea,” which is waiting close by. Here a wire cable is passed through its tail and it is drawn alongside the ship to be towed back to the factory.

Meanwhile the look-out, or the man in the crow’s nest of the tug, may have sighted another whale, and off race the chasers again.

Only two of the boats join in the chase of a whale. One is kept in reserve in case a launch should be put out of commission, as happened when one whale pushed his nose through the bottom of the boat. The other waits until the chase is ended, when it may join the unsuccessful boat in another chase while the victor is handing over its catch. The “ Tuatea ” goes out behind the chasers and waits to receive their captures. She can tow five whales at a time, and so the chasers do not have to tow the whales too far. The little boats are far more valuable in the chase itself where they consume about 30 gallons of petrol an hour. Their range is four hours.

The killing technique is peculiar to the Tory Channel whalers and has been developed and perfected by the Perano Family, who own the station. The principle is to keep the whale alive until the injected air ensures that it will float. A whale killed immediately will sink to the ocean bed, and then there is some chance of the carcass being lost. Also, if the harpoon strikes too high and enters the whale’s brain the beast will go mad and become entirely unmanageable.

A long chase in the old days meant that the oarsmen might have to tow the whale for many hours before reaching the safety of the Sounds. To-day both whales and chasers are towed back to Whekenui by their powerful tug.

The busiest spot in the Sounds is the Perano Factory when the chasers are collecting a good bag. Some say it is also the smelliest.

The “ Tuatea ” deposits the dead whales in the bay and they are drawn by winch tail first up the slip-way to the flensing boards. Here the butchers are

waiting to cut up the carcass. Sometimes five whales are caught in one day, and the aim is to have the carcasses into the digestors and out again within twentyfour hours.

First the blubber is stripped from the whale. This is a layer of fat not unlike bacon fat surrounding the whale to a depth of 6 in. It is boiled in the digestors with the body-fat for six hours at 25 lb. pressure to produce the finest-quality oil. When the boiling is finished water is pumped into the digestors and the oil rises to the top, to be drawn off into settling-tanks.

The bones and any parts of the carcass containing fat are also boiled in huge digesters at 80 lb. pressure for ten hours to produce a second-grade oil. Only the meat containing no fat is thrown back to sea and provides a glorious meal for thousands of waiting sea-birds. This meat is edible and soldiers at a nearby camp have had whale steaks for breakfast. They say they are excellent.

In the settling-tanks the oil purifies itself without the aid of chemicals. The finest-quality oil rises to the top and as the levels descend so does the quality decrease. When thus graded, the oil is pumped into 44-gallon drums and despatched to its valuable and versatile work in the war effort of the United Nations.

About two thousand drums of oil are produced each year by the Perano Factory, and a ready market is available in both Australia and New Zealand. Last year Australia received half of the supply.

The finest-quality oil is not unlike linseed-oil in colour and consistency. Some of its many uses are — as a lubri-cating-oil, as a lamp-oil, in margarine, and as a calf-food. The ordinary oil is used mainly in rope-making and in tanning leather. The inferior oil, known as semi-foots, is mixed with coal-tar by-

products by the Wellington Gas Co. to make disinfectant. The lowest quality foots, is used in bitumen.

After boiling down the residue of carcass and bone is dried and bagged for use as fertilizer. From some of the bones, whale-bone brushes are made in a factory outside Blenheim.

The Perano Factory was established in the Sounds in 1909 by Mr. J. Perano, who is now in Australia organizing the establishment of whale-chasing for the Australian Government on lines similar to those adopted in Tory Channel. His two sons, who twice won the Masport Cup in their speed-boat, “ Tory Chick,” carry on the business in his absence. The technique is unique and is considered the most up to date in the world. An indication of its success is given in the figures of the catches. In 1924, 7 whales were caught ; last year, 90. The average is' 56 whales a season, and the record catch for a season is 109.

The methods are being constantly modified and improved. The latest suggested development is the use of a sea-plane as spotter with radio communication between the plane and the ships. Though one of the brothers has his pilot’s license, the idea will have to await the end of the war.