Chapter XLI: Appendix: Old and New Whaling

The Greenland whaling was practically given up in 1912, and the Southern whaling for sperm and cachalot and the Southern Right whale, which in the first half of the nineteenth century employed five hundred to six hundred vessels, practically stopped forty years ago.

WHY THE OLD STYLES OF WHALING STOPPED

The growing scarcity and wariness of the Greenland Right whale and the fall in the price of oil and whalebone gave the Balæna Mysticetus or Greenland Right whale an indefinitely prolonged close season, and in the Southern Seas the sperm and the Southern Right whale (Australis) fishing almost entirely ceased, owing to increased working expenses, smaller catches, and the fall in the price of oil.

“MODERN WHALING” IN NORTH ATLANTIC

In 1886 Captain Svend Foyn of Tonsberg, Norway, invented the plan of capturing the powerful rorquals, commonly called Finners, that are very numerous, but were too strong and too heavy to be killed in the old style from row-boats, and which till his time had not been hunted. By his process a small cannon on the bow of a small steamer could fire a heavy harpoon, one and a half to two hundredweights, attached to a four-and-a-half hawser. This steamer and line were sufficiently buoyant and strong to play the whale and to haul its body up from the depths when it sank dead. The Greenland whale and sperm both floated when they died. Fortunes were made from the firmer whale hunting off the Norwegian coast.

COMMERCIAL ASPECT AND METHOD OF MODERN WHALING

Some of these companies work with shore factories, others with both shore factories and large floating factories on board steamers of up to seven thousand tons burden, and each company hunts the whales with, on an average, three to four small steamers, which harpoon the whales within a radius of eighty or ninety miles and tow them in to the shore factories, or the floating factory which is at anchor in some sheltered bay. The bodies are rapidly cut up at a fully equipped land station, and both the blubber and carcass are entirely utilised. At a floating station the bodies, as a rule, are cast adrift.

WHALE MEAT MEAL AND GUANO

Whale meat meal is made from fresh whale flesh; it is used for feeding cattle. It contains 17½ per cent. proteid, and guano is made from the remaining flesh and about one-third bone. The analysis of this gives 8·50 per cent. ammonia and 21 per cent. triboric phosphates. The whole of the dried bones and meat may be made into one product—a rich guano with 10 to 12 per cent. ammonia and 17 to 24 per cent. phosphates. The best whale meat is better to eat and tastes better than the best beef; it is “lighter” and more appetising. The writer proposed to supply an immense quantity to our military authorities, but the offer was not accepted.

WHALEBONE OR BALEEN

The baleen or whalebone of these finner whales is only worth about £30 per ton. It hardly pays to cure it and market it. The whalebone of the Australis or Southern Right whale has fallen to £85 per ton; it is occasionally caught. Its bones and that of the finner brought down the price of the Greenland whalebone, which a few years ago was sold at between £2000 and £3000 per ton, one good whale having a ton in its mouth, which paid the expenses of the trip.

During the short season, 1st November till end of April, in a recent year the catch in South Georgia by twenty-one steamers amounted to five thousand whales, finner, hump-back and blue whales, which gave two hundred thousand barrels of whale oil and eight thousand tons guano.

RETURNS FROM WHALING

Taking in the other islands of the Falkland Islands Dependencies in the neighbourhood of Cape Horn, the catch in a recent year amounted to four hundred and thirty thousand barrels of oil—eight thousand three hundred and seventy-five tons guano, the gross value of which may be reckoned at £1,360,000. Practically the whole of this goes to Norway.

For forty-eight years this Modern Whaling has been carried on in the North Atlantic, and since 1904 the Modern Whaling which we advocated in Edinburgh in 1895 has been prosecuted by Norwegians in the South Atlantic from desolate barren British possessions, with the great results mentioned above. There are vast areas of ocean teeming with these whales where, so far, they have not been hunted, and still the general British public stands aloof and takes no share in it. Whaling to-day, from the Norwegian point of view, is an industry: three generations have been brought up on it; but from the average British point of view it is still a speculation.

AMBERGRIS

Ambergris is a biliary concretion generally found in the alimentary canal of a feeble or diseased sperm whale. Sometimes it is found exteriorly near the vent. It is also found floating or drifted ashore. It is of great value, and is principally used as the basis or vehicle for perfumes.

Some years ago Norwegians found four hundred and twenty kilos in a sperm on the Australian coast; this was valued at £27,000. This is much the largest piece I have heard of.

It is a solid, fatty substance of a marbled grey-and-black appearance, and generally contains the beaks of cuttle-fish, which form the principal food of the cachalot or sperm whale. When fresh it has an intolerable smell, but after exposure this goes, and leaves what some people call a “peculiar sweet earthy odour.” It burns with a pale blue flame and melts somewhat like sealing-wax.

THE WHALING INDUSTRY

The St Abb’s Whaling Limited, of which the writer was appointed chairman, found whales at the Seychelles in great numbers in 1913, and we got permission from the Government there to start an up-to-date whaling station with licences for two whaling steamers, which we chartered and had sent out to us from Norway.

Our capital was about £20,000, and our station and factory was nearly completed, and we were catching numbers of sperm and some “finner” whales, when war broke out. Our supply of coals was cut off; barrels could not be obtained for oil; sacks could not be got for the whale guano (which is made from bones and whale meat); and freight completely failed us owing to the congestion caused by war material on the various lines. We could neither get supplies nor send away our products to Durban and other ports, except in some small consignments on our Diesel motor tank whaler, the St Ebba, which finally we were obliged to run on sperm oil at about £28 per ton!

We could not “stop down” owing to contracts; and the difficulty of raising more capital under war conditions finally forced us to voluntary liquidation.

This promising industry, therefore, had to be stopped in the meantime, and it occurs to us that as one of the “Empire’s resources” the Government could very easily put it into working order again, with great profit and for the benefit of the Islands, Africa and the Old Country. For we found immense numbers of sperm and finner whales round the Seychelles, and even before getting into our stride we had secured one hundred and forty whales and shipped home two thousand three hundred barrels of oil, besides what was lost before the station factory was completed and what we were obliged to use locally for our Diesel motor in place of common solar oil. Six barrels of whale oil go to the ton.

With the experience before them of the vast revenues from whaling at South Georgia and South Shetlands going almost entirely to Norway, our Government has, we think, wisely restricted the granting of whaling licences at the Seychelles to British concerns. Our company rented land for our station, built the factories and has some years’ lease to run, and the best season for fishing begins about 1st of May.

The vast whaling industry in the Falkland Island Dependencies—the South Georgia and South Shetlands—was started as a result of the information that Dr W. S. Bruce and the writer brought back from there in regard to the immense number of finner whales we had seen there in our Antarctic voyage of 1892-1893 to the Antarctic and Weddell Sea; and in one of the first of the Norwegian companies, which is still successful to-day, the writer took a considerable interest at its start. This company is to-day paying a dividend of over 150 per cent. But for the war I consider the Seychelles whaling should have paid handsomely now.

In regard to this great modern whaling industry in the sub-Antarctic seas we may here say that, previously to the Norwegians starting it, Dr Bruce and the writer held meetings in Edinburgh and urged the leading business men, merchants and shipping people to take it up. We foretold the fortunes that were to be made, but they did not rise. A little later the Norwegian who we hoped to have as manager for the first whaling station in South Georgia, Captain Larsen, succeeded in raising capital in Argentina, and I am told began with a modest 70 per cent. profit in the first year. Norwegian companies quickly followed his lead and utilised our Empire’s resources for Norway!

FOOTNOTES

[1] Values of whales and their products constantly change. To-day finner whales’ oil is becoming almost as valuable as sperm oil.

[2] A pram is a flat-bottomed boat, square stern and pointed saucer bow.

[3] A. Balænoptera Musculus; B. Balænoptera Sibbaldii; C. Balænoptera Borealis; D. Balæna Biscayensis; E. Physeter Macrocephalus.

[4] Far the best whale to eat is the Seihvale Balænoptera Borealis.

[5] We picked up a dead whale two days later and we hope it was the whale we lost.

[6] In the South Shetlands Captain Sorrensen, referred to previously, killed ten whales in one day, one was ninety feet in length, and probably weighed ninety tons.

[7] This snatch block hangs on a wire rope that passes over a sheaf and leads down to the hold, where it is attached to an enormously strong steel spiral spring. This makes a give-and-take action when hauling up the dead whale from the depths to counteract the jar on line and donkey-engine that comes from the rise and fall of the steamer on the sea.

[8] In these waters a small shrimp called a “krill” colours the water a rusty red for miles.

[9] Later we learned that three S.S. of several thousand tons were hove to during this hurricane. Bravo, St Ebba! sixty-nine tons, one hundred and ten feet, and the safest boat in the world.

[10] Only a few of our men have done bottle-nose whaling, but that is the same thing on a small scale.

[11] Ambergris. See Appendix.

[12] These carros are the cabs of Funchal, like four-poster beds, brilliantly painted, with chintz hangings, and sledge runners instead of wheels. Their progress is like that of a crab—neither fast nor certain.

[13] Don José and Don Luis Gongolez Herrero.

[14] Don Luis Herrero Velasquez.

[15] Seal oil is manufactured into olive oil in Paris and the patent leather is made at Dundee.

[16] Not proved. The smaller 250 bore and higher velocity seemed to us all to be most effective and stopping.

[17] I have learned since that five vessels came to grief in the year 1913. Of one trip (Stefansen’s) only one man has survived.

INDEX

A

Accounts, difficulties in the, 43

Aften-mad, 72

Alexandra Whaling Station, 63, 67

Allan, Miss Sheila, 108

Ambergris, 22, 159, 314

Ammunition, 40

Anatomy of a whale, 159

Anchor, accident to our, 46

Arctic and Antarctic compared, 187, 189

Arctic Fox, 278

Arctic grouse, 278

Ardnamurchan, 107

Azores, the, 165

B

Balæna, the, 51, 104

Balæna Mysticetus, 21, 312

Balænoptera Borealis, 69

Balænoptera musculus, 17

Balænoptera Sibbaldii, the, 17

Baleen or whalebone, 313

Balkan, Mrs, 31

Balta Sound, 14

Bear and cubs, 258

Bear-hunting, accidents in, 225

Bear yams, 216

Bearded seal, 269

Bears, stalking, 193;
dangers, 194, 196;
size and weight, 198;
stalking, 199, 200;
lassoing, 210, 213, 214, 215, 216, 217, 224, 227, 241, 247

Belfast, 116

Birthday celebration, a, 105

Blowing up, 87

Blue seal, 269

Blue sharks, 162

Bottle-nose whale, 282

Bowhead or Right whale, 21

Bressay Light, 55

Britannia Club, the, 31

Bruce, Dr W. S., 179

Bull-fight on deck, 262

Bull versus bear, 285

C

Cabins, 28

Cachalot, 18

Cachés, 215

Calving bergs, 271

Caribou and whale, colours of the, 94

Carros, 166

Case or forehead, 160

Casperg, Captain, 89

Chanteys, 102

Christiania Fiord, 27

Clarence Island, 31

Clothes, darned and patched, 73

Cod liver oil, 208

Colla Firth, 18

Colours in Arctic regions, 192

Colours of the sea, 77

Colours of the whale, 93

Cormorants and gulls, 60

Cormorants, on cooking, 65

“Cruise of the Cachalot,” the, 22

Cubs, lassoing, 264

Customs officers, 58

Cutting up a whale, 159

Cuttlefish and whales, 254

D

Dangers of whaling, 89, 260

De Gisbert, F. A., 180

Dolphins, 127

Dreams, 227

Drimnin, 108

Dundee whalers, 21

E

Embryos of whale, 94

Engine troubles, 50, 148

Explosive bombs, 23

F

Factories, shore and floating, 313

Falkland Islands, 24, 314

Finners, 312

Flippers of seal, 240

Fogs, Arctic, 279

Fonix, the, 180, 181

Food of the whale, 254

Football, 219

Foyn, his wife and a whale, 232;
diplomatic steward, 233

Fuel, oil, 28

Fulmar petrels, 212

Funchal, 165

G

Gear for raising dead whale, 87

Geraniums, 165

Gisbert and the bear, 216

Graham’s Land, 23

Grampuses, 148

Greenland, 267

Greenland whales, 24

Greenland Right whale fishing, 21, 312

Guano, 24, 84, 313

Gun, the harpoon, 29

Gun and harpoon, old style, 231

Gun, loading the, 88

Guns, light versus heavy, 222

H

Haldane family, stories of the, 66

Haldane, R. C., 64

Haldane, the, 17

Hamilton, C. A., 180

Hansen and the bear, 217

Harp seals, 258, 275

Harpoons, 29, 312

Hawsers for big whales, 24

Head of whale, 90

Heavy seas, 122

Henriksen, 18, 19, 29, 32, 119

Henriksen, Harold, 29

Herring-hog or springer, 69

Hospitality, Norwegian, 34

Hydrangeas, 139

I

Ice colours, 201

Ice floes, 248

Icebergs, 187

Ivory gull, 182-212

J

Jackaranda, the, 165

Japanese whaling grounds, 18, 57

Jensen’s store, 33

K

Killer, A, 47

Knarberg, 39

L

_Lagopus hemilencurus_ or Arctic grouse, 278

Lancing a whale, 93

Larsen, Captain, 41, 316

Lasso practice, 250

Lassoing a bear, 210, 285

Leigh Smith, 215

Lerwick, 54, 55

Lifeboat, an extravagant, 51

Lighthouses, 106

Lochend, 18, 65

M

Mackerel, killing, 72

Madeira, flowers, 165;
tunny-fishing, 166;
sunrise, 168;
boats, 169

Magazine ship, 24

Magnus Andersen, 60

Mainmast, our, 41

Meals on a whaler, 71

Measurement of bears, 238

Meat meal, whale, 313

Mess-room and galley, 28, 49

Middag-mad, 71

Mishnish Hotel, the, 113

“Modern Whales,” 22, 24

Monaco, Prince of, 94

Motor versus steam-engine, 106

Motor whaler, a, 19

N

Narwhal-fishing, dangers of, 238

Narwhals, 204, 228, 229, 234, 237

Natural colours and surroundings, 200

New Bedford sailing ships, 21

Nordcapper, the, 26

Norse sporting guns, 121

Norwegian ladies, 30

Norwegian pilot-boats, 18

O

Oban, 110

Oil and coal, 117

Oil, value of, 83, 84

Oil, whale, 24

“Old man Henriksen,” 43

Orca gladiator, the, 47

P

Partings, 45

Pet bear, a, 257

Pilot-fish, 162

Pine trunk, a drifting, 220

Phosphorescent sea, a, 124

Photography, 245

Physeter Macrocephalus, 69

Plankton, 253

Pod or herd, 92

“Polar Research,” Bruce’s, 192

Ponta Delgada, arcade, 132;
boats, 133;
fish, 135;
Robert’s café, 136;
a wreck, 135;
hydrangeas, 139;
shops, 140;
the Atlantico, 140;
dress, 141;
whales, 142;
the sea, 143;
the Seven Cities, 151

Port and starboard bears, our, 265

Protective colouring, 192, 276

Pussy finger, 209

R

Ramna Stacks, the, 100

Red-tape entanglements, 60

Registration bothers, 60

Restrictions, 83

Richardson’s skua, 212

Right whale, 21

Robertson, Captain T., 25

Romance of the sea, 129

Rorquals, 19, 312

Runners, 119

Ryvingen Light, the, 47

S

Saga, Jansen’s, 34

St Ebba, the, 19, 27, 35, 38, 48, 97

St Abb’s Whaling Limited, 315

San Miguel, 130

Scoresby, 179

Sea legs, 157

Sea-sick crew, a, 48

Seal-hunting, 208

Sealers, 183

Seals, Arctic and Antarctic, 188

Seals, Vitulina, 191;
Phoca Barbata, 197;
Cystophora Cristata, 203;
blue, 269;
Barbata, 269;
harp, 275

Seven Cities, the, 151

Seychelles, the, 176, 315

She-cook, our, 206

Sharks, 159, 207, 208

Shetlands in pawn, the, 60

Shoppie, a, 125

Shore stations, 24

Sing-song, a, 99

Sorrensen, the brothers, 31

South Georgia, 31

South Shetlands, the, 31

Spanish National Polar Expedition, 180

Sperm or Cachalot whale, 22, 312

Spitzbergen ice, 287

Sports on the ice, 279

Spotted mackerel, 169

Spy, a, 113

Squalus Borealis, 207

Stalking and being stalked, 199

Starboard bear, the, 263

Strength of the bear, 245

Sumburgh Head, 55

Sunday observance, 125

Sven Foyn’s harpoons, 23, 312

Svendsen, 180

T

Tackle for whaling, 232

“Tail up,” 88

Tail of a whale, the, 87

Tanks, 28

Teeth of seals, 269

Tobermory, 108

Tongue of the whale, 254

Tonsberg, 19, 21, 27, 30, 33;
whaling industry, 233

Torp, Captain, death of, 89

Trammel net, a, 134

Trolle, Captain, 179

Trouble with captive bears, 248

Tunny, 164, 166

U

Ulstermen and Scots, 118

Union Jack, our, 110

Urmston, 110

V

Viking ship, 21

_Vulpes lagopus_, or Arctic fox, 278

W

Wading stockings, advantages of, 209

Weddel Sea, the, 23

Whale cooker, our, 161

Whale flesh, 83, 91

Whale’s food, 101

Whale gun, the, 69

Whale lines, 28, 33, 87

Whale products and their prices, 83

Whale steak, 72

Whalebone, 21, 24, 83

Whales, Balænoptera Sibbaldii, 17;
Balænoptera musculus, 17;
Balænoptera Vaga, 69;
Right whale, 18, 21, 58, 232, 254;
Cachalot, 18, 21;
Sperm, 18, 22, 155;
Finners, 19, 22, 69;
Balæna mysticetus, 21, 58;
Biscayensis, 25, 58, 69, 83;
Orca gladiator, 47;
blue, 69;
Seihvale, 69, 83;
_Ziphius novæ Zealandicæ_, 144;
narwhals, 204;
_Hyperoodon diodon_, 282

Whales and cuttle-fish, 158

Whales, habits of, 156

Whales, harpooning, 77, 81, 86, 92, 155, 157, 176

Whales, size of, 84

Whales and trout, 76

Whaling, old and modern, 21, 314

Winch, the, 28

Wives at sea, 111

Wounded seals, 260

Wreck, a, 136

Y

Yacht club, Tonsberg, 30

Yell Sound, 69

Yule, 108

Yusako, 32

THE RIVERSIDE PRESS LIMITED, EDINBURGH