The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1908-10-11
Whaling Romance Gone.


Whaling Romance Gone.
Even whaling is being robbed of its
poetic and dramatic elements. The
capture and the physical reduction of
whales to a commercial basis have al
most been deprived of hazard and I'M
certainty. on the Pacific Coast at least.
No longer is it necessary, in order to
obtain a good catch, for men to cruise
about the globe in every sea for years.
longing the while for home and friends,
and filed with fears as to whether the
voyage viii yield a profit or not. The
modern Pacific whaler rarely voyages
more than a hundred miles from land,
and is seldom away from his hut for
half a dozen days at a time. The tax,
ing of the leviathian is no longer ac-
by the medieval method
of throwing a lance by hand, but by
modern artillery. Frank Bullen would
have difficulty IN finding material for
tales of nerve racking escapes from
tangled lines smoking out over the gun
vale of the whale boat and of thrilling
races through the waves attached to
fleeing whales in modern whale catch
ing, for the very good reason that the
whale boats are now one hundred feet
long and propelled by steam engines at
a speed which is equal to that of the
whale itself In fact. these steam
whalers occasionally come IN collision
with their prey. The animal is the
more surprised party of the two and
the more likely to suffer from the con-
tact. This application of modern me
ehanieal methods to the business re- |
1uees the chances of the escape Of the |
whale to a minimum. and makes II pos /
sible to operate a steam plant for the /
reduction of the giant animal to profit /
able particles. The results are fresh i
illustration Of the manner in which the 4
inventive faculty of man has disturbed 1
The equilibrium of nature and is wiping
out natural resources.
Had il not been for this rapid fire
method of whaling il would not have
been possible for Roy c. Andrews, an
assistant TO the curator of the depart
nent of mammalogy and Ornithology
# the American Museum of Natural
History in this city TO obtain a com
,rehensive series of observations of the
of whales in the course
f a summer jaunt. He left New York
ha latter part of April and visited the
Whaling stations of Vancouver Island
nd of Admiralty Island, off the coast
f Alaska. saw between two hundred
nd three hundred whales. obtained
everal hundred photographs.
A modern plant for whaling consists
f a land station near the feeding
rounds and steamer 100 feet long. ;
he station is equipped with maehin-
~ for drawing out the whales and |
utting them up into manageable sec
ions. rendering pots and apparatus for
he driving of the flesh BY means Of
OF air. The dried flesh is used in the
manufacture of fertilizer. The steam
r is equipped with a crow : nest, a
I'm for firing the bomb with its at
aehed line. air pumps for blowing up
ne whale so that il viii float until the
lore Is reached. quarters for a dozen
r more men and towing apparatus.
In the capture of whales it is only
ecessary to run out from shore dis
tnee Of hundred miles or less This
the limit of the cruising ground. No
-tempt is made TO take a whale unless
Is feeding, as otherwise its move :
ents would be so uncertain as to make /
le chances of losing il too numerous
" profit.
81 Bobbing for whale Is not such ]
difficult operation as one might think. 1
roud IN its strength. he pays no at T
ntion 10 the approaching steamer If L
, chance TO be feeding. but continues
e process of sucking in the millions +
three-quarter-ineh shrimps which Y
institute his daily repast, unless he $
disturbed BY an unusual and painful \
ternaI sensation. A game animal, he Il
sents the intrusion of the bomb He L