The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1908-02-25

Captain William T. Shorey Of the
Whaling Bark John and Winthrop,
Who Has Been a Whaler for Thirty
two Years.
.s.s.s $50 X = y y 1883 $3.50
/ tacks a boat. Once in my own expe-
rience this has happened. Evidently
I enraged, the whale attacked first one
| boat, smashing it, and then a second
| one, and then attacked the one 1 was
! in. BY good fortune we were able to
| fire a bomb into him, which, explod-
! ing, killed him and saved us. 1 have
heard of similar experiences others
have had, but they are not often. and
l have never known of any other than
| the sperm whale to do it.
THE whales we principally seek are
the sperm whale, for it's oil, and the
Right whale and the Bowhead, for
whalebone and oil. The sperm whale
oil is the most valuable oil, as that
whale is the most prolific in oil.
Sperm oil still continues to find
market for certain classes of lubri-
cants, and in candles, notwithstand-
! ing the encroachment of the petro-
leum products. The oil of the right
whale, the bowhead, the humpback.
the grayback. and the other smaller
kinds is known in the trade as black
oil, and is used largely in tanning
leather. But the whalebone of the
right whale and of the bowhead gives
them value far above their oil
For vessel the size of the John
and Winthrop a catch worth $4,000 is
considered a fairly successful one.
How many whales do we have to catch
to amount to that? Well, it depends
on the size and species of whale. Four
of the right kind will do it; three
might. 1t might take five or six OF
even more. A cruise lasts ordinarily
from eight to ten months.
There used to be fifty-four vessels
go whaling from San Francisco every
year. Now there are fourteen. I have
been told that in the old days there
were as many as three hundred whal-
ers in this port at once"
Captain Shorey went on his first
whaling cruise from Provincetown
Massachusetts,, where he was born, In
1876. He sailed as beginner; he
came back as a boat-steerer. He de-
termined to adopt 1t as his profession,
and he has been at it ever since. He
has been coming to Honolulu for
twenty-five years. He has been a
master of whaling vessels for seven
teen. His home is In Oakland.
1t
way to the japan coast and the Ok
hotsk Sea, taking this southerly route
to avoid the storms and heavy wealth
er that would be met in the more
northerly course. From there, with
the summer she will steer for the Arc
tic Ocean, where the best whaling
grounds are and always have been
THE ECLIPsE's COMPASS.
Young Brothers, the harbor boatmen.
have bought the compass of the Amer
lean ship Eclipse which foundered about
$50 miles north of these islands Janu-
airy II. The comnass as well as the 9th
ed instruments of the ship were saved
by Captain Larsen who sold the com
pass to Captain Campbell, who has
now sold it to Young Brothers. 1t is
a standard make of compass, and has
a card large enough to steer by readily.
Young Brothers will use it in their voy-
ages between these islands.
THE SHIPWRECKED SAILORS.
Two of the shipwrecked crew of the
lost ship Eclipse will be sent to San
Francisco by the Hilonian this morn
ing, the United States paving their pas
sage under the Navigation laws. Two
others were sent by the Alameda last
week. The two who are going by the
Hilonian are Charles Scott and \. J.
Browne l.. Lerouxe, another of the
crew will ship as seaman on the bark
George Curtis, with Captain Herbert.
Counting these three, eight of the sur
vivors of the Eclipse, the Captain and
seven of the crew, have left, or are
about to leave Honolulu. Besides these,
Mate Cameron has been offered the
position of second mate on the schooner
Alice Cooke This leaves only four Of
the crew unprovided for, and these are
still in the hospital.