Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1915-10-28
THE NEW WHALEMAN
By Frederic ]. Haskin
Continued from Editorial Page.l


More humpbacks than any other spe-
cies are being killed nowadays be-
cause they are less pugnacious and
powerful than the sulphur bottoms
and tinbaclIs. The scientists say how
ever, that 1t is only a matter of a few
years until the humpbacks will be eX-
tinct. Then will come the turn of
the other two species and all whaling
VIII be but a memory.
Modern whaling had it's origin near
ly fifty years ago when a Norwegian
sailor named Sven Foyn conceived the
idea that with the aid of fast vessels
and gunpowder, the numpbacks and
1lnbacks might be profitably hunted
in the open sea. Accordingly he
built and put into operation the type
OF whaling outfit which is still in use
in almost all parts of the world where
whales are hunted. 1t consists in a
very fast steamboat of from 81 to
$50 tons burden, carrying a 3A inch
gun. This weapon fires a harpoon,
which has an explosion tip that is dis
charged inside the whales body, re-
leasing two pointed arms which firm
ly anchor the harpoon in its flesh.
The harpoon line is fastened to a
steam winch, and by means of this
the whales plays" his catch, reeling
in and paying out line exactly as an
Minus the Danger
The old skill of harpooning by hand
and the danger of playing" the catch
from a rowboat do not figure in the
modern industry at all. Neither do
the hazard and difficulty of the old
method. About the only conditions
upon which modern whaling is depen-
dent are the abundance of whales and
the weather, for it is impossible to
eI, No1,
in very rough sea. The shooting is
seldom at a range of more than 120
feet.
When the animal is exhausted it is
hauled alongside and killed. The car
cass is then pumped full of air to pre-
vent 1t sinking and If there are other
whales in sight it may be marked and
set adrift for the time being. When
all the game in sight has been killed
the whales are towed to the short
station, where the blubber is torn off
by means of steam winches and boil
ed in open steam retorts to remove the
oil, while the residue is dried and
ground up to be sold as fertilizer.
In the United States this whaling
industry is carried on only to a
limited extent. In Alaska there are
several companies operating profltably
with modern whale-hunting outfits,
ana lnGTe are IL lew at juliet DOlHll
aong our coast. But the finback and
humpback whales occur in almost all
the seas of the world, and during re-
cent years the whalemen have found
them more abundant in many other
parts of the world than in American
waters.
Made Millions
Sven Foyn first used his whale
hunting apparatus in northern Scandi-
navia and he quickly made a fortune
of over $2,0O0,000. Then the fisher
men of Denmark turned against him,
claiming that the whales were neces-
sary to their success because they
drove the capelin, upon which the cod
feed, close to the shore. The whale
being all killed off, the capelin and
consequently the cod, stayed so far at
sea that the fishermen could not catch
them. Scientists declared there was
nothing in this theory, but the fish
ermen stuck to it so stubbornly that
a closed season Of ten years was placed
upon whales by the Danish parlia-
ment. Forthwith, Sven Foyn and his
followers extended their industry to
other parts of the world. The Faro
Islands, Newfoundland, Japan, South
Africa and the Antarctic waters were
found to contain humpbacks and fin