THE SOURCE OF WEALTH
In the early days when the approaches to the Antarctic began to be used
after the first conviction that it was worth while sailing so far, the
British and Americans went either after the seals or to look for the
right whale. When the rowing-boats were launched in the South Atlantic
they left the fin whales strictly alone. The sperm, like the right
whale, usually remained some time on the surface and allowed the rowed
boat to approach, but the finner is awash only for a time, and sinks
after being killed.
When first that squadron of a dozen British sailing-ship whalers
went south in the early eighteenth century, they were complete and
self-contained to roam all over the world, extract the produce and
boil it down into oil. During the first half of the nineteenth century
some five or six hundred whalers were thus engaged in the southern
hemisphere hunting the cachalot and right whales. But then, owing to
the scarcity of this species, and to the fall in the price of oil and
the increased working expenses, the number of vessels in this work
became fewer and fewer. They were usually of between 200 and 300 tons
register, but sometimes even up to 450 tons. Built of wood, with no
engines to require fuel, they could keep the seas as long as food and
drinking-water were available.
The right whale as found in Arctic waters had by the eighth decade
of the nineteenth century become so scarce in the Arctic that the
industry up there had practically ceased to be profitable. Therefore
one of a trio of whaling brothers named Gray conceived the idea of
sending their Peterhead whalers down to the Antarctic in order to find
better luck. This hope was based on the account given by Sir James
Ross, already alluded to, concerning his voyage of discovery in 1842.
We are speaking now entirely of the right whale, and the succession
of events which will presently lead up to the southern fin whale
industry is something of a romance. Fortified with Ross’s information,
an attempt was made in 1891 to form a company for this southern
enterprise, but the necessary capital was not obtained.
However, there followed a Mr. R. Kinnes of Dundee, who decided to
equip four vessels with the same object, well believing that the right
whales were in the Antarctic and that a fortune was awaiting anyone
with a little courage and imagination. It was, of course, a somewhat
similar scheme, though in a different part of the southern hemisphere,
to that which had been attempted by Enderby. Kinnes selected four
ships: the _Balæna_, _Active_, _Diana_ and the _Polar Star_. They were
all barque-rigged with auxiliary steam and propeller. Of this little
squadron the largest was the _Balæna_, being of 260 tons register,
length 141 ft., draught 16-1/2 ft., her engines being of only 65
horse-power. Originally she had been the _Mjolnar_, and built in
Drammen as far back as 1872. The _Active_ was twenty years older, 117
ft. long, draught 18 ft., with engines of 40 horse-power. Built at
Peterhead, she was a barque which had done much good service in the
olden days. The barque _Diana_ had also been built in Drammen, and her
details were, length 135 ft., draught 16 ft., engine 40 horse-power.
The _Polar Star_, another barque, 105 ft. long, was both old and small,
with an engine of low horse-power; in fact, all four were rather a
relic of the golden age of sail than modern exploring vessels.
But in September 1892 the squadron started out from Dundee, that port
famous for so much which concerns whalers and whaling. The ships and
men had both been in the Arctic many a time. The rigging was extra
strong, with the old-fashioned, reliable dead-eyes and lanyards. The
thickness of the planking, timbers and lining was in the case of the
_Balæna_ as much as 32 in. There was nothing yacht-like; everything
for strength and endurance. By the middle of December they had got
into high latitudes and were steering between the South Orkneys and
South Shetlands, when great fin whales were seen: but, of course, this
species was no concern of the expedition. Seals were taken, and at one
time it was thought that the mammal which was sighted spouting was a
right whale, but he turned out to be another “finner.”
The Antarctic continent was reached by Christmas, the whale lines were
carefully coiled down in the boats ready for those great black whales
which Ross had written about. The short-barrelled guns, rather like
the weapon you take in a gun-punt, were ready, too; for here was the
area that Ross had alluded to as so full of hope. There were three of
the four Dundee ships in Erebus and Terror Gulf: but where were the
right whales? Was there really a fortune waiting for the asking? Each
right whale of the big kind has about a ton of bone in his mouth; and
whalebone was worth £2,500 when the ships left Dundee. Supposing each
vessel caught only four: that would mean £40,000 to take back home,
so every available man was on the keen look-out for right whales. The
_Polar Star_, the slowest of the four, had lagged behind, and on the
morning after Christmas, whilst the three were at the edge of the
pack-ice in lat. 64° 30′ S., long. 55° 28′ W., beating about in the
open water, looking for those illusive right whales to show themselves,
a strange sail was suddenly sighted. But it was not the _Polar Star_:
this was the _Jason_, in which Captain C. A. Larsen, a Norwegian,
had arrived. His name is to be noted, for he is perhaps the greatest
pioneer of modern South Seas whaling. He, too, had come out for right
whales, and for seals, and in the season of 1893-4 he came here a
second time with the _Jason_, _Hertha_ and the _Castor_.
Captain Larsen had been whaling ever since the year 1884 when he hunted
the bottlenose whale in the Arctic. His knowledge and experience thus
link the old days with the new, and recently he affirmed that he has
found in southern whales various kinds of harpoons which have been
sticking in the animals for a considerable period. In one case he
discovered a lance which must have been in the cetacean for ten or
twenty years. Now on hearing of the intended Dundee expedition, the
Norwegians had sent Captain Larsen out for a similar object. The two
expeditions thus met on Boxing Day in that region of white ice, the
_Jason_ having already captured five hundred seals but not having
sighted a right whale.
Whatever else they were, these two British and Norwegian expeditions
represented the greatest body of expert whaling knowledge, and from
them must be reckoned the commencement of two distinct enterprises:
modern Antarctic exploration, which was presently to attract such men
as Bruce, Scott, Nordenskjold, Charcot, Shackleton and others; and the
present great whaling industry which the Norwegians have established
by licence from the British Government. And it may be stated without
further delay that this Dr. W. S. Bruce was actually with this first
Dundee expedition that we are considering, being aboard the _Balæna_.
With him was also Mr. W. G. Burn Murdoch, an artist, from whose
charming narrative I have derived much information for this present
chapter.
It is interesting to note how the old Dutch whaling expressions still
survived aboard the _Balæna_. The “specksioneer” was always ready
for his especial job; every man was prepared to turn out of his bunk
as soon as that time-honoured whaler’s cry “A fall! A fall!” should
go resounding through the ship, and boats’ crews would rush in wild
excitement into their places. The grampus, that prey among whales which
will kill even a finner, was seen by the Dundee expedition, but never
a right whale; and early in the new year the harpoon lines were taken
out of the boats, and the craft were used exclusively for sealing. The
_Polar Star_ turned up at last, having left Dundee two days later and
proceeded south-about through the English Channel, whilst the other
three had sailed round the north of Scotland. But it was the middle of
January by the time she had joined up with these others.
The squadron’s instructions had been to seek whales where Ross had
found them, and strict obedience was paid to these admonitions. It must
be borne in mind that no Antarctic scientific expedition had been down
there since Ross’s of 1843, other than some surveys and international
circumpolar observations in 1873-4 and 1882 respectively. Therefore
for this Dundee venture data were both meagre and fifty years old.
During that period Polar discovery had been confined to the Arctic,
but the South Polar approaches had been extraordinarily neglected. The
_Active_ during the latter part of January did have quite a good day’s
excitement. The right whale did not turn up, but the harpooner in one
of her boats let drive at a great “finner”--a blue whale. The latter
soon began using up the three lines in the boat, then a second boat
made fast with three more lines, and next a third boat fired another
harpoon into the whale. Presently the ends of all the lines were put
aboard the _Active_, the boats made fast to the ship’s stern, and the
whale went towing the whole lot until after fourteen hours’ excitement
the ship’s engines were reversed, the lines broke and the whale went
off.
Sport? Yes. But when the four skippers got together and talked matters
over, the sad fact had to be faced that as a whaling enterprise this
expedition had failed: not a single right whale had been captured,
or even sighted. There was nothing for it now but to devote their
energies to sealing. This they did, with the result that some twenty
thousand seal-skins and full cargoes of seal blubber were taken back to
Scotland. The _Jason_ was the ship which Nansen had used, as mentioned
in his _First Crossing of Greenland_. She was a three-masted barque
with auxiliary steam-engines, and she was to come back in the next
season with _Hertha_ and _Castor_. It was the first of these three
vessels which discovered King Oscar Land, and the other two sailed
along the west side of Graham Land. Captain Larsen’s efforts, though
primarily commercial, resulted in adding to the sum of scientific
knowledge. _Balæna_ discovered some mountainous land S.W. of Erebus and
Terror Gulf, and Larsen traced it still further later in that year.
But the whales? Well, the Dundee expedition, which got back safely in
May 1893, had seen three kinds: the finners, which Larsen called “blue
whales”; others resembling the Pacific humpback; and the bottlenose
whale, in addition to many grampus. Both the British and Norwegian
expeditions had set forth owing to Ross’s encouraging statements,
though each of these enterprises failed to confirm his supposition.
In Larsen’s second voyage of 1893-4 a whale which seemed to be like a
right whale was chased but not captured.
That which had been made clearly manifest in these whaler voyages was
the fact that there were any number of finner whales in the Antarctic.
Now there came to Edinburgh an agent of Mr. Svend Foyn to interview Mr.
Burn Murdoch and Dr. W. S. Bruce, who had travelled in the _Balæna_,
the latter in the capacity of naturalist. It was suggested that the
Norwegian type of whaling (already mentioned) should be employed, but
this method was unknown in England, and was rejected before Larsen
went on his second voyage. But from 1898 to 1910 there were several
Antarctic expeditions of a purely scientific character which must be
mentioned in turn. In 1897-9 was the _Belgica_ expedition, which was
the first of these Antarctic enterprises to be organized on modern
lines. The _Belgica_ was the first vessel, too, to spend a winter in
the Antarctic, and valuable knowledge as to scientific and biological
subjects was obtained.
And now there came increased interest in the South Polar regions owing
to the enthusiasm of scientists. The immediate results were Captain
Scott’s British expedition of 1901 and Professor von Drygalski’s
expedition of the same year. But our immediate subject of whaling
attracts us more especially towards the Swedish expedition of 1901-3
owing to the personality of the sailing master. For this undertaking
was led by Dr. Nils Otto Gustaf Nordenskjold (nephew of Baron
Nordenskjold, the Arctic explorer), and the name of the vessel was the
_Antarctica_, in command of which Captain C. A. Larsen was to go. No
better officer among the Scandinavians could have been chosen. Now,
fortunately--as it turned out--the _Antarctica_ got crushed by the ice
in the Erebus and Terror Gulf during the month of February 1903, whilst
going to the relief of Nordenskjold’s land party. After hazardous
adventures the crew were rescued by the Argentine sloop-of-war
_Uruguay_ in the following November. The immediate result of this was
that Larsen was received as an Antarctic hero in Buenos Ayres, his
scheme for southern whaling on those Norwegian lines was believed in,
the Argentine citizens financed him and there was formed the company
known as the Cia Argentina de Pesca, with a view to carrying on whaling
operations at South Georgia.
This was the commencement of that great southern whaling industry,
which has in twenty years yielded considerable wealth. The company
began its operations in 1904, a lease being granted by His Majesty’s
Government two years later. This station is on the east side of the
island at Grytviken, the terms being 500 acres at an annual rent of
£250 for a term of 21 years. Three years later 30 acres at Jason
Harbour were leased to the same company for 18 years at a rent of £100;
and between the years 1908 and 1911 seven other leases on that island,
also for whaling stations, were granted to four Norwegian and three
British companies, making a total whaling fleet of twenty-one vessels,
each lease allowing the employment of one floating factory.
Thus we have here, in the foundation of these considerable industrial
activities on that remote island where Shackleton was eventually to be
buried, a direct connection with the failure of Arctic whaling, and
those scientific and whale-seeking expeditions to the Antarctic. In the
end, as a result of much perseverance, immense financial reward has
come. Larsen tried unavailingly to obtain the necessary capital in his
own country, but the undertaking might have been started twelve years
sooner by British capital after that interview in Edinburgh following
the return of the Dundee squadron.
Of this first, and Argentine, company Larsen was made manager. He
crossed to Norway, fitted out at Sandefjord a modern steam whaler,
and two small sailing vessels to be used as transports, arriving at
the east side of South Georgia in December 1904. In King Edward’s
Cove, as it is now known, he established a whaling factory on the very
site which had been used by the early nineteenth-century sealers for
boiling their blubber. Nothing succeeds like success, and the result
of this new development was that more companies were formed, further
leases were granted, and the largest whaling business in the world
is now centred in the Dependencies of the Falklands. Thus also even
at Deception Island a licence was granted for twenty-one years in
1912 to a Norwegian company: in fact, up to date eight Norwegian, one
Chilian and one British companies have been given licences in the area
of the South Shetlands and Graham Land. The season here is a short
one, lasting from November to March. In the South Orkneys whales are
plentiful, but there is a lack of safe harbours, and it is usually safe
for the floating factories to remain in the roadstead only for twelve
weeks. Four Norwegian companies were granted licences here in the
season of 1914-15, but only one was actually worked. Operations were,
however, resumed in 1922-3, when 325 whales were caught. The first
attempt here had been made in 1907-8, but the ice drove the expedition
to the South Shetlands. In the season of 1914-15 a solid sheet of ice
surrounded the South Orkneys for a hundred miles to the north and made
them unapproachable till after the middle of January. At the South
Sandwich Islands there was whaling in the 1911-12 season, but on
these territories some of the volcanoes are still active, the constant
emission of poisonous fumes makes it difficult to land, and no shore
station has been established.
Were there, after all, right whales in these southern areas? The answer
may be made from the statistics which have been issued for the period
covering the years 1909-18, during which many thousands of blue and fin
whales were caught, but only 396 right whales and 115 sperm whales.
These figures are for South Georgia, South Shetlands, South Orkneys and
South Sandwich. Some idea may be obtained of the wealth which Larsen’s
pioneering brought about, for the value of the oil, baleen and guano
in the South Georgian area alone has risen from £251,077 in 1909-10
to £1,100,000 in the 1917-18 season. But according to the very latest
Government report there were caught in these Dependencies during the
1922-3 season close on 10,000 whales to the value of £3,056,860. These
figures are so remarkable, that it is scarcely necessary to comment
on them beyond observing that the possibilities of these valuable
British possessions seem not to have been as fully realized as one
might expect. When, however, the _Discovery_ returns home from her
investigations, doubtless further interest will be taken by British and
other investors.