PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
Reference :-
C.O. 885
23 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
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APPENDICES.
By the year 1913 no fewer than thirty licences and leases of land for whaling purposes had been granted in the Dependencies of the Falkland Islands. These are distributed as follows:-South Georgia, eight leases; South Shetlands and Graham's Land, one lease and ten licences; South Orkneys, five licences; and South Sandwich Islands, six licences.
The
In the year 1911-1912, 6,535 whales were killed at South Georgia and 5,086 in the remaining Dependencies; the value of the products obtained from these whales was, perhaps, under-estimated at £968,538. In a valuable paper Mr. T. E. Salvesen has shown that, as the result of the 1912-1913 season, nearly 11,000 whales were killed in this region; from these whales 430,000 barrels of oil, or more than half of the whole output of the world for this period, and 8,375 tons of guano were produced, the gross value of these products being about £1,350,000. industry is further stated to give employment to about 3,500 men; the reports of the Stipendiary Magistrate at South Georgia show that, during the height of the season, from 1,200 to 1,500 of these men are employed on that island. In 1913 the export tax levied on whale-oil, together with the fees payable in respect of licences and leases, were expected to provide the Falkland Islands Government with more than one-third of its estimated total ordinary revenue for the year. The importance of such an industry in such a region is self-evident.
The enormous number of the whales which have been killed annually in the South Atlantic is the feature which distinguishes this modern enterprise from all others of the kind. In the minds of all who consider the matter, from either an economic or a biological standpoint, the magnitude of the slaughter must arouse grave fears as to the prospective life of the industry itself or as to the power of the species involved to resist extermination in the near future.
In a lecture (Journal Royal Society of Arts, 29th March, 1912, Vol. LX., p. 515), Mr. T. E. Salvesen stated that about 17,500 whales had been taken south of the Equator during the previous season, and that the next season was expected to show an increase of from 10 to 15 per cent. Nature, commenting on this (19th April, 1912, p. 173), said:-
:-"On the face of it, no species appears likely to be capable of holding its own against such tremendous slaughter for any length of
time.
In a letter, dated 12th August, 1913, to Mr. C. E. Fagan, Mr. R. C. Murphy, of the Brooklyn Museum, wrote, after his visit to South Georgia, as follows:- "The numbers of whales on the banks are astounding, but as single steamers some- times come into port with ten carcases in one day, the abundance of the various species cannot long continue." He mentions, further, that one of the Norwegian secretaries of the Compañia Argentina de Pesca has computed that within six years from December, 1912, whaling will be unprofitable in South Georgia if the present carnage continues.
I am indebted to Dr. Harmer's Memorandum of 7th November, 1913.† for these two last references, and I should like to quote two paragraphs in the same paper in which he states his own opinion. Dr. Harmer says:-
"It is impossible to avoid seeing an analogy between what is taking place off South Georgia and the neighbouring Antarctic localities and what has happened elsewhere in the world. The parallel is perhaps closest with the Greenland whale fishery; in which, on three separate occasions- first off Spitzbergen, next in Davis Straits, and last in the North Pacific- enormous numbers of whales were discovered. The industry had a period of great prosperity in each case, the number of vessels being continually augmented until the fishery began to prove less profitable. From this point the decline has been rapid, so that the species in question has been exter- minated in many of the localities it used to frequent, and apparently barely survives in the others.
"In southern waters, indeed, we are still in the period of prosperity. But, taking into consideration the more deadly nature of modern whalers' weapons than of those which have been almost successful in the extermina- tion of the Greenland whale, it cannot be disputed that the present rate of destruction of whales in the south gives rise to grave anxiety."
* Scientific Results of the Scottish National Antarctic Expedition, Vol. IV., p. 475, 1914. No. 41 in Miscellaneous No. 278.
APPENDICES.
SOUTH GEORGIA.
$158
The advantages possessed by South Georgia, as a whaling base, over the other Dependencies of the Falkland Islands have been mentioned by the Stipendiary in his Notes (South Georgia, No. 94/1912). The shorter distance from Europe and the presence of open water throughout the year are perhaps the most important. A certain amount of whaling is done in the winter, although the generally recog- nized whaling season is from October to the end of March.
The Stipendiary states that the whaling grounds lie between 20 and 30 miles off the north-east coast, and at this distance out they follow the whole length of the island, or for more than 100 miles. All the whaling stations are situated, therefore, upon the north-eastern side of the island.
Seven whaling companies are established at South Georgia; they employ in all twenty-one steam whalers and reduce their whales in five shore- and four floating factories. These companies are:-
1. Compañia Argentina de Pesca. Started 1904. This Company has four whalers, a shore station at King Edward's Cove, and has employed, during the seasons 1912-13 and 1913-14, a floating factory for the reduction of the flensed carcases.
2.
Messrs. Bryde & Dahl. Started 1908. They employ three whalers and a floating factory, which is stationed in St. George's Bay. No guano plant has been installed in their factory.
3. Tönsberg Whaling_Company. Started 1907 with three whalers and a shore station at Husvik Harbour. Stromness Bay. In 1011-12 they erected a guano plant and now use the whole whale.
4. Sandefjord Whaling Company.-Started 1907 with three whalers, a shore station at Stromness Bay and a floating factory. In the seasons 1910-11 and 1911-12 this Company used two floating factories; in 1912-13 the shore factory was erected, but in 1913-14 this was still without a guano plant; the Company is otherwise able to utilize the carcase as far as possible with large and powerful flesh boilers (Stipendiary's Report, 1913-14).
5. Ocean Whaling Company.-Started 1909 with two whalers and a shore station at New Fortune Bay. This Company is required by its lease to use the whole carcase. It was stated by the Stipendiary to be, 1911-12, considerably ahead of any other company as regards production, and to have practically no waste matter.
6. South Georgia Company, Limited.-Started 1009 with four whalers and a shore station at Leith Harbour, Stromness Bay. This Company is required by its lease to use the whole whale. In 1011-12 the Stipendiary noted a considerable improvement in the output of this Company, but thought there was room for a still greater improvement. "28.1 barrels of oil and 11.81 bags of guano per whale seems to be still short of a 'total utilization," particularly when compared with the Ocean Whaling Company." (The latter produced 356 barrels of oil, and 1991 bags of guano per whale.) The whales caught by this Company between 15th November, 1913, and 16th January, 1014, were the subjects of Major Barrett-Hamilton's researches described above.
7. Southern Whaling & Sealing Company.--Started 1911 with two whalers and a floating factory in Possession Bay. This Company is required by its lease to use the whole whale. While it shows " fair utilization in the product of oil, there is still great room by this Company for a greater production of guano.' (Stipendiary's Report, 1913-14.)*
"
I have inserted this summary because some of the facts relating to the plant and obligations of certain of the companies are of importance in connexion with matters discussed below.
In the following table, compiled from the figures given by the Stipendiary in his Annual Reports on the Whaling Season, the number and description of the whales killed at South Georgia in each season from 1909-10 to 1913-14 are shown. The numbers for the first season named appear to relate to the whales captured between 1st October, 1909. and 30th September. 1910: those for each of the remain- ing seasons relate exclusively to whales killed between 1st October and 31st March following.
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* Enclosure in No. 9 in Miscellaneous No. 300.