PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
Reference :--
HC.O. 885
23 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH—NOT TO
188
APPENDICES.
I have now to consider those cases in which the actual output of oil has been less than the yield which could be reasonably expected from the numbers and descriptions of the whales killed. The figures in Table I., in which the total actual and estimated yields of oil from all the whales killed during five consecutive seasons in the waters of the Dependency are compared, show that in all but one season the actual output has been below the estimated yield. The season of 1910-1911 shows a deficiency of oil of no less than 12.5 per cent. of the estimated yield, and this The best season, was the season in which the largest number of whales were killed. from the present point of view, was that of 1912-13, in which the actual output exceeded the estimated yield of oil by 3 per cent.; this was the season in which the great decline in the humpback fishery and the corresponding rise in the finner fishery became apparent. The season of 1913-14, with a greatly diminished total catch, shows a deficiency of oil amounting to 2 per cent. of the estimated yield.
The statistics furnished by the Stipendiary in his reports have enabled me to dissect from the total catches made at South Georgia during the seasons of 1911-12 and 1913-14 the shares obtained by each of the seven companies operating in the Dependency. I have, therefore, been enabled to estimate the yields of oil which they might have been expected to produce as the results of the seasons named. The figures relating to each of them are recorded in Tables II and III. above for 1911-12 and 1913-14 respectively. In the following table I have, in order to facilitate comparison, assembled the chief results of Tables II and III., and I have added some details as to the plant and obligations of the various companies. In passing I might suggest, perhaps, that it would be useful to obtain from the Stipendiary any similar statistics he may possess relating to seasons other than 1911-12 and 1913-14.
•
Company.
TABLE IV.
SEASON, 1911-12.
A. Under no obligation to use, and not using, the whole
Carcass.
(1) Shore Stations:-
Compañia Argentina de Peaca
Number of Whalers.
Number of Whales.
Amount of Oil Produced when Compared with Estimated Yield shows a
Surplus of
Deficiency
Fil
7
per cent.
per cent.
1,382
(2) Floating Factories:-
Bryde and Dahl (1 F.F.)
691
11.8
Sandefjord Whaling Co. (2 F.F.)
857
16.9
B. Required by lease to use, or using, the whole carcass.
(1) Shore Stations:-
Tonsberg Whaling Co. t
South Georgia Co.
Ocean Whaling Co.
(2) Floating Factory:-
Southern Whaling and Sealing Co., Ltd. ( season only)
9
186
9
891
7.7
1,180
10-5
544
16.5
*This was also the first season during which a regulation forbidding the killing of calves (Whaling
Regulation No. 2, South Georgia, 23rd September, 1912) was in force.
Uses whole carcass, but not required by lease to do so.
carcasa.
Company,
APPENDICES.
SEASON, 1913-14.
A. Under no obligation to use, and not using, the whole
(1) Shore Stations:— Sandefjord Whaling Co. (1 F.F.)
(2) Floating Factory:— Bryde and Dabl
B. Required by lease to use, or using, the whole carcass.
(1) Shore Stations:-
Compañia Argentina de Pesca (also hires 1 F.F.)* South Georgia Co....
Ocean Whaling Co.
Tönsberg Whaling Co. +
(2) Floating Factory:---
Southern Whaling and Sealing Co.
Number of Whalers.
167
Number of Whales.
Amount of Oil Produced when Compared with Estimated Yield shows a
3
370
3
374
Burplus
Dodciency
of
of
per cent,
per cent.
I
14.4
||||
467
0.5
559
1
265
4
418
7
(nearly)
2
257
17.4
I think there are two chief reasons why the individual companies have so fre- quently failed to obtain that amount of oil which one might estimate to be the reasonable product of their respective catches. Firstly, and this applies principally to the season of 1911-12, when whales have been very abundant, the whalers have killed far more than they could treat adequately; the whales have been simply flensed of their more valuable blubber and then the less valuable carcasses have been moored to buoys to await treatment in slacker times. The moored carcasses have deteriorated rapidly and great waste has resulted. The following entries in Major Barrett- Hamilton's Journal describes what happens in such circumstances:-
"29th December, 1913. More and more whales have been brought in each day until now there are forty-two large whales waiting to be flensed and the hands are only managing about ten each day. So they have put on
a night-shift from 6-10 p.m., and from 2-6 a.m.
30th December. It started finer, but later blew hard, with showers of rain and snow, so that the whalers laid up and brought in only three whales to-day. We are gaining on them now again, and had fifteen blubber boilers going--the most ever known here--with an output of 500 barrels. But the whales are not humpbacks, but chiefly finners, with some very large blue whales, which latter the tackle is hardly strong enough to handle. We have changed our tactics now. Very few whales are handled right through; the bulk are just flensed and then moored to buoys to wait until there is time to handle them. This is very wasteful, but cannot be avoided. If not flensed the whales seem to 'heat' and decay much more than if flensed. This may account for the high temperature of dead whales as observed by Racovitza. Begg took the temperature of a finner recently killed at sea and found it 99-1000 F.
2nd January, 1914.
'Passed' thirteen whales. A 'record' day for
the South Georgia Company, which actually made 726 barrels of oil and had fifteen blubber boilers working.
"Barometer very low and blowing hard all day.
The whalers did
not go out, so we look like working off some of the 'whales in arrears. Some of the carcasses are absolutely rotten, the stench, especially on New Year's Day, was disgusting-the whole 'slip slippery and filthy beyond words.
* Hires a floating factory to use its otherwise waste matter.
+ Uses whole carcass, but not required by lease to do so.
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