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APPENDICES.
SOUTHERN RIght Whale (Balæna australis).
The following particulars of right whales, captured at South Georgia, are given in the reports made to the British Museum by four of the companies working in the Dependency :-
Date.
Company.
Males.
68882667
1913, December 30
Tonsberg
1914, January 16
Sandefjord
26
"
Tänsberg
27
"1
27
"
Southeru
52+
February 11 March 16
Ocean
Date.
Company.
Females.
ft.
1914, April 3
20
Ocean
36
45
31
"
"
Mr. Henriksen told Major Barrett-Hamilton that right whales are captured at South Georgia when they are amongst the other whales, but usually they keep to themselves, north-west of the island, and are not worth hunting specially there.
SPERM WHALE (Physeter mACROCEPHALUS).
Material examined.-Major Barrett-Hamilton examined three sperm whales (all males) at South Georgia. The first of these (No. 1) was seen at King Edward's Cove, while the other two were landed at Leith Harbour. The following are the dates and lengths of these specimens :--
Number.
Date.
Length in Foet.
1
1913, November 14
53-25
6
15
291
1914, January 16
54-3 51-5
(Head and body measured separately after severance
and added together for greatest length.)
Two other males are mentioned in the reports made to the British Museum by certain of the companies working in the Dependency; the dates, lengths, and the names of the reporting companies are:-
1913. 8th December.
1914. 26th January.
50-5 ft. (Southern Whaling Company).
52 ft. (Tönsberg Whaling Company).
Major Barrett-Hamilton made the following measurements of the three male sperm whales which he examined :—
Length of blowhole (approximate, slong curves)
Number 1.
Number 6,
Number 291.
Length
53.25 ft.
Width-taken between pectoral and gape Head-greatest length from condyle
54.3 ft. 8.9 ft.
16.75 ft.
20 ft. $
11
"1
depth
8.5 ft. §
51.5 ft.
19 ft. 7.5 ft. ||
width (eye to eye)
6 ft. 10 in.
Mandible greatest length (central)
14 ft.
1.5 ft. 15.6 ft.
14 ft. 1 in.
+1
length of ramus to beginning of
symphysis
5.9 ft.
6.25 ft.
6 ft. 5 in.
31
beak to beginning of symphysis
8.75 ft.
9.75 ft.
greatest width across rami (behind)
5.8 ft.
width of beak at beginning of
"
symphysis (behind)
1.75 ft.
width of beak at tip
0.5 ft.
7:4
24:24
37:25 23-3 ft.
16.75 ft.
-
6.75 ft.
(after flensing)
1.75 ft. by 11 ft.
1.25 ft.by0-75 ft.
5.1 ft.
(a little decomposed) 4.7 ft.
2.75 ft.
present, not counted
23:23
6.75 ft. circa
Teeth-maxillary (number of) ...
mandibular (number of)
Anus (anterior) to tail
Penis (anterior) to tail
Length of penis ...
Testes
Pectoral-greatest length from humerus
* No wrinkles on belly.
Whalebone up to 7 ft. 8 in.
No wrinkles on belly. Whalebone, the longest, 4 ft. 8 in.
* Measured as 213 ft. before severance.
|| At anterior end of snout.
158 ft. from anterior end of snout.
17
width
"1
2.5 ft. circa
APPENDICES.
151
In addition Major Barrett-Hamilton made the following notes on these specimens:-
"
འ
No. 1: One of eight in a school. Colour slatey or brownish-slate on head; the flukes glossy black. The skin marked with Octopus. Many squid beaks and thread-worms in stomach, and one large Octopus complete, preserved. Blubber on head in thick. Expected to get twenty-five barrels of spermaceti." A sketch of the anterior view of the head shows two curved infolds, one above the other, on each side of the swollen upper part which contains the spermaceti; the note says that these folds are an individual feature, and that the length, along the curve of the inferior slit is 125 ft., that of the upper one being 1-75 ft. The front of the head was marked by a yellowish mottling.
No. 6
总容
was slate-colour, with head mottled with yellowish; beak whitish, mottled with dusky; pectoral whitish beneath, above irregularly banded with whit- ish. A small (relatively) pink tongue. Flesh very dark, near black. Upper teeth irregularly arranged with only tips visible. Some of the posterior mandibular teeth broken. The mandible fits neatly in a groove of the upper jaw; its teeth into grooves of the gum of the palate amongst the maxillary teeth; mandible does not reach tip of snout; is relatively insignificant." A sketch of the upper view of the head shows the blowhole placed as usual to the left side; the blowhole was "tightly closed and of sinuous outline." In the stomach remains of Octopus, com- prising eye-lenses and beaks, were found.
No. 291-A sketch of the left side of the head shows a "pad" 21 in. long and 5 in. in depth posteriorly placed on the side 9 in. below the upper surface and 16 in. from the anterior margin. This pad appears to form the upper margin of the blowhole represented (apparently) in the sketch by a shaded area. Major Barrett-Hamilton had prepared a sheet to receive a special note on this sketch the night before his death; the note was not written. 'Blubber 10 in.; flesh dark; colour usual, with yellowish under head."
Lastly, Major Barrett-Hamilton has left the following separate note, made, probably, after the examination of Nos. 1 and 6:-
"A thick whale, not increasing vastly in length. No females killed at South Georgia; all females at Madagascar; small, 20 ft., few barrels oil (Hansen). Maps of distribution of sperm whale can be bought in America. The head is an elastic bumping organ--for collision with rocks and bottom of sea; stones have been found on it."
Mr. J. E. Hamilton says, in his report on the Belmullet Whaling Station in 1913 (Report, British Association, 1914, p. 22) :-
:-"The following is the explanation which the whalers give of the occurrence of sperm whales in these northern waters. In the southern seas each adult male is the leader of a herd of females, and as the young bulls approach maturity they are driven off by the old leader. These young bulls do not become leaders of herds, as they are inferior in strength and size to the fully adult males. But when fully grown they seek out herds, and contend with the leaders for the possession of the females. If the old males are then driven off they become solitary wanderers, and frequently travel up into the North Atlantic. In connexion with this theory it may be mentioned that the sperm whales taken at Blacksod and Inishkea are all males, and of great size for sperm whales. which seldom exceed 60 ft., the average for the ten Blacksod specimens being 57 ft. 31 in.. while the smallest was 53 ft." The latter figure, allowing for the different method of measuring the total length of whales employed at Belmullet, is at least equal to the length of the largest male from South Georgia.
THE WHALING INDUSTRY IN THE SOUTH ATLANTIC.
Modern whaling in the South Atlantic dates from the year 1904, when the Compañia Argentina de Pesca commenced operations in South Georgia; in 1905 Messrs. Lars Christiansen & Sons, of Sandefjord, Norway, were granted a licence to catch whales in the waters of the Dependency of the South Shetlands. Stimu- lated by the highly promising and profitable results obtained by these pioneers, a great many other companies were formed, chiefly by Norwegians, for the purpose of whaling in the far south, and the industry quickly grew to unprecedented proportions.
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