2 



Mr. 8. F. Harmer 



[May 16, 



" Antarctic," the exploring vessel of Dr. 0. Nordenskj old's Swedish 

 South Polar Expedition, 1901-1903. The "Antarctic" was 

 wrecked ; and Capt. Larsen, on his return journey, found himself 

 at Buenos Aires, where in 1904 he founded the Compania Argentina 

 de Pesca, the first Whaling Company which undertook operations in 

 the far South. This Company commenced work at South Georgia 

 in 1905, while the South Shetland Islands were visited, with the 

 same object, in 1906, and the South Orkney Islands in 1911. The 

 operations have proved so successful that there are now numerous 

 companies whaling at South Georgia and the South Shetlands, a large 

 proportion being Norwegian. While the most successful whalers in 

 the Greenland industry, from the seventeenth to the nineteenth 

 Centui'ies, were the British and the Dutch, the Norwegians have 

 almost a monopoly of the art at the present time, and nearly all the 

 skilled workers are of that nationality. 



The older wlialers hunted with hand- harpoons from small boats, 

 provided with sails and oais, which were launched from the parent 

 ship on sighting a whale. The objects of their chase were principally 

 the Greenland Whale, the Atlantic Right Whale and the Sperm 

 Whale ; and they were unable to attack and capture the larger and 

 swifter Rorquals. 



About 1865 the Norwegian whaling Captain Svend Foyn 

 invented the modern whaling-gun, which was fitted with an explosive 

 tip and with a barbed harpoon carrying a strong rope. The explosion 

 was regulated so as to occur immediately after the harpoon hit the 

 whale, which is sometimes killed at once, and in any case is severely 

 injured by a successful shot. The gun is carried in the bow of a 

 steam-whaler, which chases the animal until a favourable opportunity 

 for shooting occurs. These methods have revolutionised whaling, 

 and there is now no whale which is too large to be captured. 



In the prosperous days of the Greenland whale " fishery," 1437 

 whales were caught by 76 ships in 1814— an average of not quite 

 twenty whales to each vessel — and this is mentioned by Scoresby 

 (1820) as a specially good year. At the present day the number of 

 whales caught by a single vessel, during the whaling season of six 

 months, may rise to over 300 ; and the total number caught off 

 South Georgia and the South Shetlands together has exceeded 10,000 

 in one year. Bearing in mind the universal history of whaling in 

 the past — a period of prosperity succeeded by a rapid decline and a 

 final abandonment of the industry — the question arises whether there 

 is not a serious danger that Subantarctic whaling will have a similar 

 experience. 



The question of the disappearance of the whales is not merely a 

 sentimental one, though Zoologists would naturally view their 

 extermination with deep concern on scientific grounds. The plea 

 for their preservation may be strengthened, however, by emphasising 

 the fact that they are of the highest economic importance. The 



