Evening Republican, Volume 19, Number 235, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 4 October 1915 — NEW METHODS IN WHALING [ARTICLE]

NEW METHODS IN WHALING

Old-Fashioned Harpoon Has Been Diecarded for the Most Modern of Deadly Weapons. In early days the wooden sailing ships engaged in the whaling industry in southern seas pursued only right whales and sperm whales, or cachalots. The so-called “tinners,” such as the blue whale, the largest animal in the world; the tinner whale; the small fish whale; and the humpback, were all too active, and sank too quickly when killed. But their turn has now come, for the modern whale gun is a finely fashioned cannon, the harpoon carries a shell, and the body of the whale is kept afloat by Inflating it with air through pipes from the engine room of the whaler. The rendering is now done in a factory on shore, or in a special large vessel moored in the harbor. Besides the whalebone, which no longer pays well or at all, and the oil, which is graded into qualities as it comes from the blubber, the fat of the tongue and kidneys, the flesh and bones and the refuse, there remain the dried flesh and bones, which are now also put to commercial use. The absolutely fresh flesh is used to make whale-meat meal, a nutritious and wholesome foodstuff that is largely fed to cattle. From the remaining flesh and about a third of the bones whale guano is made, and from the bones alone bone meal. The largest whaling business in the world is now conducted in the Falkland islands and their dependencies. The season begins in November, and lasts until the end of April, and the average production of oil is nearly half a million barrels; of guano, 8,375 tons. The industry gives employment to about 3,500 men. —Youth’s Companion.