Cook and Co.'s well-known whaling steamer Hananui II reached Bluff from the Campbell Islands whaling station on Wednesday afternoon (says the Southland Times). the Hananui left Bluff with a whaling party last February, and during the intervening period the vessel has had a very successful whaling season.
Cook and Co.'s station is at the south of the island, while the old-established open boat station of Norton and Heberley is at the north-west of the island. The vessel reports having captured 13 whales during the season, and they got fastened to six others which, however, succeeded in getting away, through broken ropes or through the insufficient hold of the harpoons.
The return of oil amounted to 200 tons, and as there is also a valuable cargo of whale-bone, the Hananui's first season cannot be regarded as otherwise than very satisfactory. The harpoon gun, of which so much had been heard before the vessel left on her enterprise, proved to be a very valuable weapon, and Gunner Cook, who had charge, succeeded in achieving the somewhat remarkable record of seven consecutive kills. It may be explained that each harpoon has a bomb attached, but, despite the power of this missile, it frequently took hours to despatch the whale, and during that time the vessel frequently came in for a lively time - in fact, on one occasion the flourish of a whale's tail damaged the after stanchions.
Word was received from the northern station to the effect that Norton's party had succeeded in catching six whales for the season. This party does not, however, try out the blubber for oil, being content to take only the whalebone. The reason for this is that they have neither the plant nor the time to do so at present, their attention being devoted for the most part to the 7000 sheep which they have running on the island. Shearing will probably have commenced now, and it is estimated that the clip will amount to about 110 bales.
• Several gentlemen attended a preliminary meeting held last night at Mr S. S. Myers' rooms, with the object of forming an Otago Hunt Club. Mr Myers occupied the chair, and a general discussion disclosed the fact that there appeared to be an excellent prospect of a good membership being obtained. So much so that the new Hunt Club will likely prove a much stronger one than that which became defunct about 20 years ago. The meeting was very enthusiastic and confident of ultimate success. The scope of the proposed Hunt will not be confined to Dunedin, but it is suggested that a good deal of territory to the north and south be taken in. It is intended to make the subscription fairly modest. - ODT, 9.9.1911.
