Page 82 - KBHA BULLETIN 4

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Whaling

I recall that in the 1920s there was an entrance gate on the Main Road from which a path led

straight through the garden, giving access to the terrace and the front door. The path was
bordered on each side by the bleached ribs of whales. In my grandmother’s conservatory whale

vertebra were used as stands for pot plants. Today the remnants of three large whale bones are
kept on the brick paving surrounding the swimming pool. They were found in the garden and

placed on the brick paving to slow the rotting process.

As regards whaling activity, on the flat sloping reef of rock called the Point, to the right looking

out from St. James station, there are a series of eye-bolts fixed into the rocks. They are held fast

by lead which was poured into the holes in which the eye-bolts are seated. I was told that ropes
were pulled through the eye-bolts and attached to whale carcasses which were then pulled out of

the sea and flensed. Old photographs of this area show several whale pots standing on the grassy
higher ground of the Point and no doubt the blubber was rendered down in this area. (Fig. 3.17.)

I also recall that in the 1920s whale catchers, small coal-burning ships with a harpoon gun

mounted on the bow, anchored off Danger Beach for shelter when the north-westers were

expected. (Perhaps they were vessels from the Stony Point whaling station? Ed.)

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