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25 July 2001
British ex-whaler speaks out in support
of the global whaling ban
British ex-whaler John Burton worked on British whaling ships
in the late 1940’s and early 1950’s. He is attending the International
Whaling Commission meeting this week to relate his experiences of
life onboard a factory whaling vessel, and explain why he now supports
a ban on commercial whaling. You can read his story here:
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"In early September of 1949, and for every day over the next
two months, I turned up at the Commissioners Quay, North Shields,
where the whale factory ship 'The Southern Venturer' was berthed
for her summer's re-fit. Each day I made my way to the Chief
Steward's cabin to enquire whether there were any vacancies
for a cabin boy or mess boy.
"Finally, the magic word 'yes' was uttered and I became a
fledgling whaler, ready to set sail for the Antarctic.
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"In the three seasons I spent whaling, two were spent on board
the factory ship and one on the whale catcher 'The Southern Truce'.
At that time, I felt no sense of disgust or remorse at being a participant
in the killing of hundreds of Blue, Fin, Sperm, Gray and Humpback
whales. Nor did any of my shipmates, to my knowledge, ever question
or criticise the economic or the (in) humane aspects as to why they
were being killed in the first place.
"All we were concerned about was this: how many whales were
caught that day; how many barrels of oil that represented; and how
much that equated to in pounds, shillings and pence at pay-off day
five months hence.
"Each day (12 hours on and 12 off throughout a 24 hour work schedule)
saw every man straining against southern storms, snow pack-ice and
icebergs. Those on deck stood ankle-deep in whale blood and whale
bone cut into 3 foot sections, as thick as young oak trees. All
around them were 6 x 3 foot squares of whale blubber, six inches
thick, sliding around in the blood and manhandled by burly bearded
whalers in spiked leather thigh boots gripping long hand hooks pulling
them into deck quaners (the yard-wide openings in the deck leading
to the boilers below) to be rendered into oil over the next 12 hour
shift.
"Unseen or unheard by those on deck, wielding flence knives and
operating winches or guiding band-saws cutting bone, the boilers
in the factory are being emptied of the ashes that once were bones
by hardened shirtless whalers with their 10 inch scoops in temperatures
as high as a foundry. They are preparing room for the bones of another
90 foot, 100 ton blue whale within the hour, and no doubt praying
that his shift would soon end.
"Glancing to his left, he would be aware of a constant train of
moving hessian sacks, filled with meat meal having just been processed
from half-ton fillets of whale. They are once again winched to the
open quaners and dropped onto massive meat grinders then on to vast
driers, to eventually finish up as bagged meat meal, destined as
a constituent of fertiliser for farm use back in the UK. The same
process applied also to some bone and to the liver. The only non-utilised
parts being the balleen (plates in the mouth for sifting krill),
gut and intestines.
"For four months, apart from the occasional day when bad weather
prevented whaling, the whole of the fleet worked 12 hours on 12
off shifts throughout the entire period at sea. In those three seasons,
I earned roughly £500, net of tax, a fortune by today's standards,
bearing in mind that I would have been one of the lowest paid in
the whaling fleet. Imagine what a gunner on a catcher, an engineer
or a flencer would have earned in 'blood' money.
"Looking back to those days when I sailed with the whaling fleet,
I am disgusted and ashamed that I ever participated in such a vile
and unforgivable act of assisting in the killing of such a beautiful
and intelligent animal and my remorse becomes even more poignant
when I remember that not only did I participate in the killing of
one whale - but of hundreds.
"Perhaps in the past, due to lack of resources, it may well have
been necessary to kill whales for their valuable oils on which industry
particularly depended during the war years, for example, when they
were essential to the war effort and when there was very little
meat to be had. But was it justified even then? Just about, maybe,
but now there is no conceivable reason why the killing of whales
can be justified; not on economic, research or on food supplement
grounds.
"Why have I written this testimony after all these years?
Well, my regret and remorse started to surface many years back and
soon after the organisation Greenpeace, in their early years, startled
the world with their direct action against the whaling fleets.
"It gradually dawned on me that here were human beings willing
to put their lives at risk to save an animal that I had been quite
prepared to participate in killing for a relatively few pound notes.
"Greenpeace has now afforded me an opportunity to expiate
in some small way the guilt I have harboured all these years. It
is now my intention in the future to do all I can to help Greenpeace
effect the total abolition of whale-hunting worldwide."
John Burton
June 2001
This is a personal account by John Burton, British ex-whaler
and does not necessarily represent the views of Greenpeace.
Read
more daily updates on the Greenpeace UK site
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