Mayo island, whaling, and the Norweigan connection

By Tom Gillespie

IN the early 20th century the whaling industry was important for both their meat and oils.

County Mayo had a short-lived and turbulent association with it and it lasted only around 20 years.

In 1896 Norway imposed more strict environmental rules and regulations so that many Norwegian whaling stations closed down and moved abroad where the regulations were not as strict.

In 1908, attempts were made by two Norwegian businessmen to set up a station on the Shetland Islands off the Scottish coast. When this attempt failed, a second one was made on Arranmore in Co. Donegal. Opposition from local commercial fishing interests scuppered both bids.

However, thanks to a man from Youghal, Co. Cork, a station would be built at Rusheen, on South Inishkea. The Norwegians maintained the Arranmore Whaling Co. trading name.

The station at Rusheen was beset with problems as the company had to contend with some militant islanders. Around 30 local hands were employed at Rusheen. All the men were from South Inishkea as the islanders refused to allow strangers from the mainland to work at the station but also the inhabitants of the neighbouring north island.

The foreman and timekeeper, Johnny O’Donnell, was the ‘king’ of the island and enjoyed the distinction of owning the only dwelling on the island with floorboards.

The company was the Arranmore Whaling Co. and operated until 1922. Soon the infrastructure of the whaling station took shape - a 12-metre pier, wooden slipway, cooperage, forge, steam winches, bone crunching mill, steam boilers, sheds and an administration building.

The boats involved in the enterprise were the Alectro, the Erling and the Carsten Bruun, owned by Captain Lorentz Bruun, who later ran his own Norwegian Irish whaling station on the east side of the Mullet Peninsula in Blacksod Bay.

The station had to deal with some problems - whales could be brought up the slipway only for two hours a day because of the tide, the essential delivery of coal was difficult for the same reason, and the tensions with some militant islanders.

Between 20 and 40 men were employed, all from the Inishkea South. It was said that all the jobs went to the south islanders and the north islanders were left with just the foul smell from the station.

Afterwards, in August 1909, the islanders went on strike and managed to have their wages increased to £1 per week. With that wage they were extremely well paid for the times considering their rent was about £5 a year, and Inishkea South enjoyed a period of unusual prosperity.

In 1909 the station caught 102 whales, including blue whales, fin whales and sperm whales.

Blubber and oils were exported to Scandinavia, and bones and meat were dried and milled into powder and then shipped to Norway where it was used as cattle meal and fertiliser.

In 1912 the number of whales decreased to 26 and the end was in sight when the catch for 1913 came to 49. By 1914 the company was heavy in debt.

In 1915 the Arranmore Whaling Co. closed down forever. The machinery and boilers were sold to a Spanish whaling co., shipped out until after the war.

Captain Lorentz Bruun, who was involved with the Arranmore Whaling Co., bought some land from the local landlord, Dennis Bingham, in order to set up a new whaling station. The site was located south of Ardelly Point in Feorinyo Bay (Mullaghroe).

In 1910 the whaling station of the new company, the Blacksod Whaling Company, was ready to operate and 20 Norwegians and 30 Irishmen were employed.

Whaling stopped in August 1914 because of the outbreak of World War 1 and the Norwegians went back home.

In 1915 the British Admiralty took over the station and turned it into a petrol base until 1918.

After the war Captain Lorentz Bruun tried to recommence the business, but the station had been heavily damaged.

No whaling took place until 1919. In 1923 a large part of the station burned down. It was alleged that some of the local men who were refused jobs started the fire.

On Christmas Day 1924 Captain Bruun died. The company closed down in 1932 due the lack of demand for whale blubber and oils. That was the end of Mayo’s whaling past.

In 1908 the London born inventor and pioneer cinematographer Robert William Paul (1869-1943) and his film crew landed on Rusheen and filmed a short movie capturing the whaling activity and scenes of the whalers’ life at the station for posterity.

The film, entitled ‘Whaling Afloat and Ashore’, was the last of Robert Paul’s films to survive as he quit the business in 1910.

In 1927, the men from the islands were night fishing in the clear waters which surround the islands and a sudden violent storm blew up which caught them unawares.

Some of the currachs managed to reach home but several failed to get back and one was reputed to have been taken all the way in and thrown up on the mainland with its crew unharmed.

In the morning, it was discovered that several currachs and 10 young fishermen had been lost.

The island community was devastated and a few years later the community was rehoused, mostly on the Mullet Peninsula. The few who had miraculous escapes often related the tale of that fateful night.

The last survivor, Pat Reilly, died aged 101 in 2008.