ペリーの黒船が日本に開港を迫ったのは米国捕鯨船のためだという、半分以上ネタの伝説で、 日本国内には捕鯨をめぐる対米被害者意識が蔓延してるけど、統計数値見るとそんなことはない。 第一次世界大戦の頃には、日本はもう米国をはるかに追い抜いて、確固たる捕鯨大国だったんだね。 J.N. Tonnessen & A.O. Johnsen, "THE HISTORY OF MODERN WHALING"(英語版1982, オーストラリア国立大学出版局他)オリジナル:Den Moderne Hvalfangsts Historie (オスロ,1959-1970,ノルウェー語。著者たちはノルウェー捕鯨協会の嘱託を受けたオスロ大学 教授たちだから、反捕鯨学者の反日プロパガンダだというケチ付けは通用しないよーんw) Table 17. CATCH OF THE MOST IMPORTANT WHALING NATIONS, 1912 -1924 (Figures indicate percentage of total world catch) _________________________________________________Norway & ________________British____________________________British _________Norway_Empire__Japan__USA__Argentina___ Empire 1912-13___70.9___13.4_____6.3___2.9____3.4_________84.3 1917-18___31.9___26.5____23.0__12.0____4.5_________58.4 1920-1____51.3___27.1____12.2___1.1____5.3_________78.4 1923-4____42.6___34.2_____9.1___6.5____3.2_________76.8
わるいけど、盟友ノルウェーの学者さんたちのお言葉だ。 『(日新丸は)1936年11月13日から1937年3月17日までの期間で1116頭の鯨を捕り、 9万1368バレル、1シロナガス単位当たり95.3の鯨油を生産した。..... わずかな肉が塩漬けされただけで、事実上肉はほとんど全部捨てられた。」 THE HISTORY OF MODERN WHALING 419-20 頁
もうちょっと詳しくって? ww J.N. Tonnessen & A.O. Johnsen, "THE HISTORY OF MODERN WHALING"(英語版1982, オーストラリア国立大学出版局他)オリジナル:Den Moderne Hvalfangsts Historie (オスロ,1959-1970,ノルウェー語) THE HISTORY OF MODERN WHALING 418 頁 ノルウェーでは日本が目も眩むほどの高額でノルウェー捕鯨銛撃ちを雇っている という噂がたちました。しかしこれはあまり正しくない。1931年の規制以降、 大量のキャッチャーボートが廃船され、失業した砲手が大量にいたからだ... ........ ノルウェーの東京領事館員は高度機密報告として以下のように記している、 「日本はかなりの部分まで自国民でまかなえるが、はじめの数年間はノルウェー人 の熟練者を使用して、すべてをうまく軌道に乗せようと望んでいる。これは ノルウェー捕鯨にとっては危険なことになる。彼らの無配慮で、節度の無い やり方を見るならば、数年のうちに南極海のすべての鯨を日本人たちが捕り 尽くしてしまうだろうという恐れがあるのだ」.....
There were rumours in Norway that the Japanese had bought Nor- wegian gunners for dazzling sums. This is hardly correct: owing to the considerable reduction in the number of whale catchers operating after I931, gunners were in plentiful supply, and there was no difficulty in finding men who were unemployed. To start with they were paid a fixed wage of 200 yen a month and 50-60 yen per whale as a bonus. The position was a very different one after 1937, when the Japanese and German expansion meant a considerable increase in the number of whale catchers, and there was great competition to acquire gunners. Japan was then compelled to adopt the customary Norwegian wage rates. Two gunners engaged in 1937 on a two-year contract were guaranteed a minimum income of 30,000 yen a year, and in 1938 five gunners were secured on a three-year contract at 40,000 to 50,000 yen a season. The bonus was particularly high, some 200 yen per whale. In a highly confidential report the Norwegian Legation in Tokyo wrote that "even though Japan to a certain extent can manage with her own nationals, they would very much like in the first few years to have the services of experienced Norwegians to start the whole thing off on the right lines. This entails a serious danger to Norwegian whaling. In view of their ruthless and uncontrolled method of working it is to be feared that the Japanese will in a few years' time wipe out all the whales in the Southern Ocean." Everything had to be done to prevent this. Barring the Japanese from using Norwegian gunners and expedition managers would admittedly not be a vital blow, but it would be felt. However, nothing was done by the Norwegians ― or, rather, nothing effective could be done.
THE HISTORY OF MODERN WHALING 418 頁 南氷洋の次のシーズン、1935-6年には、日本人たちはすべて自分たちだけで 出来ることを示した。一人のノルウェー人の助けも無く、44145バレルの油が 折から価格上昇中の欧州市場に供給され、国内市場には大量の塩漬け肉が供給された。 肉を塩漬けにしたのは最初の数シーズンで、1937-8年南極シーズンには最初の 冷凍装置が実験された。大型冷凍船がはじめて就航したのは1939-40年だった。 これらの二つの出来事が日本の南氷洋捕鯨に大きな楽観主義を醸成した。 第三の要因はオイルの販売による外貨収入で、これは武器原材料の購入にあてられ ると同時に、海軍と空兵力用燃料の積み上げにも役立った。さらに浮かぶ工場、 捕鯨母船は戦時には輸送船としての価値をも発揮する。 That the Japanese were capable of managing on their own was shown by the Antarctic in her second season, 1935-6, when, without a single Norwegian on board, she produced 44,145 barrels, and by the time the oil was available on the European market prices were rising, while the Japanese home market was supplied with large quantities of whale meat, salted during the first few seasons, subsequently deep frozen. The first deep-freezing experiments were undertaken in 1937-8, and the first large refrigerated ship was despatched to the Antarctic in 1939-40. Both these events created tremendous optimism with regard to the future of Japanese whaling in the Antarctic. A third factor was that the sale of oil procured foreign currency for the import of raw materials for the armaments industry and for the stockpiling of fuel for the navy and air force. Furthermore, the floating factories were to prove their worth in wartime transport.
NEW NATIONS EMBARKING ON PELAGIC WHALING 419 THE HISTORY OF MODERN WHALING 419 頁 神戸造船所はこの規模の船の建造としては記録破りの作業をし、157日で 日新丸を完成させ、1936年8月1日に就航させた。 ........ (日新丸は) 1936年11月13日から1937年3月17日までの期間で1116頭の鯨を捕り、9万1368バレル、 1シロナガス単位当たり95.3の鯨油を生産した。5月15日に油はロッテルダムで降ろされ、 浮かぶ工場はパナマ運河を抜けてカリフォルニアへ向かい、日本向け燃料オイルを1万9600 トン積み込んだ。鯨油を購入したのは形式的にはユニリーバだが、これはドイツ国家のための 委託であることにほぼ間違いない。この時の価格は20ポンド10シリングのピークを打っていた。 利益は500万円と発表されており、国際収支の多大な困難に陥っていた日本にとっては、 これはおおいに有益だった。わずかな肉が塩漬けされただけで、事実上肉はほとんど全部 捨てられた。 外国の捕鯨業者は日本の急激な伸びにパニックに陥った。鯨油の行き先がドイツだということは、 この両国の貿易コネクションの拡大を意味している。ベルリン-東京枢軸という軍事-政治関係の 先導役を果たしているということになる。 The Kobe shipyard broke all records in completing a ship of this size, when on 1 August 1936, after 157 days, the Nishin Maru (nisshin = always new) was launched. She was powered by diesel engines powerful enough to give her a speed of 15 knots, approximately 3 knots more than the European floating factories. The twenty-three pressure boilers were made in Japan, but six Hartmann cookers had been ordered in Germany. At the same time eight whale catchers were built in Japan, each of 267 gross tons, and with engines developing 795 h.p. With TOKUSUKE SHINO as expedition manager and three Norwegian gunners the expedition left Kobe on 7 October and called at Fremantle on 19 October. Here Shino died quite unexpectedly, just as he was about to realise the dream of his life: he had started life as a gunner as far back as 1907, had been one of the most ardent champions of whaling in the Antarctic, and become a joint founder of Taiyo Nogei K.K. Management of the expedition was now entrusted to RISABURO NAKABE, son of the company's president, and on 3 November they set off for the whaling grounds. Here, during a period from 13 November 1936 to 17 March 1937, 1,116 whales were caught, producing 91,368 barrels, 95.3 per BWU. On 15 May the oil was discharged in Rotterdam, and from here the floating factory proceeded via the Panama Canal to California, (420 THE HISTORY OF MODERN WHALING) loading 19,600 tons of fuel oil for Japan. Formally, the whale oil was purchased by Unilever, almost certainly operating on behalf of the German state, just as the price reached its peak of £20 ids. The profit was stated to be 5 million yen ― very useful when japan was in very considerable difficulties with her foreign balance of payments. Practically all the meat had been scrapped, only a small amount being salted. Foreign whalers were seized with panic at Japan's rapid progress : that the whale oil should have ended up in Germany was part and parcel of the extensive trade connections between the two countries, ushering in the military-political alliance of the Tokyo-Berlin Axis.