WHALING IN ROSS SEA

Dominion, Volume 18, Issue 180, 24 April 1924, Page 7

WHALING IN ROSS SEA

DIFFICULTIES OF INITIAL ENTERPRISE NEXT TRIP EXPECTED TO PAY PROFITABLE INDUSTRY MAY BE ESTABLISHED Some of the difficulties encountered on the first whaling trip to the Ross Sea under licons's from tho New Zealand Government, were described to a “Dominion” representative yesterday by Captain G. Hooper, of the Marine Department, who accompanied the expedition. Time was necessarily wasted In securing experience, and difficulties were encountered In coal storage, seeking anchorage In fathomless depths, the intense cold, and in obtaining a supply of fresh water for tho cleansing operations. The Ross Sea Is now, however, a proved whaling ground, and though the first trip was not a financial success, it is anticipated that the next one will be.

“Ths factory vessel, the Sir James Clark Ross, is the largest that has ever been over the Antarctic circle, her gross tonnage being 7630, and her dead weight about 13,000 tons,” said Captain Hooper. “She was build by Harland and Woolf in 1905, for the trade between Great Britain and Calcutta. She is fitted for burning oil fuel, but in view of the isolated nature of tho expedition, and the fact that any S.O.S. calls would be useless in the event of a breakdown, while tho behaviour of oil feeds in the extremely low temperatures that would be met was unknown, and would be largely in the nature of an experiment, it was not though advisable to venture so far south on oil, and coal was carried in tho oil tanks. “The ship was purchased in May of last year, and taken to Norway, where she was extensively altered at great expense, and the entire original holds of the vessel were converted to oil tanks of a capacity varying from 400 to 500 tons each, every tank being separately connected by an extensive system of pipe lines and a pumping system. Besides the whale oil storage tanks, were many other tanks used for the settling process, by which is meant the settling of all the fats in suspension, so that tho oil could be run from such tanks tc the intermediate or clearing tanks, being finally run into largo storage tanks in the bottom of the vessel. Extraction Processes. “In the process of extracting oil from the whales three distinct methods were used, each method being necessary to adequately treat the substances from which the oil was being extracted. The earliest method of extracting oil from blubber alone is the open boiler process, which involves the steaming of tho minced blubber by percolation for a period of about 12 hours. This produces the finest oil, provided that the blubber is taken from whales wlijilei thjey are quite fresh. Tho second process is termed the press txn'ler process, and is -used for extracting all the fatty substances from tho large bone matter, such as the jaw lionos, vertebrae, etc., and this process involves tho pressing of the bones, which are reduced io small dimensions, in large boilers under a steam pressure of about 601 b. to tho square inch. After having been subjected io this treatment for about six hours, very little of fatte substance remains in the bones. The oil is then drained away and the refuse disposed of. The other process, that of extracting the fatty substances from the other portions of the whale involves the use of an improved fat extracting apparatus, which was being tried during this expedition for 'the first time. This method enables either blubber, bone, or moat to bo entirely digested, and tho fat extracted from it in less than an hour. Tho quantity being, dealt with in each case was comparatively small; nevertheless the process was very rapid, and entirely satisfactory, and it is expected that this improved fat-extracting process will eventually entirely supplant the present boiler system. “No attempt was made on this expedition to deal with the by-products of the whale, such as the fertilisers which are obtained by some shore factories, but it is intended at some later stage to go extensvely into tho matter, to see whether it is not possible to develop this side of the business on board the floating factories in tho same way as it is carried on at shore establishments. Anchorage Difficulties. “Temperatures play a very great part in the work done down there, as they interfere with it considerably. This being the initial enterprise in the Ross Sea, very many unforeseen difficulties were encountered, but it is hoped that each and every one of them will be satisfactorily surmounted during the coming season. One difficulty which appeared to be almost unsurmountable was the entire lack of adequate harbours or anchorages, in which to carry out tho cleansing operations. Anchorages were difficult to obtain, and at the places where the factory ship was able to anchor on the present trip, tho depth of water was always found to be very inconvenient. The least depth at which an anchorage was obtained was 280 fathoms, rather further away from the deck than Wellington is from tho Tinakori wireless station, but tho vessel had to anchor in much greater depths than that. For this purpose the. ship had a very large supply of flexible steel ropo, to enable her to anchor in depths which would not be available to tho ordinarily equipped vessel. Coal Storage Troubles. “Another groat drawback was that it was impossible to obtain fresh water, a large quantity of which was consumed daily on board in connection with the" extraction of fat from whales. For this alone tho factory ship used 100 tons a day. Owing to tho luck of harbours and anchorages, the factory ship «ns compelled to be under steam on most occasions, and this involved a large coal consumption. When tho factory chip was in full operation tho coal consumption for that purpose alone was 25 tons a day. The disposal of the coal in the vessel’s hull, the oil tanks having to be used for tho purpose in order to carry tho requisite quantity, was net the most convenient, and no fewer than eleven men were constantly employed doing nothing but getting up coal from the time the vessel laft Hrbart

until she reached Campbell Island. The whale catchers also used large quantities of coal.

Busy Whale Catchers. “While the whale catchers were in the vicinity of the ship they were, from their point of view, wasting time, a,s they were paid' partly on wages, and partly by the numbers and species of the whales caught. The men on the big ship were paid partly on a wage basis, and partly on the number of barrels of oil they produced. The amount that each whale catcher was paid was highest for the blue whale, slightly less for the finback, still less for the right whale, an<l a SL ‘h lower scale for the sperm whale or the humpback, these being the chief species of whales sought on this expedition. Tho mam catch consisted of large blue whales, with a small proportion of finbacks. Everything had to be ready at ones for the whale catchers, as they liked to get away from the ship as soon as possible. A Proved Whaling Ground. “As a whaling ground, the Ross Sea can be looked on favourably, but it must not be forgotten that owing to tho verv high latitude the season is comparatively very short. . lhe existence of profitable whales is established. but the very short period available during any one season necessitates that the system of catching whales, or of extracting the oils, should be capable of the utmost speed. There are also the varying weather conditions, but if the lock of harbours and anchorages, and the other disabilities can be overcome, there is no reason why whaling there should not become a very profitable industry. Whale Steak. “None of us touched other meat while there were whale steaks about. Ever since Japan took up the wlmluig industry, it has enabled the poor people of the cities of Japan to obtain cheap meat. Within 24 hours of «i whaU being brought in. the meat is laid out on the platforms of the railway stations, ready for the following morning’s market, and as a whale produces about eight tons of edible meat, it follows that the poorer people in the vicinity of the whaling stations have a cheaper meat supply when there are wha’es. “The largest whale taken by the expedition was 98 feet in length, and was estimated to weigh some 150 tons. Male whales were found to be preponderant. The whales in general were found to be comparatively free ot parasites, external or internal, all appearing to be in excellent condition and they were pronounced by the persons of the greatest experience to be better whales than they had seen elsewhere. Initial Venture Shows Slight Loss. “This initial venture cannot be called a financial success. Probably nobody expected that it would be, but the experience gained by it is such that on its next visit in November the expedition will be quite prepared to surmount the obstacles which during the initial visit proved to be hindrances, and which were the cause of the smallness of the catch, and the success of the next season is practicallv assured. The catch was short or 18,000 barrels of oil. It was estimated that a catch of 23,000 barrels of oil would have paid the expenses of the last expedition, so that it will be actually out of pocket, but the expenence gained will enable time to be saved, and the results made safe next time. Norwegian Whalers. “Norway is the homo of whalers. Factories owned in Norway are operating. five or six in the South Shotlands, and one or two in South Georgia, all of which go back to Norway with their catches and crews at the end of every season, ieturning to the whaling grounds in about December of each year. Although nearly all of the whaling systems are worked _ by Norwegians, so mo of the enterprises are particularly British, notably those of Lever Bros, and of Messrs. Salversen and Co., of Leith, the latter having been connected with whaling for many years. “I was greatly struck by the endurance of the Norwegians when working in verv low temperatures. On many occasions the men stripping the whales of blubber were working in temperatures of between 20 and 40 degrees below freezing point, and it was easily seen that on such occasions the work caused much discomfort; nevertheless the spirit of the Norwegians seemed to overcome most difficulties, and it was only on extreme occasions when the temperatures became very, very low, that work ceased until conditions again became favourable for it to proceed. Captain C. A. Larsen, who was manager of the expedition, is one of the most experienced whalers in Norway, and the expedition is to be congratulated on having a person of such experience to guide its affairs,” Tho five whale catchers are now at Stowart.lsland, repairing, end getting readv for the next season.