FOR THE ANTARCTIC

Evening Post, Volume CXII, Issue 131, 30 November 1926, Page 17

FOR THE ANTARCTIC

ROSS SEA FLEET SAILS

THE LARGEST EXPEDITION IN THE WORLD

On Tuesday morning tbc mother-ship C. A. Larscn and the rest of the Eoss Sea whaling, fleet, left Paterson's Inlet at Stewart- Island for the open sea. Led by the whale chaser Star VIII., which was navigated for the time being by Captain Hooper, Government Nautical Adviser, the ■whaler made her way safely to the harbour entrance, and with three farewell blasts on her whistle stood away to the eastward. In. about Jive and a half days she will have reached the drift ice, which Captain Nilsen, who is in charge of the fleet, hopes to got through in about ten or twelve days. Onco the Ross Sea is reached the C. A. Larsen will anchor in water two or three hundred fathoms deep, and bo transformed into a vast and complicated rendering down factory. , A COSTLY ENTERPRISE. Besides being the biggest whaler afloat the C. and A. Larsen is also the largest vessel now flying the Norwegian flag (says the "Southland Times"). The entire Boss Sea fleet, consisting of the C. A. Larscn, the Sir James Clark Eoss, ten "Star" chasers, and the Pagodronia, and Karrakatta, chartered vessels, is the biggest and most costly enterprise of its kind that has over lei't the shores of the Baltic. The C. A. Larsen is a vessel of 17,500 tons gross, and before being acquired by the Ross Sea' Company was the English oil tanker San Gregorio. She has many remarkable features, perhaps the strangest being a big projection directly under her bows. This is a circular plate of iron, GS tons in weight and many inches in thickness, which serves the double purpose of an ice crusher and a gateway to the "whale chute," which is a hole in the bows 20ft in diameter, and leading through an iron tunnel to the upper deck. Inflated whales are towed alongside by the chasers and are floated tail first into the hole, which is partly under water. They are then hauled by means of steel ropes on to the foredeck. Here the flensors, armed with sharp spades, commence to strip the creatures of their blubber, which varies in thickness from a few inches over the belly to 16 inches or more on the back, and which acts as a protective covering against the icy water. The stripped carcasses are then gripped by further'ropes and are dragged up an inclined iron slide to the iwaist of the ship, where the flesh and bones aro hacked into fragments small enough to enter the digesters. Practically the whole of the whale, including the blood, is; rendered down for the sake of its oil. EQUIPMENT AND PROVISIONS. Below decfe are the digesters, throe circular tanks loft high and 10ft iv diameter. As the-,blubber or flesh is : ■taken from the whale it is dropped down chutes in the deck and passes' into a chamber, wlicro it'Js slashed into tiny strips by rapidly revolving knives. I'rom there it is pumped into the digesters, where for eight or more hours superheated steam is poured through a network of pipes in the interior and is then allowed to bubble through the liquid. When the oil has risen to the top a pipe *tsf opened and it pours into the storage tanks near the bilges.The ship has on board 4400 tons of coal for the use of the chasers, and 0000 tons of fuel oil for her own use. There arc-also on board 4000 tons of -water, which are consumed at the rate of 200 tons a day when the digesters are in full blast. In order to facilitate coaling operations, a miniature railway track has been laid down in the interior of the vessel and trolleys of coal can be hauled from the bunkers to slides in the hull giving on to tho water. The pitch darkness in this part of the ship, lit .only by the electric bulbs widen are burning day and Jiight, gives the impression of a coal mine. Naturally, the ship has to take an enormous quantity of food with her in order to feed 200 men for over four months, and the store-rooms and pantries dwarf the Ir.rgcts grocery store into insignificance. An assorted collection of livestock is also carried, and n visitor to tho ship passes here and there pens of cattle, sheep, and pigs. About 150 sheep were taken aboard at Port Chalmers. The animals arc to bo, slaughtered when colder seas aro reached, and will then be hung up to freeze. WIRELESS FITTINGS. The C. A. Larsen is fitted with a wireless station on the upper bridge. Owing to the nearness of the magnetic pole, mariner's compasses show a groat deviation. On the chasers, which roll continually in even a slight sea, it is impossible to make accurate observations and corrections, and consequently Marconi direction finders, controlled from the mother ship, arc installed on each of the little vessels. Call signs aro transmitted from the main station, at a set time every hour, and chasers as far as 70 miles away in a dense fog and unsure of their position tune in at tho appointed time to get their bearings. There are also three wireless sets— an ordinary ship's telephone system, a powerful receiving apparatus, and ,i short wave set with which surprising results have been attained. A few days ago, when the Sir James Clark Eoss was 2100 miles away, a conversation took place between the two vessels on the telephone. ' CREW'S QUARTERS AND FUEL. The quarters of tho crew are surprisingly comfortable and warm, while tho captain and officers have rooms that would be no disgrace to a liner. One or two gramophones arc aboard to brighten the long evenings, and radio concerts have frequently been picked up of late, though, of course, this would be impossible in the Antarctic owing to the 24 hours of daylight. Cold weather is, of course, the greatest hardship, but at times the conditions are so warm that the men strip off their coats and work in their shirt sleeves.. Occasional cases of frost-bite are dealt with by Dr. Eishovd, the ship's surgeon, but the greater proportion of the cases are due to accidents. • The men on the whale-chasers, however, fully uphold the traditions of their hazardous calling. Owing to their build and small size these vessels feel the worst of the bad weather. Having only a few inches freeboard at the waist, they are half under green water in even a moderate sea, while a head sea breaks on their bows and dolugcs the decks with spray. It is for this reason that the bridges aro not built in with glass, as the spray, which sometimes frezes in the air, has been known to smash anything but the strongest glass. Spray and snow often freeze on the rigging and pieces fall down. In several cases serious wounds have been inflicted on seamen who have been struck on tho head. Perhaps the most unenviable job of all is that of the guii-aer, who lias to hike his stand on a sloping platform on the bow. Seas which break inboard occasionally drench him with freezing water. The harpoon-gun itself is about three feet in height and fires an ex-

plosive bomb attached to a short harpoon. PROSPECTS FOR THE SEASON. A commou toast on board the C. A. Larsen is "Good health, and 700 whales." It in hoped to obtain anyvliing up to 800 or 900 whales, but GOO will be considered a satisfactory catch for the season. Captain Nilsen thinks that the O. A. Larsen will arrive at the whaling grounds at the most favourable time of the year. According to wireless reports from the Sir James Boss, now in the ice-pack, very bad weather, approaching at times to a blizzard, had been experienced, but he thought that this should have passed over by the time the C. A. Larsen reached the floes. A vessel that becomes caught in the ice may be delayed for many weeks. On one occasion when the Sir Jumps Clark Koss was ice-bound the captain found that the ship, though apparently motionless, had moved thirty miles to the north, owing to the fast rate at which the floes drifted away from the Pole. Immediately on arrival at the Boss Sea the whale chasers will be called to the ship and re-provisioned and refuelled. They will then set out in various directions on a scouting expedition, and if whales are about the C. A. Larsen will drop anchor. The Sir James Clark Boss will carry out a similar programme further away. Captain Nilsen mentioned that another whaling fleet was about to commence operations in tlio neighbourhood of the Boss Sea, but he did not think that the respective fleets would encroach on one another's fishing grounds. If this did happen some exciting races between rival whale catchers might occur in the disputed territory. The C. A. Larsen has a complement pt over 160 men, while each chaser is manned by a crew of eleven. EXTERMINATION. Captain Nilsen w-as asked about the danger of exterminating the whales in the Boss Sea.. Very little, he said, was known about the habits of whales and their breeding grounds, their long mi"•rations or other matters. Ho did not think it was correct, however, to say that a large number of the whales slaughtered were sexually immature. This was another matter about which little was known, but his own observations did not lead him to believe it was so. Young whales were not killed by the chasers. It was also impossible completely to exterminate the "fish in any one sea, as fresh whales arrived from "distant parts to replace those that had been killed. The Boss Sea whales were in the habit of travelling completely round the South Polar cap, and in some seasons visited South Georgia, or the South' Shetlands, or tlio Orkneys. Whales sighted one year in this whaling ground might be found in the next in the Koss Sea.