WHALERS RETURN

Evening Post, Volume CVII, Issue 56, 9 March 1929, Page 10

WHALERS RETURN

HARVEST OF THE SEA

SEASON'S RECORD CATCH

CHASER ABANDONED

(By Telegraph.) (Special to i.The Evening Post.")

lULF MOON BAY, This Day. The Norwegian whaling vessel, C. A. Larsen,' returned at midday yesterday from the Koss Sea with 73,000 barrels oi' oil, representing a gross return of £364,500.

The C. A. Larsen left Paterson Inlet for the Koss Sea on 13th November la3t, and without respite the men were put :t0 their.' allotted tasks, working from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m., some to the -coal gang and some to the deck. She struck bad weather for the first three days out, and she lay hove-to for five hours. The next day the icepack hove in sight on tho far horizon.. At, first view it appeared as a continuous line of heaped drift, gleaming blue in the ray 3of the sun.__ »

As' the whaler proceeded iumps of ice were encountered, perhaps ono every hour, but farther south the. ice floes, became more numerous until at last, the ico pack was reached. -Before this, b/owever, the' Star VII. had arrived alongside the mother ship with the first whale of the season, a fine blue whale. The whaler operated on this side of the pack .for some time, but it was found that tho whales wero neither so numerous nor in such' good condition as they expected to find them actually in the Koss Sea. Six or seven whales would perhaps bo brought in one day, but against this there were many days when none arrived. UNPROFITABLE -WORKING. THis made working unprofitable, and. a shift was made on. 11th December when the ships of the Byrd expedition arrived. Tho City of Now York and the Eleanor Boiling brought 'mail for the men aboard the C. A. Larson who were delighted to secure tho latest news' from home The Eleanor Boiling left for Dunedin the following day, after being coaled by tho City of New York. She carried, homeward mail from they whalers. - ■ <■ The City of "New York remained behind to be shepherded through the pack ice by the C. A. Larson. On loth December she entered the pack ice with the City of New ;York in tow, and started to ram her way through to ,the Koss Sea. The pack ice, which has a fairly even surface, stands about two feet above tho water with lane 3 through it hero and there. _ On this occasion it proved, though comparatively thin, to be very hard to break through. However, the five hundred, odd miles of ico was negotiated by the fleet willi only two incidents of note.' Tho first was the breaking of the steering gear of Star VHIf/and the Star ViT. bent her ruddpr post rather badly. Both wero set in order in short time. ' ' The Koss Sea was reached on 23cd December. There the. first trippers wero astonished at the blucncss*bf tho water and the fact that the edge of the ico pack stretched in a straight line. No floating ice was to be seen, and the crew was able to dispense with its coloured glasses, provided as a protection against snow blindness. TheC. A. Larsen steamed south until 2 p.m. that day, at which hour the tow line was let go. The City of New York was left to her ,own devices. Tho ships parted with the accustomed dipping of flags. WHALES STILL SCARCE. The whaling was poor for tho next few weeks, although there were sufficient whales to keep tho gangs at. work intermittently. ' Things proceeded uneventfully until ISth January, by which time the sister ship, the Sir James Clark Koss, was running short of crude oil, and her chasers were fueling from the big whaler. This caused a shortage of oil, and a week or two later the crew of tho C. A. Larsen had to convert one of the boilers from oilburmi'g to coal burjiing. MONOTONY RELIEVED. The monotony of lito aboard was unrelieved until the "sth of the same month when tho Eleanor Boiling: arrived again from Dunedin with mail. Sho took aliciird SO tons, and proceedYd on her way. ■ Tho whales had by this time become scarce, and the Paga-' droina was sent out to explore tho southern shores of tho Koss Sea. She\ returned and reported a great scarcity. The reason given was that the whalo ■feed had not travelled so far south. 'Tho Star 11. was dispatched north to the Ballery Islands to investigate in Hiat direction. Tho report of her captain was that whales were to be, found in plenty, but innumerable icebergs wero encountered, averaging only half a mile apart. As they wero 1 so far north it meant.four or five hours of darkness at night, arid tho presence of icebergs under those conditions rendered it far too dangerous for tho factory to" operate there. ' RECORD CATCHES. The C. A. Larsen therefore steajned •north and eventually ran into good fishing grounds, and .there were plenty of whales for tho remainder of the trip. So many in fact that the Star boats 'vcro limited to two whales each per day. This went on until the ship was loaded almost to her Plimsoll mark and life aboard developed into nothing more than a routine of work, eat, and sleep. J)uriug this time a world's record was established for tho production of oil for a twenty working-hour day. The previous record established "by tho C. A..Larsen herself stood at 1400 barrels, Jjut on four consecutive days ]5(50, 15^0, 3480, and 1^27 barrels were stowed away. The last-named figure represented the oil from 20 whales, an average of one whale per working hour. In order to allow for tho stowage of this oil 500- tons of coaL had to bo dumped over "the side. The ice was safely cleared' for homo on 4th March. S.O.S. SIGNAL, -' All the chaseis were in their regular positions around the C. A. Larson;'the' Pagiidroma being ou tho\ starboard quarter. The first sign of troublo was a piolonged whistle from the chasor' Prigadroma, and all realised that something untoward had occurred. A glance revealed that she was flying the S.O.S. ..signal. The Star VII. and tho Karakatta iminedialoly changed their courses iind lined up one on each side,' and the C. A, Larsen went full speed astern to' her assistance. The Star VII. wirelessed to her that the Pagadronia was coming alongside and would land her crew. Tho ship had sprung a leak, and the pumps had proved unequal to the task. 'Luckily it was a fine day.' Very little wind was blowing, and the sen was calm. CREW LANDED SAFELY. ' Although' hard to steer, the. damaged;, Pagadroma landed safely alongside, where everything 1 was rendy to take the crew aboard.- Sho was lying very low in tho wator. and appeared as if she would not be long in sinking. The chief engineer and the. chief officer from the C. A., Larsen went aboard and made an inspection, With the result that it. was decided to abandon her. All the valuable and light gear was soon removed, and tho vessel, was left to her. fate. The cause of the troublo was a severe bump received in the pack ice when, going to tho Ro3s Soa.

Sfcewart Island was reached with out further incident.