THE SOUTHERN PRINCESS

Evening Star, Issue 20317, 28 October 1929, Page 11

THE SOUTHERN PRINCESS

FIRST WHALING CRUISE FIVE HEW CHASERS The whaler Southern Princess missed the tide on Saturday, but berthed at Port Chalmers yesterday on a draught of 32ft. The vessel is right up to date, and, being a floating factory, efficiency has not been sacrificed to mere appearance. The navigating bridge is near the bow, and the twin funnels close to the stern, while along the rails between bridge and funnels are a row of samson posts on either side. Those posts take the place of masts for support of the derricks which will be used to hoist great swathes of blubber on deck when whales are being flensed alongside. That is an auxiliary arrangement. The ordinary method of raising the blubber on deck will bo to haul up the carcasses bodily over a slipway extending from water level at the stern right up the flensing deck. To make room for the slipway the twin funnels have been placed well apart, and the slipway passes between them. The original design of the ship is also altered by the sides having been made higher in providing enclosed space for tho digesters. Thus the digesters and other factory plant are immediately underneath the flensing deck. It all makes for handiness and quick despatch, tho oil storage tanks being in the bottom of the hull, or what would be the lower hold of an ordinary cargo carrier. The tanks are capable of holding 72,000 barrels of whale oil, the dead weight of which \yould be about 15,000 tons

The Sout ; ern Princess is owned by the Southern Whaling and Sealing Company, of Liverpool (England), and she was converted from an oil tanker to a factory ship at Cammed Laird’s shipbuilding yards on the Mersey. Tne work of reconditioning her was commenced last June and finished in August. On August 27 she sailed from Liverpool for Ross Sen. Her five chasers, which had sailed on August 29 from Middlesboroiigh, where they had been built.,met her at the Azores, on September S. Tt is their maiden voyage. Thh chasers had attained a speed of I2J knots on their trial trios, but that rate of speed was not required to keep up with tne mother shin, which averaged from 9 to 10 knots. The chasers could steam ahead, astern, or abreast of the mother ship, but like voting ducklings they were not allowed to go out of sight of her. On September 20 they arrived at Cnracoa, where the Southern Princess took on board sufficient oil fuel to take herself and the chasers (also oil burners) to Ross Sea and back to New Zealand. Curacoa was left on September 21, and Colon was reached nn the 24th. Passing through the Panama Canal with her brood of chasers, the mother shin took her departure next day from Balboa for New Zealand. Galapagos Island was the only land sighted until they reached Otago Heads on Saturday forenoon. The voyage so far was uneventful. No rough weather had been experienced. The chasers had Iv'en bunkered three times from the mother shin at sea. Tho bunkering consisted of pumping fuel oil through a big hose from the large stremer to the smal'cr ones. The chasers berthed at Pott Chalmers on Saturday afternoon, and the mother ship, which was drawing S2ft, was berthed shortly after midday yesterday. TO SAIL WEDNESDAY. Fresh water and stores will be taken in at Port Chalmers, and on Wednesday the Southern Princess and her chasers will sail for the ice in quest of whales. Everybody is optimistic as to tho result. Last season the whalers had secured full cargoes of oil s month before the season closed. This season whales are expected to be equally plentiful. “ And if the supply lasts for the next ten years it will do,” an officer remarked to a ‘ Star ’ reporter. The Southern Princess carries a crew of 167 men, and thirty additional hands will be shipped here. Each chaser has a crew of thirteen men. The men are all Norwegians, and except a few young fellows, they have all had previous whaling experience. Captain A. M BeWnn is in remmanil of the Southern Priu r> ' , "s. Mr Herman nr>i-nt-'>n is "oing w»*h , - ,: m ns maneger of the cortiunny. Mr Berntsen was previou' fy in Ross Sea on the wha'er v * ’’sou Alonzo. The chcre rs arc commanded by Captains A Mathison (Southern Sun), K. Eldre (Southern Sea), A, Melson (Southern Cloud,). K. Hansen (Southern Sky), and C. Mathissen (Southern

Barrier). All the captains are qualified navigators and expert gunners. Tho chasers are powerfully engined, and easily handled. They can turn almost in their own length, being quickly responsive to helm control. They are practically straight-stemmed, but the bows overhang at each side, and that gives loom on top for the man stationed at the how gun to move about fairly freely. The navigating bridge is very high for vessels of this size. Near its centre is the direction finder, winch records in the room immediately underneath where the wireless loud speaker, which has a range up to 400 nr'les under favourable conditions, is also fitted. The wireless aerial is hung between the fore and main masts. At the close of the whaling season the chasers will return to the Lower Harbour, and remain there until next summer. The mother ship, instead of returning here, will go to Wellington for a supply of o : l fuel, and then lake her cargo of whale oil to Now Yo-k or European norts, as d'rcctcd. After the caruo has been she will go to Norway for overb-m 1 befo’-e returning south for next whaling season.