IN ANTARCTIC SEAS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXI, Issue 18678, 7 April 1924, Page 12

IN ANTARCTIC SEAS.

: DIALING GROUND TESTED. SOLD f AND DANGER DEFIED. ICE BARRIER PENETRATED. •' LOST CHASEiVS ESCAPE. [#?"". TELEGRAPH. —OWN CORRESPOND EXT.} \ ; IXVERCAEGILL. Sunday. Ifi*! largest whaling expedition in the world *■ organised last year by Captain Larsen 'v on behalf of a Norwegian syndicate 'hk s completed its first season's work, 'and 'though the results have not been as jfV"* as WAS anticipated the .venture cairn by any means be said to have been a- \ ailure. ... During the" . four months sojourn in the Antarctic, t of ice a " d blizzards. 221 what* : ™*e captured, from which 17,000 barre, '* of oil were obtoineu. The expedition to 13 called the Sir John Clark Ross expedite n, m honour of one of the earlier expA twos to the oouth Polar teas. It went si nth for the .purpose of trying out the .extensive whaling grounds existing there. Six vessels, with grounds existing there. officers a crew all tola and crew constitute the ex p " "«on, which, under . 8 mQ^ n ex . of Captain Laisen, one o whose perienced wh.ders in the w • SOTIIO years brother, C*pta«n M. Lars? . nd " t hc ago tested out the grounds ..arouna Solander Islands. _ n „ rpn t The largest, vessel, known a.-. theparent ship, or factory, carries » cl .f* ™ el of proximately 150 out ac--13.000 tons register. She is tin tew cording to the latest methods fo. *JeaunG with whales, and is the largest , tory afloat, bring fitted with * tanks for storing the oil alter boilers and with three different sets of briers for dealing with the vast quantises blubber obtained. , A\tent To. give some indication of the a«ent of the operations earned out by the JP it is on Iv necessary to state tha - . occasion she had no fewer than tt.urtj whales ranged alongside. The jw «ei proved under all the trying (Mdttjms e perienced # peci a Uy rei ncrashing through IBs, sh« a«!Uilv! five small, J T-Sl of 9? to 100 to»» »g^ r each, with a complement of 11 mcn aji , capable of a speed varying from 10 to Li knots. In the stormy psrienced in the vicinity of the Great; *» Barrier. these little vessels behaved splendidly. It was no unoommon ■ occur -ence for these small vessels to have several whales to tow in at one time, an once the largest of them, Star 1., had nine, which took over 50 miles to th* Sir James Clark 2:■*. Owing to the stormv weather conditions experienced it was impossible at times for her to travel much faster than one and a-half knots per hour; but despite all, she accomplished her task without any untoward incident. Of the 221 whales captured during the short season, 216 were Of the blue species and the remainder of tue finback type. The lamest. mammal measured 98ft. in length, and the smallest 84ft., the average being in the vicinity ol 91ft. . The largest whale caught weighed IoU tons, and produced 180 barrels of on, which, taken at £6 per barrel, meant a return of nearly £1100, without taking into account any extras. Tbrongh the Ice.

The boats left Hobart on November 30 mad proceeded ■to ;,, Macquajcne Island, , -which was reached seven days later. i"wo days were spent there coaling and provisioning the chasers, and then the journev was resumed. . _ Stormy weather was met with, and big seas were continually breaking across both the ships. _ On December 14 the Sir J. C. Ross entered the ice pack with tha five chasers in tow. For four days she went' crashing through, making a passage for the smaller boats. Then progress was barrt'd, the ship being held fast by an impenetrable barrier. Several attempts were made to crash through the obstacle, but to no purpose, and Vice saws had to be commissioned to cut a' passage. j The ship again got into open water, but seven davs had elapsed. ,v. though many whales had been seen no attempt had been made to capture them, the main object being to get clear of the floating dangers. Lost in a Fog.

Everything went well until December 23, when Star 2 was lost to view owing to fog. For several "days great anxiety was fett for her safety. ; •>n Christmas Eve the e Bay of Whale-, wr.i reached, and further progress was impeded by? the . great % ice barrier. i - i No. tidings of Star 2 having in the meantime been received, Captain Larsen made arrangements to establish a 1 depot to leave ten tons of coal and provisions • on the ice in the hope that if the missing boat did put in an appearance it would not be short of supplies. Within a few hours of the work having been completed, however, 'it was noticed that the ice was'on the move northward, and steps had to be i taken .to recover the stores. Within a short distance of where the depot had been established was the, spot where Captain Scott set up One ' Ton Camp. Eleven miles further south lies his body, and i the bodies of Dr. Wilson and Lieutehant Bowers. / On the morning of December 27 the wanderer returned. She had been caugh'; in the ice and only a miracle had saved her from being crushed to pieces. All hands turned- out to greet their comrades and fresh heart was put into the men to go on with their work. . * "There Bhn Blows."

Thfcy needed it because that night the try of "There she Blows" was heard, "Everyone clambered on the forecastle head," said the narrator, '.'and what a sight , met oar eyes. Two hundred yards away off the port bow was a big blue whale, spiriting and moving along as leisorely as you like. Four put of the five Star boats hastened off to earn the honour of capturing the first but "flukey," as ha wis known to 'us, contemptuously disappeared.... However, on the following day ; another ; monster was sighted a'id Star 11. secured it. It measured 33ft. - long, and- - when boded klown gave 140 barrels of oil. ' . "After that we did' not want- for work as the chasers were out sco«inng the waters in all directions and fanning them it, as fast as we could ileal with them. - Dorine the stay at the whaling grounds it was but natural that some exciting incidents should occur. . One of these as when the parent ship, with o2 wh&Jes ranged alongside, commenced to drag her " anchors in the teeth of a blizzard. •C ; . Owing to the great depth of water and ,he large amount of chain required it; was impossible to check the boat drifting until itLi"- 1 a short distance of the ice mlf v ar ?"' er ) with towering cliffs of sir.i!, s *■>* &rjrsz Cold Hampers Operations. ' on February' iOr^S e S C^m° CCUrrcd dropped to 35 degrees bdoJ?" point. The blubber fro*, r»ss and was almost as hand as j?*" The cold weather continued to haTni>«. reparations and as whales were not 90 r'-TTRrous as they had been it wae d©rived to return northward. Terrible weather was experienced on the journey, but through Captain Larscn's i kill and knowledge of Antarctica the park ice was' missed and the lonely Campbell Islands 'wei-3 reached after a 14 *• days' -journey.v' : ' : The Sir J. C. , Ross - took, on board the iheeherda who were returning to the |MpH»"rf«ad?• after' 12 months' solitary exile, mi also the wool from last sfissoai*,? rJSp.