Crippled Whale-chaser at Port Chalmers

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26713, 6 March 1948, Page 8

Crippled Whale-chaser at Port Chalmers

DRAMA OF ANGRY SEAS After an epic voyage of eight days from the Ross Sea, the whaling corvette Terje 11, with the crippled whalechaser Ter.je 3 in tow, reached the haven of the Otago Harbour shortly after daybreak yesterday and berthed at Port Chalmers later in the morning. While manoeuvring among the floes on February 26, the Terje 3 was struck heavily abaft by a huge piece of pack ice which tore off her propeller and damaged her steering gear. The Terje 11 took her in tow immediately and set out for Port Chalmers. Two days later, the chaser Terje 4 suffered similar damage among the ice. She was taken in tow by the corvette Terje 10 and they are expected at Port Chalmers this afternoon. Both, the damaged chasers are to go into the Port Chalmers dock for repairs, but the extent of their damage will not be known until they are docked. After transferring most' of her fuel to the Terje 3, the corvette Terje 11 left last night for Wellington to bunker. She will then return immediately to the other ships of the expedition in the Ross Sea.

Although the temperature was below zero, the weather was fine when the 1200-ton Terje 11 (a converted Norwegian naval corvette) set out with the 300-ton chaser Terje 3 in tow on the voyage of more than 1300 miles to Port Chalmers. Only a few days passed, however, before the weather deteriorated. The two little ships were soon caught in a. raging gale and the sea became turbulent. For two days, mountainous waves lashed the vessels unmercifully but, by a miracle and superb seamanship, the cable between the ships did not part. Undaunted by the angry seas,' the gallant corvette continued on her mission with the helpless chaser in tow. So fierce were the elements that the speed of the two ships was reduced to one knot, and they proceeded at this pace for the two whole days. Had Little Sleep Captain J. Sverd was at the wheel of. the corvette and Captain Kurt Baglo on the bridge of the chaser. They and their officers and men had little sleep during those two eventful days. Time and again each ship disappeared from the view of the other, and continuously they were smothered by the overwhelming seas, but the order remained full steam ahead in the teeth of the howling gale. The strict attention to duty by all in both little ships brought its own reward when the storm abated and the shelter of the Otago Harbour was eventually reached yesterday morning. Another drama had been written of the angry Antarctic seas. For the men of both ships, this was their first sight of land for four months. Most of them are Norwegians with almost a lifetime experience of whaling in the Antarctic. Their pay is principally on the bonus system according to their catch and, consequently, all are anxious to return to the whaling grounds as soon as possible. A Large Expedition

The four ships coming to New Zealand are units of one of the three British whaling expeditions at present in the Antarctic. This particular project, operated by British Whalers, Ltd., of London, is one of the largest in the area. It comprises the mother ship, which is the factory vessel Balaena, of 19,000 tons, and the refrigerated meat ship Ketos (of about 4000 tons), the auxiliary tanker Thule (a former German cable ship of about 7000 tons); nine whale-chasers and the two corvettes. The expedition left Capetown on November 3 and will return north at the end of the season during April. There are about 16 expeditions at present engaged in whaling in the Antarctic. They comprise three British, two Japanese, one Russian, one Dutch, one South African, and about eight Norwegian expeditions. Because of the scarcity of whales in the western waters of the Antarctic, most of the expeditions came east to operate in the Ross Sea and its vicinity. Catches are reported to be particularly satisfactory.