THE DAMAGED WHALER.

Otago Witness, Issue 3860, 6 March 1928, Page 27

THE DAMAGED WHALER.

DIVERS SANGUINE OF SUCCESS.

INVERCARGILL, February 27.

Divers are sanguine of success in salving the C. A. Larsen. When the patching has been completed she will proceed to Port Chalmers for repairs, and instead of returning to Norway will be recommissioned in New Zealand for next year’s expedition. Mr Rasmussen, son of one of the owners of the company, is on board the 0. A. Larsen, and will remain at the base at Price’s Bay. He stated that he was learning the whaling business before returning to Norway next year to enter his father’s office. He was signed on the ship’s articles for the trip as an ordinary seaman. He is a graduate of the Norwegian University. “It is a great experience,” he si ' “ but it is certainly hard work. Slid, to run the business one must see it from the point of view of those who work there. We are very thorough in Norway. We learn everything we can.”

DOCK TO BE LENGTHENED. A special meeting of the Otago Harbour Board was held on Monday week, when it was decided, in view of the possible docking of the C. A. Larsen at Port Chalmers, to execute preliminary i.ork in order to lengthen the dock by 25ft so as to enable the vessel to be docked. PREPARING FOR DOCKING. INVERCARGILL, February 28. Work on the C. A. Larsen is progressing rapidly, the timber ordered having been shaped to cover the holes in her sides. The temporary plates will be held on by timber, and it is expected that with <Jie aid of her pumps she can reach Port Chalmers. It is expected that she will be able to proceed north in about three weeks’ time. A sailor on board states that but for the presence of mind of the captain when the vessel ran ashore last week the hull would have been torn right out, and she would have sunk immediately. Captain Neilsen put the engines hard astern, and she came off to starboard, swinging clear o the rocks as her head answered the helm. It is understood that the captain wished to lie out all night instead of coming up the inlet against the slackening water, but was advised by one of the owners who was on board to go straight up to the base at Price’s Bay. Those on board the C. A. Larsen state that since the disaster the' Star chasers have taken soundings all round the entrance of the inlet and up to where the vessel now lies, and have found that the depths as marked on the charts are wrong, in some cases being as much as four fathoms out. The nearest to being correct was one marked 14 fathoms on the chart, which was found to be 13 when sounded.

The Sir James Clark Ros§ sailed for Norway via Panama this morning, and will call at New York, where the greatest portion of her cargo will be discharged. A NAUTICAL INQUIRY. INVERCARGILL. February 29. A nautical inquiry was held at Half Moon Bay to-day into the circumstances surrounding the disaster to the whaler C. A. Larsen. The Norwegian vice-consul conducted the proceedings, and all connected with the accident were crossexamined. The press representatives were refused admission, the inquiry being solely in the interests of the Norwegian Government. The evidence taken will be sent to Norway. OFFER TO REFLOAT VESSEL. Mr R. C. Miller, principal of the firm of Messrs R. C Miller and Co., divers and ship contractors at Port Chalmers, has renewed his offer to refloat the C. A Larsen in three weeks’ time. In response to inquiries Mr Miller gave a Daily Times reporter several interesting details of the position in regard to the recent sinking and the contemplated refloating of the whaler in Paterson’s Inlet. Proceeding to Paterson’s Inlet soon after the vessel had pierced her hull plating against the rocks at the entrance of the inlet, Mr Miller was engaged to inspect the vessel below the waterline and report on the nature and extent of the damage done. Mr Miller, who has been closely associated with the salvaging of ships and cargoes on the New Zealand coast, was accompanied by Diver Andrew's, of the Otago Harbour Board’s staff. The vessel had been damaged in the starboard side, and she then had a slight list to port, her bows resting on the sandy bottom and her stern being afloat, swaying slightly at times to the motion of the tide. The examination disclosed a series of indentations extending along the starboard side for a distance of nearly 300 ft, where the hull plating had been forced into violent contact with the abutting rocks which menace the free navigation of the entrance to the inlet. The reassuring feature of the diver’s report was that hull parts 'djacent to the engine room, stokehold, and bunkers were undamaged, and that the sternpost, rudder, and propeller were intact.

The C. A. Larsen, which has a length of 527 ft, between perpendiculars, underwent considerable structural alterations when she was converted from an oil-tanker to a carrier of whale oil. Near the bows a “ coffer dam ” extends across the ship from the keel to the deck, rendering the buoyancy of the ship as a whole immune from the effect of any leakage that might

be caused by the vessel striking the ice. That coffer dam consists of two parallel steel bulkheads fitted a few feet apart from each other. A similar protective coffer dam is fitted near the stern of the whaler. Abaft the latter coffer dam is the space occupied by the propelling machinery, boilers, and bunkers, the ship’s funnel indicating on deck the close proximity of these to the stern. Between those two widely-separated coffer dams is the large cargo-carrying space, wholly occupied by whale oil tanks, numbered consecutively from No. 1 upwards. When Mr Miller had completed his examination of the hull below the waterline he reported the result of his observations to Captain Neilsen, the report being accompanid by a scale-plan of the ship, showing exactly where the indentation, holes, and other damage were located. The nature of that report may be gathered from the following clauses : — “ On Friday morning we went down and examined the damage to the deep tank immediately forward of the coffer dam near the bows. The vessel has evidently struck first at this tank, the impact hav ing made an indentation measuring 10ft fore and aft, and Bft high. The plating at this point is set in approximately 2ft from the origial alignment, and is holed, the fracture extending right down from the upper and after part of the indent. The coffer dam bulkhead frames are set in slightly, and the plating between is fractured, showing a hole about 3ft by 2ft. The indentation is the whole width of the coffer dam, fore and aft, and extends up and down about the same distance. There are two smaller holes lower down and just about the round of the bow.” The report then proceeded to show in detail the damage further aft on the starboard side, the tanks referred to being those which contain the whale oil. “ No. 12 tank is damaged along this plate, adjoining the turn of the bilge, and is ripped and noled, the frames being set in. No. 11 tan'k is similarly damaged, but we are unable to say if the damage extends to the keel, as we could not get under th e bottom, the vessel jesting on the ground at this point. No. 10 tank: The hull is damaged here also, being ripped and set up (underneath the round of the bilge) The tank is also holed, two plates in from the bilge, where we succeeded in making an examination by pushing one diver underneath at a time, there being a clearance of only about 18in. No. 9 tank is set up and ripped on the plate next to the bilge. The pump room plates next to the bilge are set up, burst in, and ripped for th e whole length The bilge keel is ripped off from here right aft, and at one place ts rolled and projecting outwards and downwards, and would require to be cut off before the vessel was

docked.” The report continued to detail the damage to tanks Nos. 8, 7, z 6,5, 4,3, 2, and 1 on the starboard side At the after end of the ship the bottom was not damaged at the machinery and boiler department. neither did a close examination disclose any damage to the stern part, rudder, or propeller. Owing to a list and consequent lack of space, the divers were unable on the port side of the vessel to examine the hull below the curve of the bilge. The report concluded with a summing up from which the divers concluded that provided adequate co-operation were available on deck temporary repairs of a satisfactory kind could be carried out in three weeks, if the weather continued to be as favourable as when the report was compiled. The report was submitted to Captain Neilsen and representatives of the owners, the insurance companies, and other interests. After consi fetation, they concluded that they could, by employing several divers, carry our the repairs without expert supervision. Therefore Mr Miller returned to Port Chalmers, where he has since telegraphed a further offer to refloat the vessel in three weeks’ time, and in such a manner as to stand the passage to Port Chalmers, even if rough weather was experienced on the trip. Judging from his personal observation from outside the holes in the hull, Mr Miller considers that not more than 15

per cent, of the whale oil has been lost.

The pumping done by the tugs had been in the deep tank in order to reduce the sea jiressure on the internal bulkhoading. As soon as the patches were on the Dunedin would soon remove the water from inside the tank. HARBOUR BOARD ACTIVITIES. At the meeting of the Harbour Board on Friday the activities of the board in regard to docking the C. A. Larsen at Port Chalmers were discussed in committee. The action of the secretary in drawing up an agreement with the C. A. Larsen agents was approved,, and also the action of Mr Wilkie in carying out extension work at the Otago Dock. The Secretary reported that the tug Dunedin was not now required at the C.A. Larsen, and she had returned to Dunedin. One of the pumps of the tug had been removed to the C. A. Larsen, and was pumping sufficient water from her in the meantime.

Owing to Captain Plunkett, of Auckland, being unable to represent Lloyd’s at the C. A. Larsen, Captain Coll M’Donald left for Stewart Island on Friday morning in connection with the salvaging operations.