LARGE NEW WHALER FOR ROSS SEA FLEET.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 19197, 10 October 1930, Page 2

LARGE NEW WHALER FOR ROSS SEA FLEET.

MOTOR SHIP MAKES CALL AT WELLINGTON. (Special to the “ Star.”) WELLINGTON, October 10. The new giant whaling' factory ship Kosmos, which called at W ellington last year on her maiden voyage to the Ross Sea whaling ground, and which left last month to commence this season's operations, has been followed by another newly-constructed whaler, the Sir James Clark Ross, which arrived here yesterday afternoon. She will remain at Wellington no longer than is necessary to load stores, mainly fresh meat and vegetables, fresh water, and 100 tons of coal, which she is taking down to the Mawson Antarctic expedition. The Sir James Clark Ross represents an innovation in whaling ship construction, since she is propelled by Diesel oil engines. She is in many respects more similar to an oil tanker than to the generally-conceived idea of a whaling factory, having been built with the intention that her usefulness should not end when, if ever, largescale whaling ceases to be a commercial proposition. Her capacious tanks, which have a carrying capacity of over ,20,000 tons, if not required to carry whale oil, could be used for the transportation of bulk petroleum products or any other liqtiid cargo. Her carrying capacity makes her the largest tanker afloat —she can carry about 7000 tons more than the electric tanker Brunswick. The ship, as she arrived to-day, may be regarded as a tanker, although the fuel oil carried in her tanks is for her own consumption. When she arrives back from the Ross Sea, providing all goes well, she will be purely a whaling ship. A gradual conversion will take place, the tanks, as they are emptied of fuel, being cleaned and then filled with whale oil. At the close of the season the crews will leave the chasers and return home with the product of of their labours in the parent ship. Built on the Tees. Like the Kosmos, the Sir James Clark Ross is British-built. She was launched on April 30 from the Haver ton Hill-on-Tees yards of the Furness Shipbuilding Co., for the Rosshavet Whaling Co., Sandefjord, Norway, having been built under the supervision of Messrs Arnesen, Christensen and Smith, Newcastle-on-Tyne. She was engined by Messrs Burmeister and Wain, Copenhagen. Her principal dimensions are: Length, 550 ft; breadth, 74ft 3iin; depth, 48ft 9in; loaded draught, 28ft. Her total machinery has an indicated horse-power of 4600, and gives her a loaded speed of 11 knots. Her fuel bunkers are constructed to carry 1750 tons. The Kosmos is 20ft longer than the Sir James Clark Ross, 3ft wider, and 2ft 3in deeper.. Eight thousand tons of steel, all produced in the neighbourhood of the shipyards, were used in the construction of her hull. The slipway in the stern, through which the whales are hauled by special winches on to the spacious deck for the flensing work, is capable of taking on board loads of 100 tons.