ROSS SEA WHALERS

Dominion, Volume 20, Issue 51, 24 November 1926, Page 6

ROSS SEA WHALERS

FLEET SAILS FOR ANTARCTIC

EY Telegraph.—Prins Association

Invercargill, November 23.

From an early hour this morning Lonely Bay, in Paterson’s Inlet, al ■Stewart Island, was noisy with the acof the Ross Sea whaling fleet .preparing for its voyage into the Antarctic. Five whale chasers cruised slow- , Iv up and down, waiting for the huge fmother ship, C. A. Larsen, to leave her ' anchorage. At 8 o'clock, to the acconiz •paniinent of much clanking and rattling, rthe anchors were weighed an I the yes- ‘ sei steamed slowly in ' a wide circle towards the open channel, led by the ■ whale chaser Star 8, which was navii gated for the time being by Captain j Hooper, the Government nautical adiviser. The whaler made her way safely ipast the numerous islands scattered ’about this part of the coast, and, with 1 three farewell blasts of her whistle, j stood away to, eastward. ‘ In about five and a half days she will 'have reached the drift ice, which trayi els away from the icy Polar cap in , summer time, and which is a serious I bar to progress. Captain Nilsen, who is lin charge of the fleet, hopes to get- ’ through the ice in about ten or twelve ‘ days. Once the Ross Sea is reached the C. A. Larsen will anchor in waler .between 200 and 300 fathoms in depth, and will transform herself into a vast and. complicated rendering down fac-tf.-tory. Besides being the biggest whaler £ afloat, the C. A. Larsen is _ also the /largest vessel now flying the Norwegian /flag. There are twelve chasers aud two if mother ships.