Whaler Strikes Rock

Evening Star, Issue 19797, 22 February 1928, Page 4

Whaler Strikes Rock

C. A. Larsen Practically a Doomed Ship

Helpless in Paterson Inlet

Best Part of Valuable Cargo Lost

Chasers to the Rescue

[From Our Own Repoetbh.]

HALFMOON BAY, February 22.

Striking Faro Rock at the entrance to Paterson’s Inlet last evening, the huge 17,000-ton whaling ship C. A. Larsen ripped her plates from bow to midship cross bunkers, and now lies practically a doomed ship on a rock bottom in about nine fathoms of water. The ship appears to be past saving.

By 9 a.m. to-day hundreds of thousands of pounds' worth of whale oil had escaped through the burst tanks into the inlet. It is a tragic end to the most successful whaling season yet experienced in five years’ operations in Ross Sea.

. The C. A. Larsen left Stewart Island on November 15 for the Antarctic, and left there only a week ago on her return to the base at Price's Bay, Paterson’s Inlet, She was a full ship, carrying 78,000 proximately half a million sterling.

barrels of whale oil, valued at ap

Fine weather was experienced ou the passage up from Boss Sea, and the gigantic winder arrived oil Paterson’s Inlet at 5.15 p.m. yesterday. The weather was then dull. The tide was ebbing rapidly from the inlet, and a strong westerly was blowing. Steaming at half-speed, about four to five knots an hour, the G. A. Larsen was headed into the inlet between the neck on the eastern shore and Faro Rock, which is about 40ft out of the sea.

ii night of anxiety lor the captain and his officers, particularly as they could make no successful efforts to prevent the tragic loss of the greater part of the season’s catch.

Daybreak this morning revealed tho Larsen as a pitiful picture. Deep in the water, with a list to starboard, she appeared a doomed ship. Those aboard stated that the vessel was ripped open for the greater part qf her starboard side as far as No. 2 bold, and the oil was escaping rapidly from all the tanks on the starboard side. At S a.ui. the alleyways of the ’tween decks were covered with dm of thick oil, through which investigators had to wade. Oil was forcing its way through the covers of the tanks, and the for’ard hold was almost full of water and the only salvage machinery working was a 7 h.p, pump, which was drawing 1,000 gallons per hour. Yet the pump was making no effect on the quantity of the water aft of the bridge on the starboard side. All tho tanks and bulkheads were holding, and it was hoped then that the oil stored aft would be saved. This is doubtful, for if the inrusbing sea pressure forces its way aft tho tanks will hurst.

On her previous passage in and out ni the inlet tho ship has taken a course further over towards Anglem Point, but on this occasion her course was closer to Faro Rock. In fact, Stewart Islanders who were on the accompanying Star chasers and the mother ship considered that the vessel was steaming too dose to tho island out from which runs a rugged reef. It was impossible to ascertain what really happened from lior movements, but ‘it could be seen from the hills above Halfmoon Bay that the whaling ship was out of control. Her steering gear had been -working badly when on the Antarctic expedition, so it was reported, and it is believed that the gear failed as she was within four miles of the base. The Larsen was caught by an under-estimated tide and a freshening westerly and swung round over to Faro Rock.

So far the bulkheads throughout the ship have held. Both the engine room and tho stokehold furthest aft are perfectly dry, but there is a considerable volume of water in No. 2 hold aft. This hold is usually used for the storage of oil fuel for the Larsen, but now carries a large quantity of coal for the chasers. Consequent on the ship’s list to starboard tho port side is dry. The weather is overcast, and a light wind is coming from due east. Tho vessel is lying in smooth water, but should the sea come up rough she will bo rapidly battered. As the Sir J. C. Ross is fully loaded there is little possibility of saving tho valuable cargo still intact.

There was deafening rasping thunder as the starboard bow hit the reef, covered by water, and as the big ship drifted along the rocks her plates from bow to midship cross the bunkers were ripped wide open. A great inrush of water sot in and the vessel rapidly settled down at tho bow. Her plight was serious.

The chasers Stars, 5,7, and 8 and the Karrkatta and the Pagodroma moved about her frantically, and four screeching blasts of distress were sounded on the Larsen’s whistles. The signal was hoard at tho base up the inlet at Price’s Bay and boilers were quickly fired on tho five chasers lying there alongside the second mother ship, Sir Janies Clark lloss, which had made an uneventful entry into the inlet only that morning, after an eleven days’ trip from Ross Sea. The Larsen lay idly by tho rock till all tho chasers, a total of ten, arrived, but she was rapidly filling and listing slowly to starboard. Then the ill-fated ship moved off tho reef under her own power. However, she was out of control, and the star boats waited till she had drifted completely round and had again touched bottom beforet they took her in tow. Three chasers went forward, two amidships and two astern. The Larsen was sinking slowly, and it was a pathetic sight as darkness came over to see the huge ship, which had weathered tempestuous gales. _ moun-tain-high seas, and the crushing icepacks of the Antarctic, dropping into the limpid mill-pond waters of the sheltered inlet while eight powerful chasers moved her ever so slowly towards more shallow water to beach her. Progress was painfully slow, and it was not till 3 a.ra, that the Larsen’s anchors were dropped in 48ft of water between Ulva and Rabbit Island. Before the crash the Larsen was drawing between 34 and 35ft of water, but ten hours later she was drawing 52ft forward and 44ft aft. Her bow was lying deep in the water, but as the plate' covering chute on which tho whalers aro drawn up to blubber ships when brought in by the chasers, was tightly locked forward, the decks escaped flooding. All night long .the chasers noisily worked about the mother ship, but they had no hope of making her safe. During the night one star boat was despatched full speed for Bluff, tlm plan being to bring the salvage tug Southland to the scene. Lying on the hard bottom in the channel between Ulva and Rabbit islands, the Larsen was safe from sinking, but there was 48ft of water in the for’ard stokehold, and the ship was lying low down, with waves lapping as high as tho hawser chutes. ft was quickly seen that the valuable oil cargo in all the tanks on the starboard side was lost. A tremendous volume of water which surged into the bowels of the ship hurst the tanks, and the inlet about the broken ship was covered with creamy oil. Nothing could be done to pump out the water, as tho pump room was flooded. It was

The course taken by the whaler has been long considered dangerous by local skippers. The entrance to P.aterson’s Inlet, inside where the water is from six to twenty fathoms deep, is one and a-half miles across, and Faro Rock lies almost in the centre, thus making two courses for vessels entering the inlet. To the south-east of the rock across to Bench Island thirty-three fathoms can be sounded, but between Faro Rock and Anglem Point the depth varies from five to ten fathoms. This channel is marked by shelving beaches and deep channels close to Faro Rock, and then makes a difficult bend before reaching the inlet proper. Tho latter course was the one taken by the Larsen, when the steering gear jammed. It is reported that the vessel commenced to swing, and when Captain Neilscn tried to bring the ship hack on her course the steering gear failed. ' The C. A. Larsen was originally an American oil tanker, and was converted into an up-to-date whaling ship by the Norwegian company holding the rights for the Ross Sea dependency granted by the New Zealand Government. Yesterday was the termination of her second expedition to the Antarctic. She is commanded by Captain A. Neilsen, who took charge of the expedition when Captain Larsen, the pioneer of the Antarctic whaler, died on the Sir J. C. Ross in the frozen south throe seasons ago From Stewart Island tho_ Larsen was bound for New York to discharge her half-million’s worth of oil, and was then to load petroleum oil for Europe, later going on to Sandjtord, Norway, for refitting. At 10.30 there was no alteration m the Larsen’s position, and it seems that only the greatest stroke of fortune will ever sec her at spa again. Her resting place in the inlet was reached just in time, as the vessel was sinking slowly in the deep-water end. The Larsen carried a crew of about 230, nearly twenty being New Zealanders, who wore to be paid oil to-day. Both the ship and the cargo arc covered by insurance, but the amount is not ascertainable. Many arc, confident that the vessel will be safely refloated when lightened, and already members of the Otago and Auckland Harbor Boards visiting the island have communicated with their boards urging representations for the docking of the vessel It is said that the tug Southland is not fitted with pump connections, and possibly the tug Dunedin will be engaged for salvage work.