ROSS SEA WHALERS

Taranaki Daily News, 29 November 1926, Page 13

ROSS SEA WHALERS

JOURNEY TO ANTARCTIC. C. A. LARSEN SETS OUT. Invercargill, Tuesday. From an early hour this morning the lonely bays in Paterson’s Inlet at Stewart Island were noisy with the activities of the Ross Sea whaling fleet preparing for its voyage into the Antarctic. Five whale-chasers cruised slowly up and down, waiting for the huge mother ship, C. A. Larsen, to leave her anchorage. At eight o’clock, to the accompaniment of much clanking and rattling, the anchors were raised and the vessel steamed in a wide circle towards the open channel, led by whale-chaser Star VIII., which was navigated for the time being by Captain Hooper, Government nautical advia” - . The whaler made her way safely past the numerous islands scattered about this part of the coast, and .with three farewell blasts of her whistle, stood away to the eastward. In abov > five and a half days she will have reached the drift-ice which travels away from the icy polar cap in summer time and which is a serious bar to progress. Captain Neilsen, who is in charge of the fleet, hopes to get through the ice in about 10 or 12 days. Once the Ross Sea is reached, the C. A. Larsen will anchor in water between 200 and 300 fathoms in depth and will transform herself into a vast and complicated ren-dering-down factory. Besides being the largest whaler afloat, the C. A. Larsen is also th® largest vessel now flying the Norwegian flag. The entire Ross Sea fleet, consisting of the C. A. Larsen, Sir James Clark Ross, 10 Star chasers and the Pagodroma and Karrakatta, chartered vessels, is the biggest and most costly enterprise of its kind that has ever left the shores of the Baltic.