Whaling
catcher boat.
The boats used as whale catchers were small and
quite powerful for the time. They could be as small as 40 tonnes
though were typically 250 tonnes in the 1920's and early 1930's rising to
300-350 tonnes, some super catchers were built in the latter
days of commercial whaling that were over 900 tonnes.
The "gunners bridge" can be made out
on this boat, this is a walkway that leads from the wheelhouse to
the gun platform in the bow of the boat where the gun can be seen
protected by a tarpaulin here. This addition to the catcher boats
meant that the gunner could easily get to the harpoon gun quickly
and easily when a whale was sighted.
This is a small pre-war German catcher boat of
about 350 tonnes en route to Antarctica. The crews of the
catcher boats were the best paid of all the members of a whaling
expedition and they endured the absolute worst living conditions.
They had to travel to Antarctica and back again in their boats
which had minimal comforts and were frequently cold and damp for
weeks or months on end. The only time often that the crew could
change out of their oilskins was when they retired to their bunks
which they did in shifts so as to keep a crew on watch at all
times.
The boats were so small and so exposed that only
a fairly gentle wind and "low sea" would cause the sea
to wash across the deck meaning that it was not possible to stay
out on deck often or for long. The boats had a cook and his job
was often difficult at best and sometimes impossible in heavy
seas.
They were designed for the catching of
whales and for that job only, all available space (of which there
was little enough anyway) was designed to help in the
catching of whales. With such a small amount of the boat out of
the water it was almost constantly being washed over so requiring
that the hatches be battened down and all doors and scuttles kept
closed. The result of this was that the atmosphere was almost
continually damp and stuffy. Wet clothes hung up in the forlorn
hope that they would dry added to the damp and gave a smell of
mould to the mix.
Great care had to be
taken at almost all times moving around the boat, particularly in
the engine room and a hand-hold maintained wherever possible. As a
whaler from Grytviken (South Georgia) said of a particular trip
"We only had a stoker killed", the stoker referred to
was a young man who was flung into the engine as the boat lurched
ground to pieces. He lies along with many others in the churchyard
in Grytviken.
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