Strathness

The following information was received from Geir Rosset of Oslo, whose grandfather served as a carpenter on the whaling ship Svend Foyn I on a voyage to the South Atlantic in 1923/24:

It was a whaling factory before the invention of the slipway (the first factory ship to feature a slipway was the "Lancing" from Larvik in 1925/26). So in the case of the season my grandfather went whaling (he only went out that one time because he could not stand the smell and the blood) they used barges by the side of the ship and flensed the whales in the water. Cranes were used to hoist the pieces onto the deck of the factory ship for further processing. This method required the ship to be in calm waters (for example South Shetland and surrounding areas or in the pack ice in the Ross sea). The method was tested in open water without much luck. It was, even in calmer waters, a dangerous undertaking, and it did happen that large pieces of whale fell from the cranes and overturned barges and pulled men under. Six whales per day was the limit using this method. My grandfather's one fond memory of the trip to the South Atlantic was South Georgia, where they stopped for supplies at least once. Being a Norwegian it must have brought back memories of home seeing the mountains and streams and fjords. He was away from home for more than 7 months. The conditions on board were pretty basic. 10 men shared a cabin. Each man had a ship trunk with their personal belongings, these were also the only chairs available. The outboard valve for the toilets was leaky, so in high seas water would shoot out of the toilet along with anything you might have deposited, thus making a trip to the toilet in bad weather a scary undertaking.