THE WHALING INDUSTRY 



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modern apparatus is so expensive that it is only economically feasible for large 

 operations with heavy continuous production. 



The Factory Ship 



Today the ultimate in whale-processing equipment, method, and technique is 

 the factory ship. This floating factory may be 600 feet and 30,000 tons gross. 

 It can provide hving quarters and 24-hour work space for 450 men, and carry 

 sufficient apparatus to handle 50 tons of raw material, or one ordinary whale, 



iCourtesy U. S. Coast Guard) 

 Fig. 33-6. Finback whales on flensing deck of factory ship in the Antarctic. 



per hour. The whale is hauled aboard through a ramp in the stern, and flensed 

 and dismembered on the main deck, aft and fore respectively. Below deck are 

 the batteries of rotary pressure digesters for the blubber and bone, and the many 

 centrifuges and other equipment for complete utilization of the whale, all inter- 

 laced and connected by miles of pipe and powered by steam and electricity. Huge 

 vacuum evaporators supply fresh water to the boilers. 



Such a mammoth installation requires from 6 to 8 catcher boats to supply 

 whales, and also tankers to remove whale oil and bring fuel, and transport ships 

 to take ofiF meat, meat meal, bone meal, etc. Corvettes for special tow boats make 

 up the fleet. Storage space on the floater is at a premium, and is given over largely 

 to apparatus and oil tanks. About 8 ships have been built in European shipyards 

 since World War II (Norwegian Whaling Gazette, 1946, 1947, and 1948). 



