Whalers Base Stewart Island New Zealand
by Joan Carroll
Title
Whalers Base Stewart Island New Zealand
Artist
Joan Carroll
Medium
Photograph - Photography And Digital Art
Description
Our trip to Stewart Island New Zealand was marked by rain rain and rain, often accompanied by high wind and even once by hail. Most plans for sea excursions were cancelled and even the ferry crossings between Stewart Island and the “mainland” of New Zealand were cancelled for two days, stranding travelers on both sides of the strait. However, on one day our tour operator thought the weather would cooperate for a trip to a place called Glory Bay. Sadly, we will never know what Glory Bay was like since shortly into the trip, they realized that it would be a very uncomfortable and bone-jarring ride! So we diverted to the former Norwegian Whaling Base known as Kaipipi Shipyard at Price’s Inlet, accessible only by boat. Between 1923 and 1933 the Ross Sea Whaling Company of Sandefjord, Norway made nine expeditions to Antarctica while using this base. The purpose of the facility was to repair the chasers through the winter months while the factory ship(s) returned to Europe with the oil taken in the Ross Sea during ‘the season’ from November to February. But following a glut in the whale-oil market in 1932, whaling activity shifted away from the Ross Sea and the base was closed. Relics still to be seen at the base include the old rusty workshop boiler and the foundations of the slipway and parts of the old roller-path seen here. Kaipipi Shipyard is the first 20th century marine site to be granted specific legal protection. Officials in New Zealand are quick to note however that preserving the site did not mean condoning the slaughter of whales. The end of the story: the boat ride back to home base was nearly as bone-jarring as the ride out, and a little scary if you let your imagination run a little too wild! I’m sure we were safe though!
FEATURED PHOTO, Full Frame Cameras group, 12/30/18
Joan carroll, archeological, whalers, Paterson, bay, inlet, boiler, archeology, rusty
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Uploaded
December 30th, 2018
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Viewed 2,961 Times - Last Visitor from New York, NY on 04/25/2024 at 2:38 PM
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