NORWEGIAN BAY BARGES 1950

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Description

Barges for Whaling Station

Construction

Steel/Iron

Size

Unknown

Built

Unknown

Owner

Norwegian Bay Whaling Co

Sunk

1950’s

Location

100m off-shore from Whaling Station

Latitude/Longitude

(-22.592436, 113.670572)

Sinking

Possibly after Whaling Station abandoned in 1956

Underwater

There are two identical barges about 30m apart in 3m of water. Good tri tren 200snorkel/diving with abundance of fish-life around the barges.

Gallery

Norwegians based their activities in WA’s North-West between1913-1916 catching more than 4,000 whales. From 1925-1929 the Norwegian Bay Whaling Company operated profitably from Point Cloates; and from 1936 foreign whalers operated off this coast killing 7,000 whales in 3 years.
by 1948 a world shortage of fats caused the price of whale oil to rise to six times the prewar price., whaling became a highly lucrative industry, with three companies operating at Albany, Point Cloates and Carnarvon. By 1955 the Western Australian stations accounted for 1,126 whales, or about 60 % of the Australian total

Location