Whaling vessel

A whaling vessel is a ship built to hunt, catch, or process whales, a trade that split into two hull types in modern industrial whaling. The whale catcher is a fast diesel or steam vessel with a harpoon gun on the bow, used to chase and kill rorquals; the factory ship is a large mother vessel that processes carcasses at sea into oil and meat. The decisive innovation was the stern slipway, patented in 1922 by Petter Sorlle, which let a factory ship haul a 100-ton whale aboard through a ramp. A pelagic expedition ran one factory ship with about ten catchers and a crew near 500, opening Antarctic waters before the moratorium curbed the industry.