Whalers' Base 90th Anniversary - part 1

The 90th anniversary of the Whalers' Base/Kaipipi Shipyard in Paterson Inlet took place at the beginning of April 2014 and was attended by around 200 people. The celebrations included displays, songs and dances by the Halfmoon Bay schoolchildren, a boat trip to Millers Beach and the Whalers' Base, dinners, Church services and open houses of the Norwegian houses that were relocated to Oban after the base closed down. I only went on the boat trip so will show you photos from that as well as some history to put it all in context.

The Norwegian link with Stewart Island started late 1923 after a successful application by the Rosshavet Company for a whaling licence in the Ross Sea area. To meet inspection and compliance requirements the boats over-wintered here, initially at Little Glory Cove and Bravo Island, before a more permanent repair base was started in 1927 at Price's Inlet and called Kaipipi Shipyard. The base was only fully functional in the winters of 1927 to 1931; there was no whaling in the 1931-32 summer and the fleet did not return to New Zealand in 1933. The base was dismantled and mostly cleared by August 1939.


Paterson Inlet showing the Kaipipi Shipyard/Whalers' Base



An excellent 90th Anniversary Souvenir book has been written by Jim Watt - 60 pages packed with old photos, information on the men that worked at the base, the boats that called in and the history behind the base. I'll seek permission to put some of his photos up on my blog as it's great to compare the old vs present day artefacts that can be seen at the base.



The L-shaped workshop foundations - 108' x 30' (east end) 50' (west end)



Workshop artefacts - the large concrete obelisk is the percussion drop
hammer stand

DOC display panel showing the workshop at bottom

Whalers' Base slipway. The old workshop boiler was abandoned beside
the slipway after a failed attempt to take it to Bluff in 1940

The boiler (left) and the beach

Ship propellers lying on the beach

The base of the winch house; the person in purple is standing
on the pulley base at the head of the slipway

The steps and foundations to the bunk house

The bunkhouse site. The bunkhouse was dismantled and reassembled
in Oban where it was used as the Presbyterian Church Hall until
2010 when it was sold and is now a private home

Rusting accumulator springs from the whaling boats

Two snekke (motorised launch), Winnie (left) and the white one (?Arvid)
moored by the boiler

Mussels have found a home on the rusting artefacts

DOC info panel for the manager's house

The front steps and foundations of the manager's house. This was a 6-room
house made from interlocking Norwegian spruce and assembled on site
in 1927. It was dismantled and re-assembled in Oban in 1942 and
is still in use today.

The tin hut foundation

A video with commentary by Jim Watt has been made for the occasion which has some delightful tales - I'll bring you some in a later blog.