We have quite a large section on Durban’s whaling industry on this site including the reminiscences of some of the Durban folk who signed up to go whaling in the Antarctic aboard the factory ship Abraham Larsen. The main whaling page is here and there are factory ship memories from Terry Tribe and Rein Pirn.
The latest addition to the saga comes in the form of a picture from Ivar Osberg who was a student at the University of Natal and went on expeditions to the Antarctic in the 1954/55 and 1955/56 whaling seasons. The picture was published in the Natal Mercury on April 1, 1955, and shows Ivar and his cabin mates on the return from his first trip. Included among them are Terry Tribe, mentioned above.
Matt Hale
I was on the Abraham Larsen 56/57 expedition.
Some names that ring a bell are Jose Cotta, Cedric Green, Bob McKenzie and Gerald Williamson. Jose took a lot of pics (I put my camera away and relied on him!!) It would be great if I could get copies of these – in fact any pics of that trip from anybody!
Are you in touch with any of these chaps? Can anyone let me have their contact details?
What nostalgia!!!
What are the names of the guys in the Mercury pic?
Matt
Gerald Buttigieg
Hi Matt,
I clicked on the picture and it expanded large enough to read the names listed. Try it and if you have no luck come back to me and I will list them for you. If those guys were in their 30s then they must all be approaching their 90s now!
Do a search on this website for Whaling as I know there have been some random postings on the whalers and sailors.
Gerald