Capitalismo, mecanicas y operaciones balleneras de la factoría flotante Tioga en el Pacífico Suroriental (1911-1913)

Abstract

Modern whaling, originating in northern Norway, will spread throughout the world's oceans in the 20th century, especially after World War II. Whaling mechanics has two well-defined stages: the pursuit and death of cetaceans and the processing of their carcasses both in land stations and in factory ships or floating factories. In this work we are interested in showing the participation of one of the first factory ships that sailed under the Chilean flag in this whaling mechanic. It is the TIOGA, a ship built in Copenhagen in 1890, and acquired in 1910 to be used as a floating factory, after being converted into the Framnæs shipyards (Sandefjord, Norway) by a Norwegian-owned whaling company that operated from Corral, Chile. The TIOGA was involved in whaling operations for less than two years, from its arrival in Chile, in March 1911, until the moment of its shipwreck in Antarctic waters, in February 1913. This work seeks to document the participation of the ship in these operations, integrating in the process all the necessary context information to appreciate it in all its magnitude and relevance. The factory ship represents the extension of a whaling business limited by the need to quickly process the captured cetaceans and thus obtain a better-quality oil. However, the risk of operating a floating factory, far from home, was quite great, especially in the first decade (1904-1914) since the conversion of the ADMIRALEN, the dominant design of the initial factory ships.

Keywords

• whaling
• whaling mechanics & operations
• floating factory
• Southeast Pacific
• Valdivia-Corral