VIKINGEN (I)

1929 Bygget som flytende hvalkokeri VIKINGEN ved Swan, Hunter & Wigham Richardson Ltd. Wallsend on Tyne. (En måned etter at Fl/k KOSMOS ble levert.) for rederiet The Viking Whaling Co., Ltd. (S. Cartwright, Newcastle. disponent Johan Rasmussen & Co. Sandefjord,), London. Sjøsatt 06/07 med Mrs Lady Allardyce, konen til Sir William Lamond Allardyce, tidligere guvernør for Newfoundland og direktør for Viking Whaling Co., Ltd., London som gudmor. Overlevert 31/08 1929. (Levert en måned etter at Anders Jahre fikk sin KOSMOS)
Kokeriet var konstruert og bygget under kontroll av firma Arnesen, Christensen and Smith Ltd., i Newcastle og Oslo.
Kokeriet ble registrert under engelsk flagg (Newcastle).
Utstyrt med en nykonstruert opphivingsvinsj som var direkte koblet og kunne dra 40-tonn. Vinsjen var konstruert av firma Clarke, Chapman & Co. Ltd. Samme firma som bygde KOSMOS.
I prinsipp konstruert som et konvensjonelt tankskip, med dekk for en hvaloljefabrikk over og flenseplan på topp.
VIKINGEN var det første spesialbygde kokeri for et britisk registrert selskap og fikk samtidig 5 nye hvalbåter fra Smith's Dock til en pris av NOK 1.860.000.
Totalt kostet ekspedisjonen NOK 8.440.000.
Ankom Sandefjord 03/09 for utsrustning til kommende sesong og ta om bord mannskap for sesongen. Avgikk Sandefjord 07/09.
Går sin første tur til Sydishavet denne høsten med de nybygde hvalbåtene VIKINGEN I, VIKINGEN II, VIKINGEN III, VIKINGEN IV og VIKINGEN V.
1930 Ankom Sandefjord 23/04. Forlot Sandefjord 26/04 for utlossing. Returnerte til Sandefjord 29/05 og forhalte til verkstedet 28/07. Gikk i dokk i tiden 28 til 31/07. Forhalte fra verkstedet 04/08 og gikk fra havnen i Sandefjord 07/08.
1931 Ankom verkstedet 15/09 og gikk rett i tørr dokk frem til 24/09. Forhalte fra verkstedet samme dag.
Kokeri og hvalbåter solgt til Viking Corporation (Johan Rasmussen & Co, Sandefjord), Panama.
Var ikke i fangst sesongen 1931/32.
1932 Var ikke i fangst sesongen 1932/33. Ombygd med ny innredning over opphalingsslippen.
1933 Ankom verkstedet i Sandefjord 07/10 og forlater verkstedet og havnen 10/10. Benyttet som transportbåt for hvalflåten sesong 1933/34.
Registrert som eiere: South Sea Chartring Co. Ltd., Newcastle.
Var ikke i fangst sesongen 1933/34. Gikk til Sydishavet som transportskip for VESTFOLD sesongen 1933/34.
1934 Skifter til panamaflagg, som registrert eier Viking Corporation (Johan Rasmussen & Co, Sandefjord), Panama. Ankom Sandefjord 08/10 og gikk til kai på Framnæs mek. Værksted. Dokksatt fra 18 til 25/10. og forhaler fra verkstedet samme dag. Forlot Sandefjord havn 02/11.
Var ikke i fangst sesongen 1934/35. Benyttet som transportbåt for hvalflåten.
1935 Ankom Sandefjord og Framnæs mek. Værksted 31/05. Dokksettes 03/06 til 14/06. Forhalt fra verkstedet 02/10 og går fra Sandefjord 03/10 etter bemanning og utrustning for hvalfangst sesongen 1935/36.
1936 Resultatet av fangsten 1935/36 ble 88.029 fat hvalolje og 1.258 fat  spermolje. Var i fangst sesongen 1936/37.
Går til Sydishavet med hvalbåtene VIKINGEN I, VIKINGEN II, VIKINGEN III, VIKINGEN IV, VIKINGEN V, VIKINGEN VI (bygget 1935) og VIKINGEN VII (bygget 1936). VIKINGEN III var reservebåt denne sesongen.
1937 Fangsten ble avblåst 07/03. Resultatet av fangsten 1936/37 ble 70.800 fat hvalolje og 3.000 fat  spermolje med 6 hvalbåter. VIKINGEN og hvalbåtene anløper Syd Georgia før man tar turen hjemover til Sandefjord hvor hun ankommer 09/04. VIKINGEN losser sin produksjon i Amsterdam. Hun går i tankfart denne sommeren.
Ankom verkstedet 01/10 og frem til 01/11.
Var ikke i fangst sesongen 1937/38. Hvalbåten VIKINGEN VI og VII fanget med Fl/k VESTFOLD denne sesongen og forlater Sandefjord 21/10 via Dakar og Walvis Bay før ankomst feltet.
VIKINGEN var innleid som transportskip for kokeriene THORSHAMMER og VESTFOLD sesongen 1937/38. Avgikk Sandefjord 01/11 med kurs for Curacao for storing drivstoff og deretter til feltet.
1938 Ankom Sandefjord 19/03.
Etter trussel fra tyske myndigheter ble det overdratt 3 norske ekspedisjoner, to ved innleie og et ved salg. Trusselen fra Tyskland var at de ville bygge 10 komplette ekspedisjoner selv og ikke la seg diktere av internasjonale regler om de ikke fikk delta. Ett ble solgt fra England og det var VIKINGEN og dets 5 hvalbåter.
VIKINGEN med hvalbåter ble solgt til Deutsche Ølmuhlen – Rohstoffe GmbH. (Hamburger Walfang-Kontor GmbH), Hamburg i mars £ 225.000. Kokeriet omdøpt til WIKINGER.
Forhalt til verkstedet på Framnæs 06/04. Dokksatt i tiden 20-30/04. Forhalt fra verkstedet 08/04.
Tilbake på verkstedet 26/08. Forlater verkstedet og Sandefjord 29/08.
Som betaling ble det levert et tankskip på 14.500 tdw (MT NORNESS) siden tyskerne ikke hadde penger i en valuta som kunne godkjennes.
Går til isen for første gang som WIKINGER med sine 5 hvalbåter, WIKING 1, WIKING 2, WIKING 3, WIKING 4 og WIKING 5, I tillegg var innleid VIKINGEN 6, VIKINGEN 7 fra selskapet Viking Corporation og VESTFOLD IV (ex HERKULES I) fra Vestfold Corporation. De innleide under Panama flagg.
1939 Resultatet av fangsten 1938/39 ble 52.396 fat hvalolje og 1.440 fat  spermolje. WIKINGER anløper Las Palmas på hjemturen før hun ankommer Tønsberg 12/04. Kokeriet forlot Tønsberg samme dag med kurs for Tyskland og Rendsburg. Hvalbåtene anløp Las Palmas før ankomst Rendsburg 11/04. Hvalbåtene VIKINGEN VI og VIKINGEN VII går senere til Sandefjord med ankomst 06/05.
Var ikke i fangst sesongen 1939/40.
1940 Da krigen brøt ut lå WIKINGER i Hamburg og var satt inn som støtteskip for den tyske marine. Rekvirert av tyske marine 28/06 som forsynings tanker og ble benyttet som tanker for bunkersolje.
1944 Oppholder seg i Hamburg under angrep fra allierte fly. Forskipet satt i brann og skipet fikk store skader.
1945 Alliert krigsbytte, beslaglagt i Kiel. Ble overtatt av britene og satt under disposisjon av Ministry of Transport (MOT)( disponent ble Kerguelen Sealing & Whaling Co., Ltd., London.), og i sesongen 1945/46 drev hvalfangst under engelsk flagg som EMPIRE VENTURE.
Reparasjon av EMPIRE VENTURE var det første oppdrag som Howaldtswerke AG, Werke Kiel fikk tildelt etter at krigen var slutt. Arbeidet ble påbegynt allerede sommeren 1945 da brittene var veldig hissige på å komme i gang med hvalfangsten allerede fra sesongen 1945/46. Fristen for å få jobben gjort var veldig kort. Deler til hvalbearbeiding ble tatt fra kokeriet JAN WELLEM, som lå på grunn hardt skadd like ved verkstedet. Kontrakten ble tildelt av Ministry of Transport (MoWT), London.
EMPIRE VENTURE deltok i hvalfangsten i Sydishavet sesongen 1945/46 med 3 av hennes gamle hvalbåter, VIKINGEN I (ex. EMPIRE VIKING I, WIKING I), VIKINGEN II (ex. EMPIRE VIKING II, WIKING II) og VIKINGEN III (ex. EMPIRE VIKING III, WIKING III). Alle tre reparert og kokeriet tilbakestilt som fangstfartøyer ved samme verksted. Ferdig reparert og overlevert i oktober. Disponenter for sesongen var Chr. Salvesen, Leith
Tildelt Sovjet som krigserstatning av Tripartite Merchant Marine Commission i Berlin, 07/12-1945.
1946 Overtatt av Sovjet og gitt navnet SLAVA (CJIABA) Disponert av Ministerstvo rybnogo khozyaistva, Odessa. SLAVA går til isen for første gang under Sovjet flagget for sesongen 1946/47 med hvalbåtene. SLAVA ble registrert med Odessa som hjemmehavn.
Hvalbåtene SLAVA 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 8, 9, 10 ble registrert med Vladivostok som hjemmehavn. Hvalbåtene var tidligere RAU VII, WIKING 1, 2, 3, 6, 8, 9, 10. Alle var benyttet i den tyske marine under krigen.
SLAVA deltok I fangsten sesongen 1948/49 with 12 hvalbåter. SLAVA 1-10 og CACHALOT og FINWHALE.
1948 Resultat for sesongen 1947/48 ble 55.815 fat hvalolje og 2.585 fat spermolje (kalkulert).
1949 Resultat for sesongen 1948/49 ble 64.229 fat hvalolje og 9.106 fat spermolje
SLAVA går til Sydishavet med hvalbåtene SLAVA 2 (ex WIKING 6, b. 1939), SLAVA 3 (ex WIKING 8, b. 1939), SLAVA 4 (ex WIKING 9, b. 1939), SLAVA 5 (ex WIKING 10, b. 1939), SLAVA 6 (ex. WAL 10, b. 1939), SLAVA 7 (ex WAL 11, b. 1939), SLAVA 8 (ex VIKINGEN I, b. 1929), SLAVA 9 (ex VIKINGEN II, b. 1929), SLAVA 10 (ex VIKINGEN III, b. 1929), FINWHALE, CACHALOT, KIT, KASATKA og GORBACH. Spermfangsten tok til 15/12-1949.
1950 Resultat for sesongen 1949/50 ble 100.823 fat hvalolje og 2.570 fat spermolje.
SLAVA går til Sydishavet for sesongen 1950/51 med de samme hvalbåtene. I tillegg har tilkommet GARPUN.
1953 En forespørsel til Howaldtswerke AG, Werke Kiel fra Vsesojuznoje Exportno om ombygning og modernisering. Forespørselen innebar forlengelse med 16,0 meter, montering av 16 nye presskjeler og tre nye spekk koker til en kapasitet av 3.800 tonn hval pr dag. Montere nytt utstyr for kjøttekstrakt, samt erstatte dampmaskiniet for fremdrift til dieselfremdrift. Ombygning ble dog ikke gjennomført da denne eksporten ikke ble godkjent av myndighetene for handel og militære interesser mellom øst og vest var imot.
1959 Sovjet bygger det nye kokeriet SOWJESTKAJA UKRAINA (32.024 brt). Flere kom etter.
1965 SLAVA blir trukket ut av fangsten i Sydishavet fortsetter å fange hval i ytterligere 3 år i nordlige Stllehavet.
1971 Solgt til Japan og omdøpt FUJI MARU. Senere solgt til Taiwan for opphugging. Ankom Kaohsiung 13/07-1971

Maskineri:
2 stk. Triple dampmaskiner cal.diam. 225"-36.5"-61.0". Maskineri bygget ved Swan Hunter & Wigham Richardson Ltd. Wallsend on Tyne.UK.

1929 Built as floating whaling factory VIKINGEN by Swan, Hunter & Wigham Richardson Ltd. Wallsend on Tyne for The Viking Whaling Co., Ltd. (Johan Rasmussen & Co. Sandefjord as manager. S. Cartwright, Newcastle), Newcastle. Launched 06/07-1929. Mrs Lady Allardyce, wife of Sir William Lamond Allardyce, former Governor of Newfoundland and Director of Viking Whaling Co., Ltd., London as Godmother. Delivery on 31/08 1929. (One month after the delivery of KOSMOS for Anders Jahre, Sandefjord). The factory was designed and supervised by Messrs. Arnesen, Christensen and Smith Ltd., in Newcastle and Oslo.
The factory was at first registered under British flag (Newcastle).
Fitted with a newly constructed whale winch directly connected and able to take a load of 40-tons. The winch was of Clarke, Chapman & Co. Ltd construction. Same company built the new factory KOSMOS.
In principle constructed as a conventional oil tanker, with a deck for whale oil factory and flensing deck on top.
VIKINGEN was the first special built ship for whaling for a British registered company. At the same time the company get 5 new catchers delivered by Smith's Dock for a price of NOK 1.860.000.
Total cost for the whole fleet was NOK 8.440.000.
Arrived at Sandefjord 03/09 for outfitting and supply of crew to the coming whaling season. Departed from Sandefjord 07/09.
VIKINGEN went on her first trip to the Southern Seas that autumn with her 5 catchers, the VIKINGEN I, VIKINGEN II, VIKINGEN III, VIKINGEN IV and VIKINGEN V.
1930 Arrived Sandefjord 23/04. Left Sandefjord 26/04 for discharging. Returned to Sandefjord 29/05 and shifted to the shipyard 28/07. Went in dry dock from 28 to 31/07. Shifted from yard 04/08 and left the port of Sandefjord 07/08
1931 Arrived the skip yard of Sandefjord 15/09 and went directly to the dry dock until 24/09. Left the yard the same day.
The whole fleet sold to Viking Corporation (Johan Rasmussen & Co, Sandefjord), Panama.
Not in whaling operation during season of 1931/32.
1932 Not in whaling operation during season of 1932/33. Re-constructed with new accomodation across the slipway aft.
1933 Arrived the ship yard in Sandefjord 07/10 and left the yard and port again 10/10.
Registered as owners: South Sea Chartering Co. Ltd., Newcastle.
Not in operation as a floating factory during season of 1933/34. She was used as a transport and supply vessel for the factory VESTFOLD.
1934 Transferred to Panamanian flag. As owners Viking Corporation (Johan Rasmussen & Co, Sandefjord), Panama.
Arrived the port of Sandefjord 08/10 and went alongside at Framnæs mek. Værksted. In dry dock from 18/10 to 25/10 and left the yard same as undocking. Departed from the port of Sandefjord 02/11.
Did not participate in whaling during 1934/35 season.
1935 Arrived Sandefjord and Framnæs mek. Værksted 31/05. Dry docking from 03/06 to 14/06. Shifted from ship yard 02/10 and left Sandefjord 03/10 after storing and manning for a new whaling season 1935/36.
1936 The result of the 1935/36 catch was 88.029 barrels whale oil and 1.258 barrels sperm oil. Was in whaling during season 1936/37.
Went to the Southern Seas with catchers VIKINGEN, VIKINGEN II, VIKINGEN III, IV, V, VI (built in 1935) and VIKINGEN VII (built 1936). VIKINGEN III was the spare boat this season.
1937 The season were terminated 07/03. The result of season 1936/37 was 70.800 barrels of whale oil and 3.000 barrels sperm oil with 6 catchers. VIKINGEN and her catchers went to Syd Georgia before heading for home to Sandefjord were she arrived 09/04. VIKINGEN discharged her production in Amsterdam. She was used in the crude oil trade that summer.
Arrived at the ship yard of Framnæs at 01/10 and to 01/11.
She was not operated in whaling the 1937/38 season. Catcher VIKINGEN VI and VII did operate as catcher for factory VESTFOLD this season and left Sandefjord 21/10 via Dakar and Walvis Bay before arrival the whaling ground.
VIKINGEN were hired out as transport vessel for the factory THORSHAMMER and VESTFOLD the season 1937/38. Departed Sandefjord 01/11 heading for Curacao for storing fuel and then further to the whaling ground.
1938 Arrived port of Sandefjord 19/03.
After threat from the German administration 3 Norwegian expeditions was transferred to German control. Two on hire and one sold. The threat from Germany was if they were refused a part in the quota system of international whaling they will build themself 10 complete expeditions and not let any international rules telling that they can’t participate and keep them away from the whaling ground.
One expedition was sold from England and that was the VIKINGEN and her 5 whaling catchers.
VIKINGEN and catchers were sold to the Deutsche Ølmuhlen – Rohstoffe GmbH. (Hamburger Walfang-Kontor GmbH), Hamburg in March for £ 225.000. The factory renamed WIKINGER.
Shifted to the ship yard at Framnæs 06/04. Dry docked between 20/04 and 30/04. Left the yard 08/04.
Returned to the yard 26/08. Left the yard and Sandefjord for her last time 29/08.
As payment, a new 14.500 tdw motor tanker was delivered (MT NORNESS) as the Germans did not have cash to pay in a valid money.
Proceed to the Southern Seas for the first time as WIKINGER with her 5 catchers.
1939 The result of the 1938/39 season was 52.396 barrels of whale oil and 1.440 barrels of sperm oil. WIKINGER called Las Palmas on her way home, before arrival Tønsberg 12/04. The factory left Tønsberg the same day heading for Germany and Rendsburg. Her catchers arrived Las Palmas before arrival Rendsburg 11/04. The catcher VIKINGEN VI and VIKINGEN VII went later to Sandefjord were they arrived 06/05.
Not active in whaling season of 1939/40.
1940 At the outbreak of war she was located in Hamburg as a support ship. Requested by German Navy 28/06 as supply ship for bunker oil.
1944 Located in Hamburg during attack from Allied aircraft. The foreship was put on fire and the ship suffered considerable damage.
1945 Seized by the allied forces in Kiel. Taken over by the British Ministry of Transport (MOT)( Managers Kerguelen Sealing & Whaling Co., Ltd., London.), and the whaling season 1945/46 catching under British flag as EMPIRE VENTURE.
Repair of EMPIRE VENTURE was the first assignment of Howaldtswerke AG, Werke Kiel awarded after the end of the war. The work was started already in the summer of 1945 when the British were very angry with whaling already from the 1945/46 season. The deadline for getting the job done was very short. Parts for whale processing were taken from the whaling factory JAN WELLEM, which was hardly injured just next to the repair facilities. The contract was awarded by the Ministry of Transport (MoWT), London.
EMPIRE VENTURE participated in whaling in the South Sea season 1945/46 with 3 of her old whalers, VIKINGEN I (ex EMPIRE VIKING I, WIKING I), VIKINGEN II (ex EMPIRE VIKING II, WIKING II) and VIKINGEN III (ex EMPIRE VIKING III, WIKING III). All three repaired and the factory was repaired and set back as whaling vessels at the same yard. Ready repaired and delivered in October. Managers for the coming season were Chr. Salvesen, Leith.
Awarded the Soviet as a war substitute of the Tripartite Merchant Marine Commission in Berlin, 07/12-1945.
1946 Accepted by the Soviet Union and given the name SLAVA (CJIABA). Managed by Ministerstvo rybnogo khozyaistva, Odessa. SLAVA goes to the ice for the first time during the Soviet flag for the 1946/47 season with her catchers.
The whale catcher SLAVA 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 8, 9, 10 was registered with Vladivostok as their home port. The catchers was former RAU VII, WIKING 1, 2, 3, 6, 8, 9, 10. All were used in the German navy during the war.
1948 Results for the season 1947/48 were 55,815 barrels of whale oil and 2,585 barrels of sperm oil (stipulated).
SLAVA participated the season 1948/49 with 12 catchers. SLAVA 1-10 and CACHALOT and FINWHALE.
1949 Results for the season 1948/49 were 64,229 barrels of whale oil and 9,106 barrels of sperm oil.
SLAVA goes to the Southern Sea with the SLAVA 2 (ex WIKING 6, b. 1939), SLAVA 3 (ex WIKING 8, b. 1939), SLAVA 4 (ex WIKING 9, b. 1939), SLAVA 5 (ex WIKING 10, b. 1939), SLAVA 6 (ex. WAL 10, b. 1939), SLAVA 7 (ex WAL 11, b. 1939), SLAVA 8 (ex VIKINGEN I, b. 1929), SLAVA 9 (ex VIKINGEN II, b. 1929), SLAVA 10 (ex VIKINGEN III, b. 1929), FINWHALE, CACHALOT, KIT, KASATKA and GORBACH. Sperm season commenced 15/12-1949.
1950 Results for the 1949/50 season were 100,823 barrels of whale oil and 2,570 barrels of sperm oil.
SLAVA goes to the South Sea for the 1950/51 season with the same whale boats. In addition, GARPUN has arrived.
1953 A request for Howaldtswerke AG, Werke Kiel, from Vsesojuznoje Exportno, on reconstruction and modernization. The request involved extension of 16.0 meters, assembly of 16 new press boilers and three new boilers boiling at a capacity of 3,800 tons of whales per day. Mount new equipment for meat extract, as well as replace steam engine for propulsion to diesel engine operation. However, conversion was not completed when this export was not approved by the government for trade and military interests between East and West.
1959 Soviet builds the new facktories SOWJESTKAJA UKRAINE (32,024 brt) was the first. More came later.
1965 SLAVA is pulled out of the catch in the Southern Seas but continues to catch whales for a further 3 years in the Northern part of the Pacific Ocean.
1971 Sold to Japan and renamed FUJI MARU. Later sold to Taiwan for cessation. Arrived at Kaohsiung 13/07-1971

Fra avisen Yorkshire Post mandag 08/07-1929

The twin screw steamship Vikingen, the first floating whale oil factory built in England, was launched from the Wallsend Shipyard of Messrs. Swan, Hunter, and Wigham Richardson, Limited, on Saturday. The naming ceremony was performed by Lady Allardyce, wife of Sir William Lamond Allardyce, formerly Governor of Newfoundland, and a director of the Viking Whaling Co., Ltd., of London. This company owns the ship, which will be operated by the Norwegian whaling firm, Messrs. Johan Rasmussen and Co., of Sandefjord.

The Vikingen is specially designed as a floating whale oil factory, with all the most modern appliances for that purpose, but can be employed alternatively for carrying cargoes of oil in bulk. Her design and construction have been supervised by Messrs. Arnesen, Christensen, and Smith, Ltd., of Newcastle and Oslo.

The ship is 490ft. in length, with on extreme breadth of 71ft. The actual factory is in the tween decks, and above it is the working deck for cutting up the whale.

The ship will act as a “mother” to fleet of five small fast whale-catchers. A whale when killed is inflated, and towed to the factory and moored alongside. The size of whales varies from 40 to 100 feet in length, the weight brings sometimes as much as 100 tons. The large whale is hauled on board up a specially designed slipway at the stern by powerful winches. There is also a very complete arrangement of heavy derricks and winches for lifting portions of whales which are cup up alongside the ship.

The blubber, which is the fatty outer portion of the carcase, is cut off and reduced in steam-heated boilers to extract the oil, which is then refined and stored in the main tanks. The thick residue known as grax is collected in troughs and pumped through a receiver to the grax press to extract further oil.

The remainder of the carcase is then taken to the forward end of the ship to the meat factory. Here the flesh and bones are passed through hatches in the deck direct into steam boilers in order to extract oil and other residues.

The propelling machinery of the Vikingen consist of two sets of triple expansion engines. These and also the boilers have been built by Swan, Hunter, and Wigham Richardson, at their Neptune Works, are capable of developing 4.300 I.H.P., and designed to give the ship a good service speed.