Cheynes IV
Vessel numberHV000620
Official Number172575
Previous owner
Cheynes Bay Whaling Company
Builder
A/S Frammes MEK Verksted
Date1948
DescriptionThe 45.44 metres long steam powered whaler CHEYNES IV was built in 1948 by Framnaes Mek Vaerksted A/S Shipyard, Sandefjord, Norway, yard number No 140. It is steel plated, and powered by a 4-cylinder compound steam engine (2 high pressure and 2 low pressure cylinders) generating 1750 horsepower, with steam coming from two Foster Wheeler oil-fired boilers. It was built for the Union Whaling Co. Ltd, Durban South Africa and paid off from there in 1967. It was launched under the name W. FEARNHEAD but was later renamed WILFRID FEARNHEAD.
In 1969, it was purchased by Cheynes Beach Whaling Company Pty Ltd. Albany in Western Australia to replace GASCOYNE, a German built ship launched in 1936 and operated by the company since 1966.
The ship was sailed to Fremantle from South Africa by a crew of the Cheynes Beach Whaling Company employees. The passage took seventeen days and the ship arrived in Fremantle in March 1970. It was re-named CHEYNES IV and commissioned as a whale chaser for the company from March 14th 1970. It worked off the state’s south west coast until the company’s closure on November 21st 1978.
CHEYNES IV was laid up in the care of former skipper Axel Christensen at the Albany Town Jetty until it was towed to its present location by the Albany Port Authority tug MV AVON on September 2nd, 1981. It remains on display giving visitors the opportunity to explore the whole vessel and experience a whale hunt through an audio re-enactment.
SignificanceCHEYNES IV is a whaling vessel built in Norway in 1948. It came to Australia in 1970 and worked from Albany until whaling in Australia was halted in 1978. CHEYNES IV is now located at Whale World in Albany WA and is Australia’s only sea-going whaling vessel on display. It represents the final chapter in Australia’s commercial whaling industry.
c 1934
