The Hector Whaling Co

Register

Image of AS Hektors whaling station on Deception Island in the South Shetlands and one of their catchers.

Country station was built in 1912 to process feedstocks from whales.

It was closed in 1931 after becoming obsolete because the of increasing capabilities of the company’s factory ships

Staff Register

Ship Register

A Brief History

Under B&C Management - 1962

Hector Whaling was formed in the early 1930s as a British holding company and was associated with the Norwegian company of N. R. Bugge and a version of that company's livery was adopted.

The Bugge flag was shown pre WW2 as a diagonal riband of blue over white with the line being from lower hoist to upper fly but at some point after WW2 it appears that the line was changed to upper hoist to lower fly .

A/S Hektor, is still shown with the original version by Brown 1951.

After WW2 Bugge, now operating as Bugge & Krogh-Hansen, became managers of Hector Whaling and United Whaling and acted as such until their whaling interests were sold to Japan c.1960 (with Hector Whaling thereafter coming under Cayzer, Irvine & Co. Ltd., together with the likes of Clan Line and Union-Castle, until the beginning of the 1970s when it disappeared).

It is probably this connection that lead the US Navy 1961 publication to show the post WW2 blue over white riband version against Hector Whaling although the use of the red over white livery is supposed to have been in operation from their inception.

The version shown by FOTW is supported by the Stewart 1st edition of 1953-1957 but Loughran 1979 shows a completely different version by reversing the colours to white over red with the line from upper hoist to lower fly. The last version is also ascribed to Hector Trawlers Ltd. which was an associate company.

Another possible version is suggested for United Towing by Talbot-Booth in his 1942 Ships & The Sea edition which reverses the colours of this last version but this is based on the supposition of the funnel panel being the flag as here he is only showing funnel designs.

From B&C Review  June 1962

Other Items

The Evolution of The Fleet

Vessel

1930s

1940s

1950s

1960s

1970s

Hektoria






Terje Viken






Bransfield






Ketos






Biscoe






Thule






Powell






Balaena






Enderby






Hector Hawk






Hector Heron






Hector Halcyon







1930s

1940s

1950s

1960s

1970s

8 - 10






6 - 8






4 - 6






2 - 4






0 - 2






Fleet Size in Each Decade

Masters

Deck Dept

Chief Engineers

Engineering Dept

Refrigerated Cargo Ships

Trawlers & Whale Catchers

Factory Ships

Bulk Cargo & Tankers

Losses

Catering Dept

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