Rob Wych
Job Description
Chief Engineer, 2nd Engineer
Period
1963 - 1978
Robert was born in Fremantle in 1936 and finished his schooling at Fremantle Boys High School. His first job when leaving school was with the Fremantle Harbour Board on barges until he was eighteen and then joined WAGR as a fireman and then a driver on steam trains.
He came to Albany in 1954 with the railways and married in Albany. He worked for WAGR for nine years.
In 1963 he went to the chasers at the Town Jetty and spoke to Neil Howard about a job as a fireman with CBWC.
Robert regretted his first week, he was very seasick, but after that he got his sea legs and was fine. He started on Cheynes II and worked his way up from Fireman to Donkeyman to 2nd Engineer and 3rd Engineer and transferred between different chasers as relief. He had to take examinations to sit for his ticket as 3rd Class Engineer (steam).
Robert worked for fifteen years on the chasers and earned good money. There was a bonus at the end of each season and a weekly oil bonus. There was always friendly competition between chaser crews as to which chaser caught the most whales. He was 2nd Engineer on Cheynes IV when it was brought from South Africa in 1970, direct from Durban to Albany Port. It was a twelve or thirteen day trip and smooth sailing all the way, carrying quite a lot of spare parts for the ship.
A TYPICAL DAY FOR THE ENGINEER
The chaser would leave the Town Jetty at about 2am, having already been prepared to leave. It took about two hours to steam to the continental shelf. The ship would steam east along the shelf. The engineering crew was 4 hours on and four hours off, and the first shift would knock off at about 8am, have breakfast and retire to their bunks to relax. When whales were sighted all the deck crew were on deck and the ship came to life.
The skipper (Paddy Hart) would let the engine room know what was happening through the telegraph. Robert was on Cheynes II when it was rammed by a 55 foot bull sperm whale. The vibration could be felt through the ship. The ship had to be towed home and was out of action for two weeks.
On days that were quite rough one of the chasers would go out to see if it was feasible to catch whales that day.
Robert remembers seeing the Russian whalers. Their catch would decrease when they were out there and he was on board Cheynes II when the tourist Stephen Matthews was rescued near the gap. The engine had to be turned off so that they could hear him and they were very close to the rocks – the engine in reverse so that they could go backwards very quickly. He remembers the bravery of Keith Richardson who dived overboard in very rough seas to drag Stephen aboard.
Robert remembers there was talk in 1975 of banning whaling and could see the writing on the wall. He left Cheynes Beach Whaling Company in 1978 and then worked for CBH for twenty three years before retiring in Albany. He has fond memories of his time with Cheynes Beach Whaling Company and when he left he missed the sea life.
Rob Wych