Seal-hunting Ship

a vessel used in hunting pinnipeds, primarily seals.

Usually seal-hunting ships are wooden with steel plating in the bow section; they have a single deck, two masts, and a deckhouse in the stern section. Their hulls must be especially strong, capable of withstanding the pressure of ice; they have appropriate configurations. Seal-hunting ships are built with a reinforced hull framework and an extra ice plating made out of oaken planks placed on top of the usual pinewood. In the fishing industry of the USSR seal-hunting ships are represented by wooden schooners with the following dimensions: length, 40.5 m; width, 9.5 m; displacement, 500 tons; capacity of the main engine, 220 kilowatts (300 hp); speed, 14 km per hour (7.5 knots). The cargo capacity of large seal-hunting ships ranges from 150 to 160 tons; that of small ones, from 10 to 30 tons. Installed in the cargo holds are removable metal tanks for salting the sealskins and fat. Each seal-hunting ship has five or six motorboats about 6 m long with a displacement of about 5 tons, from which animals are hunted in open ice.