Word: isbrandtsen
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Dates: during 1930-1939
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Seven years ago descendants of the owners of the old whaleship John Carver formed American Whaling Company, sent a small "floating factory" to the Australian fisheries. In 1937 testy, Danish-born Hans J. Isbrandtsen of New York City (Isbrandtsen-Moller Co., shipping), founded Western Operating Corp. with the help of Norwegian-born Texas Corp. Board Chairman "Cap" Torkild Rieber, Danish-born General Motors President William S. Knudsen and others. For nearly $1,000,000 he bought the 12, 395-ton former U. S. Navy auxiliary ship Ulysses, converted it into one of the most modern whale refineries afloat and dispatched...
...share was about 3%. Using Norwegian killer ships, the Ulysses caught over 1,400 whales, boiled them down, sold the oil to U. S. soap manufacturers at an average price of about 5? a pound. Ready to send his refinery back to the Antarctic next December, Whaler Isbrandtsen struck a snag...
...there are none but it suits U. S. farm and fish lobbies, because whale oil competes in a small way with domestic oils and fats in soap making. The whalers sponsored an amendment postponing the excise for five years. Last week Congress adjourned without acting on it. To Whaler Isbrandtsen that meant: 1) buying a fleet of killer ships (estimated cost of eight if U. S. built: $3,200,000); or 2) taking a chance that Congress would pass the amendment next session; or 3) disbanding his company and virtually ending the U. S. revival of whaling...