Part I: Seals teeth and whales ears - Scott Polar Research Institute ...

voyages, with the blubber 'burning' (deteriorating) due to bacterial action, before
they got back to the factory, resulting in a lower quality oil. Mr Holland, the visiting
Director, was trying to improve both the whaling and sealing profits for the
company. I did my best to persuade him to buy a small ship and convert it into a
floating factory for the sealing. That way the company could really rationalise the
sealing, utilise the carcasses as well as the blubber and make an extra profit of
something like an extra £100,000 a year if the price of oil remained at the same level
(that is equivalent to £1.84 million at 2003 prices!). The basis of the industry would
be much more efficient.
So it now looked as though I would spend Christmas in South Georgia and not
in Port Stanley after all. It should be a rather strenuous time with Eskedal still trying
to drink me under the table! We heard that an Argentine cruiser was coming down
our way so there would probably be one or two British warships arriving before too
long.
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