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

didn't reach the ship until 5.0 o’clock. A meal in the pantry of ham sandwiches and
beer was followed by a few hours in the bunk. It had been a very enjoyable evening
after all those weeks at sea.
We had a second day at Cape Town, but were due to leave at 2.0 o’clock, and as
I'd gone to bed so late it didn't leave much time to do anything. I got up at 7.30 am,
and as there was so little time I'd decided at least to go up Table Mountain. Gill had
arranged to show me around and I met her at l0.0 o’clock, still wearing her red four
inch high heels! We took a bus to Kloof Nek, a winding road rising above and behind
the city. There we changed to another smaller bus that took us along a road running
along the mountainside with a steep drop on the left and lovely views. It wasn't far to
the Cable Railway Station, a pretentious concrete building and there we had a wait of
l5 minutes for the next car. It was an interesting experience, especially the last few
hundred feet when we seemed to be climbing almost vertical rocks. It had the effect
of suddenly making one seem very insecure, realizing that one was apart from the
Earth.
At the top we had a soft drink in the restaurant (it was very hot) and admired the
view, then scrambled around the summit plateau. It was scattered with prickly
bushes, novel colourful flowers and weirdly shaped rocks; four inch heels were
definitely not suitable. We could see all of Cape Town, a small city, the Cape
Peninsula, Cape of Good Hope, and the Atlantic and Indian Oceans - with long lines
of cloud on the horizon to the South. Above was a clear bright-blue sky and strong
sun. There was a feeling of being at land's end. Down again just after noon, but it was
too late to meet Claudia as arranged for lunch. I tried to get a potted plant for my
cabin, but without luck. So back to Balaena at 1.30 pm. as we were due to sail at 2.0
o’clock; Gill stayed until 3 and we sailed at 4 pm! Three of the catchers were ahead of
us, the others following, and I was off to the Antarctic again.
Cape Town I had found a disappointing city, small and apparently with little to
offer, apart from what I had experienced in a day. No theatres, concerts and very out
of touch with the rest of the world I should say. We left on Tuesday, 2 December, and
on the Thursday the catchers reported ice l00 miles ahead. On 5 December we were
at 50°S latitude and it was thought probable that the first whale would be caught the
next day. In fact three sperm whales were caught, inflated with compressed air and
brought to Balaena, where they were tied up astern to be worked up when more had
been caught. Our position was now about 56°S, l9°E, and we passed the first iceberg
that afternoon. It was a massive one, about l20 ft high, with three gleaming white
pinnacles rising from the sea. A fairytale castle is a cliché, but the best way to
describe it. All day we were in thick fog and steaming at reduced speed. I entertained
in my cabin and we drank to the first whales. The following day work began in
earnest.
Commercial whaling came under the International Convention for the Regulation
of Whaling (ICRW) and the schedule to the Convention was amended as necessary at
meetings of the International Whaling Commission (IWC). In that l953-54 season,
sperm whales could be caught at any time and there was no catch quota for them, the
baleen whaling season began on 2 January, but there were further restrictions on blue
and humpback whales. The blue whale season began on 16 January and humpback
whaling was limited to a specific four days from 1-4 February. There was an overall
catch quota for baleen whales of [15,000] Blue Whale Units (BWU). One BWU was
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