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

spermaceti, and the sperm oil likewise is different from the baleen whale oil; so the
two cannot be mixed in the tanks.
Next day it was lovely early on with a bright sun and oily-calm water. A few
watery icebergs drifted past and there were small patches of brash ice, golden in the
sun. I examined only one whale and spent the remainder of the day catching up on
notes and lab work, for only two whales were caught that day, and we found
ourselves in thick fog and travelling westwards, our position lat. 60°S, long 44 °E. As
we were going west it might mean that we would stay on that side of the continent,
instead of going round to the Ross Sea. In the latter event we would have to travel
further when the season ended and would call at Cape Town again. But it now
looked as though we might go straight home up the Atlantic without calling
anywhere and get home a couple of weeks earlier. Yet, this could all change in the
light of events during the season; it all depended on the whales and the weather.
On 16 December we had our first taste of real Antarctic weather. Outside there
was a howling gale with the wind screaming past the ship (we were now in the
"shrieking sixties") and blowing the tops off huge grey waves about 10-15 m (30-45ft)
high from trough to crest. It was much rougher than it should have been down there
at that time of year. The rolling was just beginning to get unpleasant. Even so
Ellefsen, the expedition’s top gunner caught one whale. At supper time we had to
hang on to plates and other items in order to prevent them sliding off the table and
then, as it got worse, we held onto our chairs to remain seated in them. All this on a
very large ship. But my cabin was very tranquil. My normal pattern was to write up
my log and diary for the day, and when I'd finished it I would read a little. Then
Hugh would knock on the wall and I'd go next door for a ‘nightcap’, or I would
knock and he would come to my cabin. The drinks would be Benedictine probably
or Van der Hum or Scotch whisky. There was still a vestige of civilization! But it was
offset by reality. On such a typical evening, outside of my portholes would lie, side
by side in the slipway, two very large, very dead, very ugly whales, so I kept my
curtains drawn! Possibly during the night another whale would be hauled up the
slipway and I might be rudely awakened as the whale claws, jockeying for position
around the tail flukes might slip and crash against the bulkhead near my head, with
a deafening ‘clang’. However, only one whale was caught that particular day, so
there wouldn't be much doing tomorrow and I'd be able to catch up on writing. We
were hoping for a mail on the morrow from the supply ship Thule.
The weather continued rough, we received heavy snow, and passed through a
plenty of drift ice - small pieces of ice about six feet across which bobbed about in the
water like so many apples in a tub as we go by. It does damp down the swell though
and some nights it was comparatively calm. We watched a film 'Mr. Music' with Bing
Crosby and walked back across the dark, deserted deck through swirling snowflakes
to our cabin - no whales were caught that day owing to the weather. It was reported
that Thule was still 200 miles away but we might see her tomorrow. I sent off a
Christmas cable to Maureen and hoped it would arrive in time.
We continued to move west and there was still no sign of Thule. No whales were
caught - nothing was happening. I had half a dozen chaps in for drinks before lunch
one day and Chris gave a little party in the Commander's cabin before supper, with a
champagne cocktail; later I settled down with a book - Harrer's "Seven Years in
Tibet". We would have to get used to the fact that it would be like this most of the
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