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

around us now were huge gleaming white icebergs in all varieties of shapes and sizes
and colours; they really were incredibly beautiful.
Everything about the whale is fantastic. The largest we've hauled on board so far
was a 92 ft long blue whale; we have had several 89 - 90 ft long. (Later I measured
one 97 ft long – 30 m). They really are huge - the biggest animals that have ever lived.
A big one produces say l50 barrels of oil worth about £2,000 and meat meal, meat
extract and liver oil to the value of about £1,500. So it was a very valuable animal
intrinsically and in economic terms, and it was a terrible shame to see them being
slaughtered in such an irrational manner. The blues were very scarce now and the fin
whales had become the backbone of the industry. They fetched probably £2000 each
on average.
On that day, after hanging about for days we were heading further West again to
where one of the catchers had reported many whales. We heard that Powell would be
in Cape Town on 6 February and already I was looking forward to more letters from
Maureen.
At the end of January Balaena was off Enderby Land, part of the Antarctic
continent, the first land we had seen for many a day – since leaving Cape Town in
fact. We had a few quiet days around then - a few whales had been brought in the
previous day but none that day owing to bad weather. The catchers had caught some
but they were about 200 miles away and we were steaming full speed towards them -
westwards. It was the stormiest weather yet with the ship rolling and pitching to
some heavy seas and the wind filling the air with noise and spray. As we were now
going west, we had gained an hour so far, which meant extra sleep. I spent the
morning getting up to date on my notes and did some photography. It was Sunday,
so with lunch we had beer or wine - I had red wine and slept for a couple of hours!
A wonderful day followed the previous day's storm - bright sunshine and oilycalm
sea, with a few fairy-tale icebergs on the horizon. Biscoe came alongside to
bunker us and take the oil from us. As soon as she was finished with loading she
would be leaving for the Cape and England. I took the afternoon off to finish off the
letters I had to write. On the night of 3 February there was a serious operation on a
man from one of the Setter boats, for a mechanically obstructed intestine, which
lasted 5 hours (and was successful). I was asked to be the blood donor so I waited up
but in the end they didn't require any - perhaps they found my blood had too high an
alcohol content! It had been another long day and I had done post-mortem
examinations on some 230 whales by now. As the middle of the season drew near (6
February was the day when the day shift changed to night and vice versa), I was
beginning to feel a bit weary, but it was still very interesting. I promised myself a
long soak and early to bed that night - but doubted if I would get the latter.
Shortly after the shifts changed Harry, who was now on night shift, came along at
about 9 o’clock to tell me that there was a nice fresh female whale on deck. I didn't
feel at all like going out but it was too good a chance to miss so I dressed-up and
went on deck. It was a lovely clear night with a sky of many colours merging
together - and once I was there I felt fresh and alive and stayed out hard at work for a
few hours.
We were now just about 40 miles off Proclamation Island, Enderby Land. One
night I set my alarm for 1.30 am and got up to see the land. It was a lovely night sky -
the sunset that merges into sunrise at these latitudes in summer - and just below a
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