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

Then to Haut Bay, which was very beautiful - a high peak called the Sentinel at
one entrance looking like the Sugar Loaf at Rio. We crossed the Cape Peninsula to a
town called Fishhoek and then back to Cape Town. We dropped the girls at the Kai
Apple Grove and went back to the ship to change. Then we collected them again and
went on to dinner at the Clifton, Sea Point. After dinner we moved to the Haut Bay
Hotel where there was a bit of a ball, and danced until quite late - about 2 am. It was
all very civilized and very enjoyable after all those months away. Caroline reminded
me very much of Sheelagh (Maureen's sister) and she was in the same sort of job,
nursing. We drove back and up to Signal Hill to see the lights of Cape Town, a
wonderful sight, the town stretching out below us. Then we drove the girls home
and ourselves back to the Balaena which was to sail in the morning.
The ship was originally due to sail at 9 am, but we heard that she wouldn't be
leaving until 11 o’clock, so we collected the girls and had a bit of a party on board
until sailing time. I was glad to be leaving though and to be on my way back to
Europe. There was such a lot of packing to do and reports to write and it had been so
hot that I seemed not to have done much in recent weeks. I knew that my new ideas
about whale reproduction, growth and age were really substantial and I didn't feel
my time had been wasted. I was really excited about it, and it might well mean that
I'd get quicker promotion than if I had returned with nothing much! It also meant
that I could begin to plan my work for the next three or four years. With the
arrogance of youth I considered that my new story knocked the previous one,
advanced by Mackintosh and Wheeler 25 years earlier, right on the head! So
naturally Mac would be critical (as it happened he wasn’t). However, I was sure of
my case, which would be difficult to refute.
So we headed north again. We had been hoping that we might call in at Las
Palmas for a few hours to take on fuel oil and have a run ashore. It might have been
fun but the owners decided against it. They told the Captain that he must reach
Liverpool on l9 April, although we could easily do it in two days less. But there were
some exciting twists. One day, at l0 o’clock when I was down in the lab the ship
suddenly heeled over and I ran up on deck to see what was happening. Balaena had
changed course, steaming in a large circle and there were some life-belts in the water.
Then we saw what appeared to be a bloated corpse. But it transpired that one of the
Norwegians - a nephew of two Directors of the company and uncle of another, in a fit
of melancholia, induced by the thought of getting back to problems at home, had
jumped overboard from the stern. It took l5-20 minutes to lower one lifeboat and
nearly an hour to get the ‘body’ on board. Fortunately he survived his experience
and ate a hearty lunch! The day before another of the doctor's patients had died. It
had been in some ways an unfortunate season for deaths and serious accidents.
There had been three deaths and a further one was to come. As we approached
Liverpool we heard that one of the crew had jumped over the stern and was
drowned.
We docked in Liverpool on Easter Monday and I got home the same day to have
about five days with my parents before travelling to London to start work again.
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