Found one on the ice about 11.00 and I found that Mickey has come prepared for such occasions with a double barrel shot gun! Altho this was not very effective on a fat seal except at close range, it was not nearly so messy as a blunt harpoon such as we used for the job last season! He had 3 shots at it, which sent the poor beast crawling over the ice leaving a beautiful scarlet trail behind it. He lay at the edge of the ice for about 5 minutes, writhing in agony, then slid into the water and rolled into the water and rolled about for a while until the gunner got closer and took another shot at him.
This nearly finished him and we got one of our big hooks around his body and held him in the water while the mate emptied a shot into his head from about 10 feet, killing the unfortunate devil instantly. We dragged the carcass onto the ice and "flencher Evensend" did the dirty work of extracting the liver and cutting off the meat around the flippers. All very very cruel and brutal to be sure, but I suppose that is just what we are, and at least I was provided with some good photos! Well!
We thoroughly enjoyed that seal-liver at supper tonite, never thinking of the crime we had committed in obtaining it. So much for that. Came in for bunkers at suppertime and I took advantage of being alongside the factory during daylight to get a few snaps of the dings on the fore-plan. Went up to the barrel where I had a good viewpoint and fired away on the gory sight below! More blood, beef, blubber and guts! I ought to be writing this entry in red ink!!
However, it is all exceedingly interesting and when I get some colour film, I'll be able to record it perfectly-except for the smell! Was speaking to the 3rd op on KQ, a young Norwegian chap and he would like to trade places with me for a week. That would be ok by me if it could be arranged, but just for fun, I wish I could do it and pick a week of hell and high water, plenty of whales, no sleep, and lots of deck work!!
I think that would cure the lad of his desire to be on a whaleboat ! Nasty individual, ain't I? Have started drawing scale plans of Shusa, for a model, which I intend building some day, and am finding it very interesting as well as passing the time.
Have been enjoying smooth sailing in the ice all day but now we have come North into the open where it is a little unsteady, not much, but enuff to make things rattle around the cabin in a disconcerting manner Oh well!!
It's nearly time to seek the peaceful solitude of sleep- oh! Oh! Theres a telegram ringing "go on" - a whale has just sighed within range and the chase is on! Forget about that peace and solitude stuff for awhile. If I have not already done so, I think that I should explain that expression "whale sighing" it originated something like this! Our gunners father on "Santa" was supposed to have gone up to the bridge one day and asked the sailor on watch if he had seen any "sighing fish" - meaning of course "whales blowing"!
Since then the has been known as "sighing fish" and his son as "sighing child". There are many other nick-names for some of the other gunners, but for every good reasons I shan't record them here!! The gunner calls our mate "Gammel Evensen" (Old Evensen) because of his beard and long hair. I don’t know, but I suppose they call me "Souning Jan" (Sleepy Jan) which certainly fits me well! Stoomuch sed now, so tally ho.
Fan steke! What a day this has been! One of those which makes you wonder why you ever left home? However, a dose of good old whale catcher heavy weather discomfort is good for one occasionally.
But I'm getting away from present realities, so rest ye, oh mine-wandering imagination. The wind rose steadily all morning and was blowing a small gale by noon with seas in unison, and - we were h - and gone out in the open chasing a blue which we never got near. Since dinnertime we have been going steadily in a general westward direction, and except for odd stretches in the lee of ice fields where it was moderately calm, have been pitching and tossing incessantly.
Of course I have been in bunky most of the time as it is the safest and most comfortable place! However, after dinner I mustered all the courage I could rake up, donned a mess of warm clothes, put my precious camera and accessories in my pockets, and ventured forth on an expedition up to the barrel!!
At this time we were ploughing into heavy head seas, which were breaking clean up and over the bridge, but I figured it would be worth it to get up aloft and take a few shots, well! I had to hang on to the rigging for my life going up and at the top I got stuck half way into the bloomin barrel because of all the clothes I was wearing! After riding a couple of swells with my heart in my mouth I managed to scramble in and sat down to re compose myself!!
Was up there nearly half and hour, during which time I took 8 shots of the raging seas breaking over poor Shusa's bow's and experienced some of the greatest thrills of my life! You could feel the ship rising below you on a big swell, pause slightly at the top and then lunge down into the trough while everything inside you seemed to come flying up to your throat!!
Oddly enuff, I did not feel the least bit sick and am beginning to think my stomach is invincible to the motions of a ship. We hit on beauty on an uneven keel and she stopped dead for a few seconds as if she had come up against a stone pier ---oh child! What a sensation. On the way down I had to stop half way and wait for an opening to get down to the "flying bridge" and up to the safety and shelter of the bridge.
This was a terrifying ordeal with seas breaking over the bows and flying past under your feet, the rigging shaking like a leaf, and your hands getting numb as you hung on for dear life! And all for a few photographs! Blimy if they aren't colossal I'll eat my clogs!
Read mags during the remainder of the afternoon and am now considering turning in for a session of the "Shusa Glide" but don’t expect much shuteye. Only two whales today and our third "bom dag" which is making everyone a bit fed up with it all, but there is nothing we can do about the weather and it is to blame almost entirely. Oh well, such is life on a whale boat, and it will soon be Christmas, at least one cheerful thought with which to say goodnight.
So out to prepare for a second go at one of these enormous blues which must have been over 90 feet. While gunner was nose-bagging, the mate had a pot shot, but needless to say he missed !
The next futile attempt was made by the gunner just after 08.00 and as the whales were leading us into heavy ice we gave them up as too good for Shusa.
Wind from the south - west today and of course if it comes from the south at all it is always very cold. However it was moderate and when the sun came thru at 09.00, everything became bright and rosy.
Had port and door wide open all morning while polishing up all the mahogany with ye olde "liquid veneer", washing the deck, and generally cleaning the shack up. Always feel inclined towards such activity's when the weather is bright and peaceful so if the sun stops shining down here, it may go bad with Shusa's wireless cabin! Well! Either we had the jinx today or the whales really were crazy as the gunner excusingly claimed, because we chased continually all day without getting near a whale until Micky shot the 4th bom at a small blue about 19.00!
However, finally managed to hit meat at supper time and again about 21.30; both small blues just over the required length of 70 feet. I was feeling very tired from 20.00 onwards and was mighty glad to hit the hay at 23.30 after we had picked up our first whale and I had given them a course for KQ, which was a good 40 to 45 miles away. Good day's fishing for all boats except Shika and Sirra.
Completed the job of wiring up the two receivers to the bridge and have it arranged so that by throwing a switch one way the short wave set is connected, and the other way brings in the ships receiver. Also, I can speak to the bridge very clearly using a pair of headphones as "mike" and this is a great improvement over the ordinary speaking tube, which chews speech up something awful.
This season the Shusa will be "whaling in the modern manner" with the gunner shooting whales to music and the chief dancing to solo waltzes on the bridge! The darned Norsk radiopresse has been a nuisance to me lately. Last night they put the tape on the sending machine backwards and ran half the presse thru upside down "then had to be repeated correctly, making the whole thing take about ¾ hour.
Tonight, they must have been thinking of the funeral of Queen Maud tomorrow as they sent the press at about 12 words p/m instead of the usual 22 or 23, and I got fed up with it after only getting half a page in thirty five minutes. After-all it is 23.15 now and the Antarctic-whaling season for 1938/39 opens at midnight officially!
We have seen nothing all day but were heading for "Sigfra" who reported plenty of blues this a.m. Altho I don’t expect to be yanked out of my bunk at three a.m. tomorrow, one can never be certain of anything in this job and I think a little shuteye is indicated now. Yes! Tomorrow we begin our 90 days chase after whales, whales, and more whales, and here's hoping there are plenty to chase and that every chase is successful. 100,000 barrels, - or else -?
They started to look for some shelter about twelve, and of course the little tub was tossed about like the proverbial cork! Things got steadily worse and of course sleep was out of the question and it got so bad by three o'clock that I began to lose confidence in old Shusa for the first time in my six and a half months aboard her.
I had been up twice jamming drawers in and fastening everything moveable so that, under ordinary heavy weather conditions they would stay put. Amongst other more terrifying thoughts my mind went back to the visit I payed to the Empire Exhibition and the comparatively insignificant thrill of the scenic railway as compared with the sensation I was getting from the diving and heaving of this little ship!
To make matters worse, and what really got the wind up me was the fact that we were ploughing thru ice fields and smashing into ice with a tremendous force which was liable to crack the bows wide open at any moment. Just after three, we heaved over the huge crest of a swell, ploughed deep into the following trough at an angle of about 30 degrees and crashed into a large chunk of ice at the bottom!
Well! I was almost thrown clean out of my bunk and I jumped the rest of the way to the reeling deck, thinking she was a goner this time for sure! However somehow she managed to pull her nose out of it and came gasping back to a level keel momentarily, before barging into the next one. By this time everything that was not screwed down was on the floor, including a pail full of washing and another of some clean water! Boy! What a mess this place was in. Spent half an hour trying to clean things up a bit, but I was getting battered about from settee to bunk and bunk to floor, landing on my head under the table, etc. etc.
So said to hell with it and got ready to pile into my flying trapeze for another ride! Before doing this I put in the power switches to the transmitter and receiver to be ready for action at a moment's notice, because I was prepared for anything by this time.
Soon after this the wind began to lose force and we got into slightly easier waters. Anyway I was feeling pretty exhausted and sick and finally dozed off around 4.30 a.m.. At 7.30 a.m. it was still bad and we hadn't reached any lee, but the daylight made things look much better and I soon began to feel ok again.
Steward unable to make any breakfast except some porridge and anyway there was only three of us in the mood for eating. Got bearing of Santa who had a good lee and started for her at full speed just after nine o'clock. It was very rough going so I took refuge in the most comfortable place - my bunk, for the remainder of the morning.
Reached the ice about three p.m. so have had a little peace and rest since then. Still quite a strong wind tonite but as long as it doesn't increase it will not bother us much. Getting closer to fishing time so hope weather clears up and gives us a good chance to make a good start on Thursday. Well, bedtime now and me thinks I could use a peaceful sleep tonight so bung-ho and peace betwixt us, mighty sea!
