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A thorough hosing
December 17th - Day 19
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Coming from Canada, I steeled my self for the cold of the Antarctic,
as I had done on the many cold winters back home. However, I had
never been sprayed with water cannons and fire hoses in those
frigid temperatures. This is what happened today, when I hunkered
down behind the console of the Hurricane (a large, rigid-hulled
inflatable), and steered us to the catcher ship.
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Their off-loading of yet another minke whale was imminent, and I frantically
tried to get between them and the Nisshin Maru, the factory ship,
where the whales are methodically cut into little individual pieces and
are soon available in a supermarket near you (well, if you live in
Japan anyway).
We crashed around the turbulent sea at their bow, doing all we
could to stay put as we were bombarded with freezing water from
their cannons. My crewmate Vincent, desperately trying to block their streams and give me a clear view. It was not to be, and I was
soon sprayed from three different angles, making Vincent's job moot.
The pressure against the side of my face intense, as a fire hose
was positioned half a meter away. I tried to steer the boat with only
the corner of one eye, and managed to get us next to the whale
that was now about to be freed from the catcher and brought
aboard the Nisshin Maru.
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They let go the line fastening the whale, and this graceful leviathan
was hauled in seconds through the sea, and up the ramp to a
miserable fate. It may be frustrating, but for every whale caught, it
only instils more resolve in our crew to do whatever we can to stop
the illegal hunt of whales in the Southern Ocean.
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Want help the crew put an end to whaling in the Southern Ocean Sanctuary?
Join the Global Whale Action Team to receive updates and alerts about how you can pitch in.
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