The Hunt

Captain Unset had been up long before the sun. All night he had tossed in a restless sleep, never actually falling into that semiconscious state between awareness and death. Although he had purposely not gone to his cabin till well after midnight, the tension and excitement of the upcoming days activities kept him from sleep. Even the straight scotch taken just before bed had done nothing to soothe his nerves and aid the onset of sleep. Knud remembered passing into a semiconscious state three times, only to awaken immediately to face the same paint cracks on the ceiling. Finally at four bells he decided he would fight it no more and got up. He showered, made an entry into his diary, dressed, and went to the mess.

Entering the mess, he was surprised to find three other crewmen gathered around the coffee pot. As the Captain lowered his head to step through the watertight door, they greeted him cheerfully. He returned their greeting and asked if he wanted a cup of coffee. He cheerfully answered, "Yes, thank you."

It was Knut Handsen who remarked while handing the Captain a freshly poured cup of coffee, "That they were like children at Christmas waiting to go downstairs to see what St. Nicholas had left. Only this time they were waiting for Father Time."

They all had a good laugh, dispelling some of the tension. The Captain walked over to Knut, placed his hand on his shoulder, and remarked; "You had better hope that the cannon fires, for I have heard a rumor that you have spent so much time polishing it, that you may have polished the firing pin right off." They really laughed at that, especially since Knut accidentally sprayed his mouthful of coffee all over the table at the Captain's punch line.

Captain Unset wished them good hunting, and he made his way out of the mess heading for the bridge deck. There he found Peter Swen at the helm and First Mate Nordengen updating the ship's position on the chart. "Morning Peter, morning Arvid," said the Captain. Both men looked up from their work and returned the Captain's greeting.

"You are up early, Captain", replied Arvid.

"Yes, sleep did not come easy," he admitted. "But I found in the mess that I was not alone."

"Yes," replied Arvid, "The mess has been busy all night. It appears we have a very excited crew."

"Let's hope we are able to fulfill their expectations today," answered the Captain.

First Mate Nordengen, stood up from the chart table and walked over to the weather fax machine on the port side of the cabin. Tearing off the last transmission, received within the hour, he held it up for the Captain to see and said, "The weather promises to be in our favor." Taking the printout from Arvid, the Captain walked over to the chart table and laid it flat. As he was studying it, Arvid added, "It looks like we will remain in the high pressure area for at least two more days. There will be some limited visibility later today and tomorrow, because of the high dew point, but the wind will only be 5-10 knots and the seas should remain flat."

After reviewing the printout, the Captain reached into his pocket for his ever present pipe. He pulled his tobacco pouch from his other pocket. Unzipping the pouch, he stuffed tobacco into the bowl and returned the closed pouch to the pocket.

The Captain turned and checked the engine gauges next to the helmsmen. Rpm, temperature, oil pressure, and fuel consumption all seemed normal. "It looks like all we need now are the whales to cooperate," said the Captain.

"They will," replied Arvid, "This will be a great day," he concluded.

"I hope you are correct Arvid, or we are going to have a very disappointed crew." He paused and then continued, "I'm going on deck to smoke my pipe," and the Captain opened the door and stepped out onto the bridge deck.

Standing in the fresh morning air, the Captain scanned the horizon in front of the Peder ARRSETT. The seas were calm and although it was only 4:30 AM, the sun was well above the horizon. Knud liked summer in the Arctic, where the sun never really set from June through September. He turned his back to the wind as he had done countless times before, struck his lighter, held it to the bowl of his pipe, and drew on it until he was satisfied it was lit. Returning the lighter to his pocket, he again faced the wind, took a deep breath of the salt air, exhaled, put his pipe to his mouth and drew in the sweet tasting smoke. He leaned onto the railing and thought to himself how lucky he was to again be hunting whales.

Just ten miles over the horizon a similar activity was taking place on another ship, the Rainbow Savior. Captain Fowler had chosen not to sleep and, after only a short catnap following dinner, took the 12:00 to 4:00 AM watch. Although Josh Edwards and George Montclair had encouraged the crew to sleep, they too were faced with apprehension, excitement, and general nervousness, which kept most of the 45 men and women of Rainbow Savior up all night playing Trivial Pursuit, reading, or just pacing the decks. Standing on the foredeck, staring ahead at a boat he couldn't see, Josh turned to George and said, "I'm worried about the crew. No one slept last night."

"You needn't worry," George replied, "It's normal before an operation like this. They will be all right, I assure you."

"But the crew needs rest," he said.

"Josh, they don't need rest, their adrenaline level is so high that they will handle themselves just fine. What I worry about, is that if nothing happens today, the let down will have a negative impact."

Josh thought for a moment, then turned to George. "Yes, I guess you're right," and again turning to look at the invisible ship over the horizon he asked, "How dangerous do you really think these men are in front of us George?"

"I don't really know. I have asked myself that same question many times. These men are not your usual whalers, especially the Captain, his first mate, and of course the harpooner, Knut Handsen. Men in it for the money have a point at which they will stop. Beyond that imaginary point, they just calculate that it is no longer worth the risk. Usually you can estimate that point. These men, however, are not in it for the money. They are fanatics. There is no imaginary point that can be estimated. That is what scares me about these men Josh. In my opinion, they are very dangerous!"

George's words further heightened Josh's concern. Josh saw the fear in his face, but striking before he could speak, George continued, "I'm so concerned Josh, I want you to let me lead the Zodiacs. I have the experience, I've been shot at, and have been nearly run over. I'm the only one that's been through this before. I believe, and you have to agree, I'm the best equipped to call the shots in those Zodiacs. They can't be called from here."

Josh stared at George. He wasn't sure what to say. George was correct. If these men were as dangerous as George said they were, Peter Ashley, the current designated Zodiac leader, was too inexperienced for this operation. George was the better choice. George, seeing that Josh did not say no to the idea, knew that his silence meant that he was weighing the alternatives. He struck again, "You can get Peter aside and tell him that for old times sake you have put me in charge. Then ask him to keep an eye on me." He waited for a response.

Josh liked the idea. As expedition leader he was responsible for its success and George's experience was invaluable. "Are you sure you want to do this?" he asked.

George nodded his head, "Yes, I'm sure," he answered.

"OK, you will be the Zodiac leader. I wish you God's speed. I only wish I could go." The two men shook hands. Josh saw a glint in George's eyes and he knew he had made the right decision.

Josh went forward and asked the Captain to assemble all hands not directly working on running the ship on the quarter deck. It was 5:00 AM. The speakers throughout the ship sounded and in less than five minutes the crew, less Peter Ashley who George had intercepted in the mess, was waiting at the stern of the ship.

Soon Josh appeared with Peter. The conversation with him had been brief. Not really a conversation but an information briefing on the change in plans. Peter was not asked for his opinion, nor was he given a chance to respond. After completing his explanation, Josh looked directly into Peter's eyes and at his face. His assessment was that he took it well. He believed that as long as he was in the Zodiacs, Peter didn't care who led the intercept. It would all depend on how he informed the crew of the change.

Reaching the back of the ship, Josh looked at the assembled crew. Picking up the megaphone to his mouth, he depressed the button:

"Good morning." There was a general good morning reply from the crew. "Today we expect to see some action. Just over the horizon, less than ten miles from us is the Peder ARRSETT. As you know she cannot fire harpoons until after 7:00 AM, as dictated by the ICW. We expect she is probably beginning to search for whales. If she spots any before 7:00 she will stalk them until the prescribed time. I have made a slight change in plans for our operation today. I have asked George Montclair to take command of the Zodiac fleet and requested Peter to accept the position of second in command. I thought about it last night and one intercept leader suddenly didn't make any sense. Chances are we will have mechanical or some other problem out there today, and with only one leader what would happen if it was the lead Zodiac. Since George has trained all of you, rather than have to make another choice within this talented group, I took the easy way out and asked George. I must confess, I also had an alternate motive." He pointed to George. "I just didn't want to be left on board with the nervous mother hen." They all laughed.

"We must be prepared to launch the Zodiacs at any time now, so I ask you to get to your positions and start preparation routines. Thank you."

The crew needed no further direction as they began scrambling to their assigned work stations. George and Peter shook hands, George saying, "Let’s go prepare our crews." As they walked off together, Josh went forward to the bridge. On the bridge, the first thing he did was to check the special receiver that would turn on when their plant on board the Peder ARRSETT would signal they had spotted whales and were beginning the hunt. Josh stared at the black box. Then he carefully reached down and depressed the test button. The green light came on indicating the electronic device was functioning.

Captain Fowler, watching Josh, suddenly broke into a laugh. "The first thing anyone does when they come in here is to press that button. "I'm going to put a sign on it, a dollar a push. I'll be rich," and he laughed again. Josh couldn't help but laugh with him.

Josh looked through the windshield of the pilot house, scanning the horizon in front of the boat. "Well it could occur anytime now Captain. Think we’re ready?"

"We're okay Josh. You can never be ready for something like this, you can only prepare for what you think might happen, and then hope it does," replied the Captain.

Both boats sailed on. The Peder ARRSETT, unaware it was being stalked, and Rainbow Savior unaware that Captain Knudson had prepared a little surprise just in case he was confronted with demonstrators.