New York

Peter Smith was handed the copy during the commercial break. His producer told him to kill the rest of the report, they were going to this story. Peter looked the news copy over as quickly as possible. It was interesting, but to kill the other copy? Then his producer spoke again through the earphone concealed behind his ear. "Be prepared to stay on the air longer, we have great footage... 3, 2, 1, you're on," explained the voice in his ear.

"We have just received word about an apparent tragedy that has taken place in the North Atlantic. As you probably know, today marked the end of the 20 year moratorium on whale hunting. At 7:00 AM, Greenwich Mean Time, the seas were once again opened to harvesting whales. The end of this moratorium has once again pitted the environmentalists against the whalers.

Apparently one of those confrontations took place today and a number of environmentalists are believed to have lost their lives and others were injured. We are going to show you some footage that I have been told is quite graphic."

They rolled the film.

Smith narrated from the TelePrompTer while he attempted to view the tape. Clearly he was having some problems, because he was distracted by the drama unfolding in front of him and uncharacteristic of him, because the footage was so dramatic he stumbled several times with the script.

Greenpeace had done an excellent job in editing the tapes transmitted from the Rainbow Savior. It was graphic. All the necessary highlights were there. The launching of the Zodiacs, the chase, the high pressure spraying, the flipping of the orange Zodiac, the harpooning of the mother whale, the harpooning of the calf, all three charges by the large bull, including the first which graphically showed the crushing of George and Audrey. The tape ended with the dead whales being cut free and the wounded environmentalists being brought back on board.

Peter Smith by direction through his miniature earphone took a break for another commercial. His producer told him they were going to stay on the air another half hour. Greenpeace, the ICW, and a Ph.D. from Woods Hole were standing by.

The commercial ended and for the next thirty minutes experts from all areas voiced their opinions on what happened.

The biggest question kept coming back to, What made the whale attack the ship? And should we allow whaling?

The world had started to learn what had happened in the North Atlantic that day, but no one, expert or not, could ever imagine the full consequences of the day's activities.

While the newscast was in process, the Peder ARRSETT headed east back to Norway, while the Rainbow Savior was headed west to Cape Cod.