172 THE WHALE HUNTERS 



gave the order to cast off from the mother ship. The 

 engine telegraphs rang, the screw churned the blue water 

 to white foam and Carl's eighteenth season began. 



During the rest of November and the whole of Decem- 

 ber the expedition could kill only sperm whale for which 

 the season was open eight months of the year. You never 

 know what price sperm oil is going to fetch to-day for its 

 uses are quite different from those of oil from baleen 



whales, but the British Ministry of Food will always pay 

 a fair price for the meal that can be dehydrated from 

 the flesh. 



It was in search of the more valuable baleen whales that 

 this ;£'3 million worth of shipping had come from the other 

 side of the globe on a ^(^i million expedition. 



On Christmas Day Carl's catcher sheltered from a 

 howling gale under the lee of a big iceberg and her 

 company did their best to celebrate while the little ship 

 rolled her scuppers under. 



As the baleen season approached the tanker arrived 

 from South Africa and moored to the Wanderer. In return 

 for fuel oil she took the factory ship's cargo of sperm oil. 

 Then she headed north bound for Liverpool and the nine 

 catchers and the two towing boats nestled up to the 

 mother ship while she gave them fuel oil, food stores and 

 long awaited letters from home. 



The factory's empty tanks, vats and plumbing were 



