STEEL SHIPS AND HELICOPTERS l8l 



to kill just as many whales, despite the limitations of the 

 weather. 



Carl turned to the burly mate. 'Berndt,' he said, 'those 

 helicopters — suppose the companies ever decided to use 

 them instead of catchers?' 



Berndt grunted. 'Don't worry, Carl, they never will. 

 They tried electrocuting whales once — said it was more 

 humane or something — but it never came to much, did 

 it?' 



'No, the gunners didn't like it. But you've got to face 

 facts, Berndt. We lose a lot of whales through broken 

 harpoon lines and the one catcher they tried it on lost 

 almost none.' 



'If it was such a good idea then why didn't it take on?' 

 grunted the mate. 



'Because, Berndt, our folk do not like changes,' replied 

 Carl. 



'But people are always trying new things. Look at the 

 scheme the British tried in Africa — getting margarine 

 from ground nuts so as to give the whales a rest. Some 

 said that that would threaten our livelihood but it didn't, 

 because it failed.' 



'It was a brave effort though, Berndt. The British 

 know that the whales in the Antarctic must be given a rest 

 sometime and that the world must discover other ways 

 of producing edible fats. We gunners all go for the biggest 

 whales ; that is only natural, but if you look at the statistics 

 you'll see that it causes the average lengths to fall every 

 year. It is that and not so much the actual numbers that 

 the governments worry over because they know that the 

 whales cannot reproduce themselves below certain lengths. 

 Make no mistake, Berndt. If the world of commerce can 

 find better ways of getting oil it will use them and think 

 afterwards about the whalemen of the Westfold.' 



'Huh!' grunted Berndt. 'You've been reading too 

 many Whaling Gazettes, Carl.' 



