he’s in Hobart, getting ready to return to the Southern Ocean to fight Japanese whalers who are not supposed to be there, but who go there every year to hunt whales anyway. You must know that there’s a moratorium on whaling, right?”
“Yes.”
“Well, the waters of the Southern Ocean constitute a special whale sanctuary. They’re protected waters. Nobody’s allowed to hunt there. And yet, Japanese whalers hunt and kill thousands of whales every year, and call it ‘research.’ Then they sell the meat on the market. Everyone knows it’s not for research, but nobody has the guts to stop them, except Captain Watson. Nobody lives in Antarctica, so there’s no police force, which is why the Sea Shepherd Society must go there, find the whalers, and stop them. They do everything they can to prevent the killing. If you want to be an environmentalist, Alfred, then you must agree with them, right?”
“Yes, of course.”
“And that’s why I’m here from Sydney. That tanker over there, the Indigo , is filling up with oil as we speak. The day after tomorrow, she’s scheduled to sail for the Southern Ocean, where she’s not supposed go, because oil tankers are not permitted below the 60-degree latitude line, where an oil spill would be catastrophic for whales, seals, penguins, and all sea life. But no one’s stopping her. That tanker is going to refuel the whalers so that they can keep hunting. Otherwise, they’d have to go home. So that’s why I’m here, to bring a court injunction to stop the Indigo from leaving port tomorrow.”
“But it didn’t work?”
“That’s right, because the pockets of oil companies are deeper than everybody else’s, and politicians are in the habit of rewarding whoever funds their political campaigns. So, we lost this battle, but not the war. Did you follow that?”
“I think so.”
Jewels took another sip of tea, and stared over the cup. “Alfred?”
Here it comes. “Yes?”
“Let me ask you a hypothetical question.”
“Okay.”
“Let’s say you wanted to stop a ship like the Indigo from leaving port, just for a week or so. What would you do, short of blowing it up? I’m just talking hypothetically here, of course. I’m not being serious.”
She sure sounded serious. “What would I do?”
“Yeah, what would you do, but so that you wouldn’t get caught? Just for fun, what would you do?”
I thought about it. “Well, I might try wrapping ropes around the propeller. They’d twist up and shut the engine down maybe, and possibly cause some engine damage. Well, it would burn out the engine of a smaller boat for sure, but maybe not a tanker. The big engines of a tanker probably have safety features built in to protect them from things like that. Probably it would shut them down just for a day or so.”
“But for longer than that, what would you do? Just hypothetically.”
She stared at me so closely it felt as though she were counting the hairs of my eyelashes. I stared back. She didn’t look like the kind of person who would sabotage a tanker. On the other hand, I didn’t know what a person like that looked like. “I suppose if I really had to stop a ship from leaving port, I’d probably cut through the blades of the propeller with a blow torch, or at least part way. Then, I’d wrap a chain around the blades underwater, so that when the ship started up her engines, the chain would snap the propeller blades clear off. The propeller of a tanker like that has probably got four blades, or maybe five. You’d probably have to cut through just two blades to keep her from sailing. I’m guessing it would take them at least a couple of weeks to get another propeller, if not a month. I think that’s what I’d do. I sure wouldn’t want to get caught though.”
“No, of course not. It’s just a hypothetical question anyway. Nobody’s going to do that.” She smiled strangely. “How long would it take to cut through two blades?”
“Probably a couple of
“Yes.”
“Well, the waters of the Southern Ocean constitute a special whale sanctuary. They’re protected waters. Nobody’s allowed to hunt there. And yet, Japanese whalers hunt and kill thousands of whales every year, and call it ‘research.’ Then they sell the meat on the market. Everyone knows it’s not for research, but nobody has the guts to stop them, except Captain Watson. Nobody lives in Antarctica, so there’s no police force, which is why the Sea Shepherd Society must go there, find the whalers, and stop them. They do everything they can to prevent the killing. If you want to be an environmentalist, Alfred, then you must agree with them, right?”
“Yes, of course.”
“And that’s why I’m here from Sydney. That tanker over there, the Indigo , is filling up with oil as we speak. The day after tomorrow, she’s scheduled to sail for the Southern Ocean, where she’s not supposed go, because oil tankers are not permitted below the 60-degree latitude line, where an oil spill would be catastrophic for whales, seals, penguins, and all sea life. But no one’s stopping her. That tanker is going to refuel the whalers so that they can keep hunting. Otherwise, they’d have to go home. So that’s why I’m here, to bring a court injunction to stop the Indigo from leaving port tomorrow.”
“But it didn’t work?”
“That’s right, because the pockets of oil companies are deeper than everybody else’s, and politicians are in the habit of rewarding whoever funds their political campaigns. So, we lost this battle, but not the war. Did you follow that?”
“I think so.”
Jewels took another sip of tea, and stared over the cup. “Alfred?”
Here it comes. “Yes?”
“Let me ask you a hypothetical question.”
“Okay.”
“Let’s say you wanted to stop a ship like the Indigo from leaving port, just for a week or so. What would you do, short of blowing it up? I’m just talking hypothetically here, of course. I’m not being serious.”
She sure sounded serious. “What would I do?”
“Yeah, what would you do, but so that you wouldn’t get caught? Just for fun, what would you do?”
I thought about it. “Well, I might try wrapping ropes around the propeller. They’d twist up and shut the engine down maybe, and possibly cause some engine damage. Well, it would burn out the engine of a smaller boat for sure, but maybe not a tanker. The big engines of a tanker probably have safety features built in to protect them from things like that. Probably it would shut them down just for a day or so.”
“But for longer than that, what would you do? Just hypothetically.”
She stared at me so closely it felt as though she were counting the hairs of my eyelashes. I stared back. She didn’t look like the kind of person who would sabotage a tanker. On the other hand, I didn’t know what a person like that looked like. “I suppose if I really had to stop a ship from leaving port, I’d probably cut through the blades of the propeller with a blow torch, or at least part way. Then, I’d wrap a chain around the blades underwater, so that when the ship started up her engines, the chain would snap the propeller blades clear off. The propeller of a tanker like that has probably got four blades, or maybe five. You’d probably have to cut through just two blades to keep her from sailing. I’m guessing it would take them at least a couple of weeks to get another propeller, if not a month. I think that’s what I’d do. I sure wouldn’t want to get caught though.”
“No, of course not. It’s just a hypothetical question anyway. Nobody’s going to do that.” She smiled strangely. “How long would it take to cut through two blades?”
“Probably a couple of
Similar Books
