Page 16 - Willem Barentsz

childish boys, those Japanese. Until wind force 7 they continue to sail with their tenders, but bad
visibility is treacherous.

On the bridge it is again full of activity. The AM15 shouts "if we hear beacon 42, we shouldn't be too
far away from it". With the Telefunken direction finder, we are listening. The beacon comes off and on
at least half in the water. With a 60-degree swing, the bearing is done, and a new course is
transmitted to the AM15 based on bearing and plot. That will be fine, there are experienced people
on board.

A few blue and fin whales behind the factory ship

The catchers have stopped fishing. The last fish has been taken alongside, and the course is set for
the penultimate one. If only they sail a little carefully with that rough sea. If a fish's tail breaks off, the
misery is incalculable. It is a torture to get a steel wire around the abdomen in bad weather and then
it remains to be seen whether the fish will come on deck, because the tail is the only grip. Today a
total of 43 fish, which is not bad at all. The second, who takes over the watch a little before eight
o'clock, will be busy. The chief will not have a chance to play bridge tonight either, because with one
man less (on board the AM5), a lot of "traffic" and another bunker boat, he must help. The AM5 asks
how the patient is doing. "He has just had surgery for an appendix inflammation, and everything is
going well".

If the weather improves, the tanker should come alongside tomorrow. We will then dive into the ice
to have calmer water. It is difficult for the buoy ships to deliver, but it is beautiful. Robben lie lazily on
an ice floe and only look up when you almost sail over them. Penguins sit by the hundreds on a low
iceberg and every now and then a cheeky one sits on a fish and lets himself be pulled aboard. He