Page 19 - Willem Barentsz

food on the catchers than usual and for once generously sprinkled with spirits. In the evening you
would hear one sad Norwegian ballad after another on the radio. Furthermore, they continued
without interruption (and without spirits) throughout the season. At the end of the season, the
catchers got some more rest. The days became shorter and if there was no fish to pick up and drag,
everyone could enjoy a few hours of undisturbed rest. If you could float at night in the lee of a large
iceberg, that was a bonus. Of course, you had to be very careful not to drift into it. Yet we never had
any problems with ice, because everyone was well attuned to it. Very large icebergs, and there were
quite a few, also offered the factory ship a great opportunity to take shelter, for example during major
repairs to a catcher. Once we were moored with the factory ship behind a large iceberg to get a
catcher watertight, which had been hit by another at full speed. What do you do with two broken
catchers, one with a dented bow and the other with the hold full of water?? .... One tows the other to
Cape Town and the dented nose comes back after repair. Quickly a telegram home "write to Cape
Town" fresh mail!!

The AM2 takes a solid dive

Whale sickness.
All in all, it was a busy life. With thick fog or very bad weather, if fishing was not possible, people were
soon "whale sick". From the "Willem Barendsz" we tried to do something about it by broadcasting
music on one of the telephone transmitters. Aunt Leen, Johnny Jordaan and the Three Jacksons
(Dutch sentimental song singers and accordion players) were very popular, especially with the
Norwegians, but as a remedy for "whale sickness" they were not sufficient either. As far as