The Whale Warriors

"This is really about a trip on the Farley Mowat, a boat that went to the Antarctic waters in order to raise awareness about the whaling that was going on there, mainly by Japan. The author, Peter Heller, was incredibly brave to go – it was a small boat, about a third the size of the Japanese boats. The Southern Ocean is a wild place, and they had fog, storms, ice and some near-death experiences on the journey. So first of all it’s a really exciting story about a sea voyage but, more importantly I think, it relates to what’s going on down there with the whales, the justification given by the whalers and the justification of the radical action given by the captain of the Farley Mowat, Paul Watson. While Heller, at times, seems to be presenting an even-handed account, it is clear that in the end he comes down against the whaling. There is also an absolutely magical section in the book where they’ve been pursuing the Japanese whalers in very difficult conditions and two huge humpback whales, about 45 feet long, come up on either side of the Farley Mowat and they make sounds. The crew has the impression that they are speaking to the boat. It’s as if the whales are saying thank you. Yes."