Chapter ElevenGREENLAND SEA
MARCH 1914
There are three sorts of people; those who are alive, those who are dead, and those who are at sea.
Attributed to Acharsis, 6th Century BC
Was this order the captain's retaliation for John Pratt's earlier opposition? Was Captain Milne proving his authority by sending Pratt forward to kill a bladdernose seal with only a club? It was unbelievable, and yet, the men were in a semi- circle, watching, waiting to see what would happen. They expected Pratt to obey.
When the seal reared up, I saw it was larger than any I had seen before and a hundredfold more aggressive than the animals that lay supine on the sandbanks of the Tay. Silver coloured, with mottled dark markings, it was at least nine feet long, with a body three times as thick as a man, and wh
