Dear Editor
I was re-running some old photographs of Leith Harbour in South Georgia in my head. Most of the pictures were of sailors having fun sledging, but there was one with a view out over the fiord and you could make out the superstructure of two catchers tied up at the dock.
I remember dad telling me that the catchers has their own dock, and how a lot of attention was given over to their servicing during the off-season. In the picture they looked small, around eighty feet or so and in remarkably good condition considering that whaling ended for the Scottish company Salvesen so many years ago.
Driving flat out into a storm chasing down a whale in such a small boat must have been quite a ride, not to say dangerous, although much more so for the whale.
Maybe they should bring one of these catchers back to Edinburgh and park it in the Meadows of Leith Links as a reminder of when men fished for whales.
Sadly whaling still goes on, when will we ever learn?
Walter Hamilton
by email
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