Self-published in 1983 was Kelvin Turnbull’s humorous anthology of tales of whaling where no whaling should really take place. The final chapter took place in the waters off Iceland and was intended to highlight why whaling for any reason and in any location was wrong; it was the only chapter in which the whale was caught and killed.
In an interview published in his hometown newspaper The Northampton Mercury Turnbull explained how he had become an avid ecologist and champion of whales’ rights.
I had been working on a small trawler to earn some money and we were on a night fish when the nets were pulled away from us and the boat turned over. I banged my head and slipped into near unconsciousness, pulled to safety by a crewmate to cling to the hull until rescue came. I had a vivid vision at that time of seeing rising from the surface of the sea the bulk of the whale that had caused me to nearly lose my life and I remember how beautiful it was and thinking that I bore it no ill will.
It was later, after a stay in hospital, that I discovered it had been a submarine but the love for these wonderful sea mammals was firmly in place. The compensation payment for the accident allowed me to start my own publishing business.
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