Aquatic life cam

[Blue Ghost]

So I'm trying to get inspired to write, and about a half hour north of me is the California Academy of Sciences. For you oceanographers looking for sea-inspiration for your Traveller adventures, here's the academy's official "shark cam".

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8oRfiakLkW8

I makes one wonder how a team of adventurers (not in a starship) would fare against, oh, say, a large school/herd of orcas, great whites, or maybe megalodons :smirk:

 

[Blue Ghost]

I've completed a preliminary draft for a sub oriented adventure, and continue to cruise the net for more inspiration. About an hour south of me is the Monterey Bay Aquarium (used in ST IV), and they have a kind of lo res webcam in the local waters;

http://www.montereybayaquarium.org/efc/efc_opensea/open_sea_cam.aspx

The best aquatic life webcam I've come across so far is Baltimore's National Aquarium, but I think it's down for some reason.

 

[Timerover51]

Based on the fact that there are three confirmed cases of whaling ships being sunk by sperm whales, the Essex in 1819, the Ann Alexander in 1851, and the Kathleen in 1902, you could add belligerent Sperm Whales to that. The whale that sunk the Ann Alexander was later caught.

Five months after this disaster this pugnacious whale was captured by the Rebecca Simms of this port. Two of the Ann Alexander's harpoons were found in him and his head had sustained serious injuries, pieces of the ship's timbers being imbedded in it. The whale yielded 70 to 80 barrels of oil.

A 70 to 80 barrel sperm whale would have been a pretty good sized Bull.

 

[BlackBat242]

Melville's Moby Dick was directly inspired by the Essex incident.

 

[Timerover51]

Melville's Moby Dick was directly inspired by the Essex incident.

You can download "Moby Dick" at Project Gutenberg, and the entire 1956 film version is on YouTube. Ray Bradbury did the screen play for that, and in my view did a really good job.

 

[Blue Ghost]

Hooray for whales.

 

[Orr]

Ray Bradbury did the screen play for that, and in my view did a really good job.

Bradbury thought differently. Read "Green Shadows, White Whale".