Seal Hunter

I had been rotting in prison for 15 years. 

I surrendered to the authorities myself. Nobody arrested me. 

Damn that iceberg! Damn that sinking of the Titanic! Damn that fateful night! Damn my fate! 

There are things you can live with. And there are things your conscience can't bear. Greed is also such a powerful thing. It can make logic and reason fly out through the window. It can turn your heart ice cold. It can turn you into a monster!

I wish I could turn back time. 

Here's my story. 

My grandfather Qvist was a world traveller. He travelled to many places throughout his life. He travelled the globe looking for new ideas and trade opportunities. 

He also collected gems, artefacts and pieces of art from different cultures and brought them back home. He had patrons that funded his trips as investments into future money-making opportunities. 

In his youth, he had travelled to Asia where he encountered seal penises being eaten apparently because they improved a man's performance when with a lady. 

As a traveller, he was also curious and liked to immerse himself in the cultures of the places he travelled to. 

"That's how you feel like you are there." He used to say. " That's how you truly travel. By becoming a local. Even if it's for a brief moment. It makes you feel so alive!" 

He would try a lot of different things in his travels. 

Eating seal penis and spending the nights with the ladies to confirm the assertions for himself was not out of character. 

And that's what he did! 

And he did confirm it! Was it a placebo effect? Did his performance improve simply because he expected it to? We can never truly know. But he was sold! 

Seal penis was the medicine! 

Upon travelling back home to Gothenburg, My grandfather had assembled his patrons together with their friends at a bar and shared with them his wonderful discovery. 

The topic was very exciting. And my grandfather had a talent for great storytelling. Even the rest of the men at the bar gathered closer to learn about how they could be turned into gallant warriors in their chambers after the sun went down. 

All the men present were interested in enhancing their prowess in that sector. I mean as middle-aged men and older, they were at the point in their lives where a booster came in handy in helping enhance their performances. 

Every machine however mean encounters some hiccups here and there, especially after being at work for a long time. And finding ways to help it function at optimum for longer is vital.

A cock must crow whatever come may! At it must crow loud enough! 

And for this, the patrons agreed to fund a trip to the deep seas to capture a seal and test it out for themselves. 

" I went on and on and on…All night!" My grandfather repeatedly told the esteemed men.

They would burst into excited laughter every time he reminded them about his personal experiences with the great effects of the seal penis. The alcohol in their systems was also making the story funnier bringing them more joy and enthusiasm. 

"My magic stick couldn't go down. It stood firm like a spear! I hear the women are still asking for the Viking to experience it all over again. You know we Norsemen are also gifted in size..." 

Which man wouldn't want that? To have their magic stick stand firm and hard as a rock. To leave behind the legacy of being a lover that satisfies fully… To have women asking around for them craving more... And to go on and on and on all night!?

The first expedition went very well. Five seal penises were brought back. The men tested them for themselves. Some with their wives and others with some secret lovers out there. 

The findings were gold! They had found their aphrodisiac! Now they would be kings! Kings of lovemaking!

And that is how my family got into the business of seal hunting!

My grandfather would get founded by the patrons, hire a ship complete with a crew, hunt seals in deep and icy waters, skin them for their fur and cut off the penises from the carcases and then sail back to sell these items for profit. 

It was a very profitable business. The fur was used to make luxurious items for the nobility and the wealthy. The penises were processed and ground into a powder that was sold locally, all over Europe and as far as Arabia, America and even Asia.

My grandfather made enough money to marry a girl from a wealthy family. They had seven children. My father was the firstborn. 

When he came of age, my father was apprenticed into the family business. And he did the same to me when the time came. 

I enjoyed going out into the deep seas with my father and brothers as a child. It was exciting! At night we would sit on the decks and watch the night skies. My brothers and I would try to compete and claim stars for ourselves as we made wishes upon the shooting ones, as my father and his crew enjoyed their rum singing through the voyages when not hunting.  

"I wish I marry a princess." My brother Nar would say. 

" Now it won't happen because you told us." My other brother Shack would attack. 

They would keep bickering back and forth. 

Sometimes though, especially as I got older, I wished I would be in a sunny place. I didn't enjoy the cold nights. And I wasn't sure I wanted this for my future. Not a life at sea! 

We used to hunt at night. 

I didn't like the crying sounds of the seals when they got shot. Sometimes we would shoot some that would escape. In the morning we would see the trails of blood and follow them to recover the carcases after the seals had bled to death. 

If my father noticed any flinching in our faces, he would tell us tales of sea monsters that would rise up from the waters and swallow those that were afraid. He said that they were attracted to fear. That it summoned them. He said our grandfather had seen one. That it had come up to swallow a crew member that had shown fear. 

As we didn't want to be swallowed by a scary sea monster and get dragged down into the ocean beds to rot forever, we tried to summon courage however scary it got. 

"Soon I won't be able to come out here Rag. I fear the waters are getting too cold and my knees are growing weaker by the day. My eyesight isn't as sharp either." My father would tell me. " You are my eldest son and soon you will be in charge of these expeditions." He would add. 

And that is what happened. 

Before long I would be sailing with the crew to hunt seals without my father. Business continued as usual. But it was more dangerous in my time as regulations stipulated where we could and couldn't hunt. 

Several groups back at home and around the world that were against the practice of seal hunting were also beginning to gain momentum. This pushed our business to the underground. The profits remained though. In fact, due to the additional risks involved, we marked up our prices. We intended to build wealth that would last generations. 

" We can be the Rothschilds you know," I remember my grandfather would tell us anytime we went to him with our tales at sea. 

He was proud of me. He told me I would be a great man that would be remembered for years to come. He blessed me and my future generations. He told me I was his favourite grandchild. That I was the one to propel our family to global recognition. 

This motivated me and it made me take more risks. Sail into even deeper waters. I wanted to make his wishes and his prophecies come true. I loved my grandfather. He was a great man. I had also learned a lot from him. Both from his words and his actions. 

On the night of 14th April 1912, we were seal hunting as usual. 

We had turned off our radios to avoid detection but would switch them on from time to time to communicate with another of our ships manned by my brother Nar that was hunting in different waters. We liked to update each other on the progress of our hunts. 

Our onlookers would often tell us that they could see lights at a distance when using their binoculars. We had invested in the latest equipment to enhance our business. 

We suspected it was the Titanic. 

News about its maiden voyage had been all over the news for the past few months. We didn't know who was on board. Probably dignitaries or the authorities even. Because of this, we were even more careful trying to avoid detection as much as possible. We could have tried to avoid its path, but we chased the seals. That's what we were there for. So we went where seals could be found. 

"Did you just see those flashes of light?" Joien the onlooker who was with me on the deck asked. 

"They are still celebrating aboard the Titanic. I hear the first class is magnificent." 

"No Rag." He objected sharply. "Looked like a distress call to me." 

"What do you mean? The mighty Titanic, the great unsinkable is in trouble? That would be absurd!" I slurred. I had had a few pints of rum. 

" I swear by the gods of the sea that those were distress signals." He added. He had also had had some rum. 

We both went into the ship and asked Pieter our radio crew member to turn it on. If the mighty Titanic was in trouble, we would receive the radio calls for help. 

We were a few seconds in when we received the first SOS call. 

We were dumbfounded! Pieter quickly switched the radio off. 

Our minds were racing. We most certainly couldn't rush to their position. We were seal hunting illegally in a location we weren't supposed to be in in the first place! The oceans were also icy and that would be of jeopardy to us. Also, we already had hunted dozens of seals. That would not be a good sight for the passengers of a ship such as the Titanic. Plus we could rescue the authorities who would arrest us on the scene in our own ship!

Our hands were tied. 

"Let's confirm the signal again." Pieter voiced. 

His mind seemed to have been racing as mine had been confused on what action to take. 

The message was the same.

The Titanic was in danger!

Pieter did his thing and confirmed that there were other ships in navigation and could receive the Titanic's distress signal. We hoped they would. 

Having our hands tied, we decided to change course and return to our northern waters. We drained ourselves in rum on the way back not wanting to discuss the events of the night and the tough decision we had just made. 

This expedition was so far loss-making. But it was better than being arrested. There would always be another day to hunt seals and make money. 

It is until we docked months later that we heard about the devastating loss of life that had happened at the Atlantic. An estimated 1500 lives were lost! 

No amount of rum could drain the guilt in my heart. Not for years even. Every time I went back to the waters, I could hear moans and screams and could see floating bodies with arms raised in the air desperate for help. I was losing it! 

After fighting it for years, I surrendered myself to the authorities with admission to seal hunting and running an illegal underground trade. 

They sentenced me to 15 years. In there, I was able to find some peace even though the guilt never truly went away. I tried to atone for my sins but I never received true redemption. 

My family also never forgave me for daring to sink their business and their legacy. They called me an embarrassment. A wasted investment. 

My father never came to see me in prison. Not even once! My grandfather cut me out of his will. He stated that I was barred from attending his funeral in the event of his death. 

I was a lonely man. In a lonely cell. In a lonely world. 

The business went on though. It just got pushed deeper into the underground. 

Ever since I got out of prison, I have been travelling around the world educating people on the dangers of seal hunting and illegal trade. 

Hopefully, I can pay for the role I played in letting the lives of more than 1500 people get lost at sea. 

I doubt my debt will ever be repaid in full, but it's what keeps me going. It's what keeps me alive and sane. It's what gives me some peace. 

That's my family. That's my life. 

Me trying to repay that debt.