Killer

and all the staff and girls

of Collingwood school

with thanks.

OceanofPDF.com

THE LURE OF THE DOLPHIN, FIRST BROADCAST ON BRITISH T.V. 1975

Showed film of experiments performed by the U.S. Navy concerning the training of dolphins, narwhals and killer-whales in techniques of underwater recovery.

Various authorities on the behaviour and training of these creatures revealed they were also being trained in anti­personnel work, and being taught to kill divers.

DAILY MAIL, NOVEMBER 1977

[Wild dolphins have been] trained by the U.S. Navy to patrol Vietnam’s ports against enemy frogmen despatching them with bayonets strapped to their blunt noses.

DAILY EXPRESS, DECEMBER 1, 1977

Squads of dolphins trained to kill enemy divers with gas guns, have already been used to defend American naval bases.

TESTIMONY TO THE SENATE COMMITTEE ON INTELLIGENCE ACTIVITIES, NOVEMBER, 1977

(i) James Fitzgerald, former Chief of the Office of Dolphin Research, Central Intelligence Agency:

“With their built-in sonar the dolphins detected enemy demolition divers on sabotage missions. They impaled them with hypodermic needles connected to carbon-­dioxide cartridges. The frogmen just blew up and exploded.”

(ii) Spokesman for the Office of Naval Research:

“Some sixty North Vietnamese frogmen were nullified by our dolphins.”

(iii) James Mullen, ex-trainer:

“One weakness of the dolphin is its strong love for humans. So when they kill, they are killing for those they have learned to love.”

OceanofPDF.com

PRELUDE

Everything in the AIM Facility in Oregon shone with the same deep shine, from the back of the killer whale to the boots of the sentry who checked Admiral Hope’s pass. Commander Harper had returned like a whirlwind from his grilling at the Pentagon, and the scientists and enlisted men had listened, totally bemused, to the endless stream of orders which had come from their usually preoccupied and easy-going CO. He needed more money. And if he was to get it he must impress the Navy. And if he was to impress the Navy then he must first impress Admiral Hope. And Admiral Hope had given fair warning that he wasn’t a man to be easily impressed.

For the first time in two years the sergeant’s bellow had echoed above the regular thump of marching feet over the placid waters of the anchorage. Teams of men had repainted the old hulks down to water-line, had gone through the laboratories disturbing dust and notes with equal ferocity, cleaning computers, shining video equipment. Professors seconded from half a dozen universities began saluting everything that moved. White lines appeared on the ground, stars and stripes in the air – after the flagpole had been repainted. For thirteen days there was bedlam; and on the fourteenth, absolute quiet.

“Well,” said Admiral Hope, as Harper escorted him up the white steps to the main Administration Building, “you run a tight ship, Commander, I’ll say that for you.”

The sentry at the door crashed to attention. The commander’s hand rose fractionally ahead of the admiral’s to return the rigid salute.

The Alternative Intelligences Marine Facility was centred on the bay of the anchorage. The long arms of land almost met a thousand yards out from the mainland, and, as they swept back from the sea, they gained stature until they met in a cliff almost two hundred feet high looking out over the Pacific. The back wall of the main Administration Building extended this cliff by another fifty feet, before sloping into a red roof. On either side of the Administration Building were the laboratories. In front of the Administration Building was the parade ground, with the sleeping quarters, the recreation hall, the Facility’s gymnasium, cinema and shops arranged around it. It was not a big base, but in the mid-morning sunshine it looked functional and impressive.

The admiral saw it all, from the incredibly tidy laboratories to the surprisingly clean mess hall. They did not talk business until they were settled in Harper’s office after the inspection and the formal lunch were over.

“Now,” said the admiral mildly, “I’ve seen what the place looks like. Now you have to show me precisely what it does that is so all-fired important.”

Commander Harper’s hand went to sweep back his hair before he remembered he had had it cut short. He adjusted his tie instead.

“We have seven of the leading members of the genus Delphinidae here, sir,” he began. “First there is the common dolphin, measuring eight to ten feet; second, the bottlenosed dolphin, slightly larger at nine to twelve feet average; third, the white beluga, ten to twelve feet; the narwhal, twelve to eighteen feet, which has only one tooth, six feet long like a unicorn’s horn; next we have the pilot whale, eighteen to twenty-two feet; the bottle-nosed whale which is like a huge bottlenosed dolphin measuring up to thirty-six feet; and lastly, the star of our show, the killer whale or grampus.”