Day 23 150 Miles Southwest of Greenland

Whales and whales and whales. 

We are still motor sailing at about 5 to 6 knots with a south southwesterly wind of about 10 knots, relatively flat seas and continued cloudy skies. 

I was asked to be Temporary Watch Leader today while Sherwood was on mess duty. 

My 8 to noon watch was refreshing in its serenity. Smooth seas, a warmer wind and visibility of 10 miles made for a reduced wind chill and pleasant conditions. The moisture in the clouds even briefly  produced a double rainbow! 

Our course is roughly parallel and in between two major currents,  the warm Denmark Current flowing north to the east of us and the cold East Greenland Current flowing south to our west. This, apparently is the sweet spot for whales. We have regularly been spotting Fin Whales in pods of about 6 spouting and swimming parallel to the ship, surfacing off either side and even have seen one swimming across our bow about 300 yards in front of us.

Talk on Nellie has been focused on two main subjects; the plan to make port at St. Johns, New Foundland and "The Murder Game". 

The Tall Ship regatta that we will be attending to celebrate the 150 anniversary of the founding of Canada will start with a parade of ships as they enter Quebec City on the 18th of July. This will require that we arrive only at that time and in a particular order. This means that we will have to be precise about our arrival and we now are a bit ahead of schedule presuming that we will not have to change course due to ice. In order to make our schedule we may have to make our official entry into Canada at St. Johns and stay there for a night or two. 

The Murder Game started today. This is essentially the game of Clue played out in real time. We all drew three pieces of paper from three different pots; one with a name, one with a location and one with a weapon. The object of the game is to get your victim to freely accept the weapon from you in the specified location. When this happens, you receive thier draws and proceed to the next victim. 

Unfortunately for me, I've drawn the First Mate with a spoon in the toilet. Since he has a private toilet this will be very difficult. I can, however, enlist an assassin from the ranks of the people already dispatched. I'm hoping that I will last long enough to be able to use the Engineer or his assistant.