The Hunter, a much faster ship, would have to delay the whalers until the Farley could catch up assuming that the fleet could be found.
And as for attacks from some governments citing a disregard for nature and the environment, the whalers are quick to respond that some of their fiercest critics are the world's biggest polluters.
Now, the anti-whalers clearly have the upper hand, and it was noticeable that many of the Caribbean delegations were down to a single person.
Since then, the discussions have become bogged down over non-scientific issues, as the anti-whalers have frustrated all attempts to lift the moratorium.
The anti-whalers supplement their environmental objections with policies based on notions of animal welfare or animal rights.
Having insisted for years that they were capable of managing a sustainable industry, the pro-whalers have shifted emphasis to claim that whaling is essential because whales are consuming so many marine resources.
Cranberries and strawberries became the predominant crops, salt harvesting developed into a significant industry, and a fleet of whalers called the port home.
More importantly, perhaps, a motion to hold secret ballots in future (thought to favour the would-be whalers) failed.
Inside are human skulls, life vests from Japanese whalers, the proud figurehead of a galleon, brass cannons, rigging and sea-worn chains.
The Bequians' tradition dates back about 130 years, to the time when Yankee whalers taught them how to do it.
Watson has become renowned for his attempts to disrupt Japanese whalers on the open water through Animal Planet's "Whale Wars" TV show.
Sleighride is named after the terrifying "Nantucket sleigh ride" whalers used to endure when their prey dragged their boats across the waves.
Global numbers are still recovering after humpbacks were widely hunted and slaughtered by commercial whalers for much of the 20th Century.
Tucked deep into the back corner of a shopping mall, past the Tommy Bahama and Coach shops, sits the tiny, well-laid-out Whalers Village Museum.
Though it now seems hard to believe, this pretty town was once known as 'the hellhole of the Pacific' - a magnet for convicts fleeing Australia, and whalers and sailors too drunk to return to sea.
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