Nicole by Richard Peirce

Author:Richard Peirce [Peirce, Richard]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Random House South Africa
Published: 2017-07-12T22:00:00+00:00

Every 33 seconds the tag recorded light intensity, pressure and depth.

On day nine, fate intervened and helped her again. She was swimming on the surface when her sense of smell told her of a meal in a westerly direction. She followed the trail and came across several dead but fresh fish floating on and near the surface. She wasted no time in filling her belly. She didn’t know it but her opportune meal had been a tiny part of a trawler’s catch, which had been lost over the side of the boat.

Shark P12 didn’t know only where she was going; she also knew how she was going to get there. To the south of southern Africa, the Atlantic and Indian oceans meet, and where they meet a powerful east-moving ocean current system is created. The shark initially headed southwest from Gansbaai, and then turned more south than west. She held this course for her first 26 days, swimming on or near the surface, and then on day 26 she changed course and started heading southeast. She was hitching a ride on the east-flowing current system and, with minor diversions, her course would now be eastwards for the rest of her journey.

For centuries sailors have spoken of the Roaring Forties, some with dread, others with excitement, but all with respect. The Roaring Forties are between 40 and 50 degrees latitude south, and get their name from the incessant winds that blow across this part of the ocean. To the Great White it was just more sea and, although inhospitable, it was something she was well equipped to deal with.

Like Mako, Thresher and Porbeagle sharks, Great Whites are semi-warm-blooded. They have a countercurrent heat exchange system that is housed in a complex web of arteries and veins and is known as the rete mirabile or wonderful net. The system enables these sharks to maintain a constant temperature in parts of their bodies, regardless of the surrounding water temperature. This warm-blooded characteristic would now be one of the keys to the shark’s survival.

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