Dolphin Island (19 page)

The Professor was enjoying himself. Despite Nurse’s warning, he looked quite capable
of going on for hours.

“Oh, I don’t mean wire-netting or any solid barrier. But when we know enough Orcan
to talk to killer whales, we can use underwater sound projectors to shepherd them
around and keep them out of places where we don’t want them to go. A few speakers
in the Straits of Gibraltar, a few in the Gulf of Aden—that will make two seas safe
for dolphins. And later, perhaps we can fence off the Pacific from the Atlantic, and
give one ocean to the dolphins and the other to the killer whales. See, it’s not far
from Cape Horn to the Antarctic, the Bering Strait’s easy, and only the gap south
of Australia will be hard to close. The whaling industry’s been talking about this
sort of operation for years, and sooner or later it’s going to be done.”

He smiled at the rather dazed look on Johnny’s face, and came back to earth.

“If you think that half my ideas are crazy, you’re quite right. But we don’t know
which
half, and that’s what we’ve got to find out. Now do you understand why I want you
to go to college? It’s for my own selfish reasons, as well as your own good.”

Before Johnny could do more than nod in reply, the door opened.

“I said five minutes, and you’ve had ten,” grumbled Nurse Tessie. “Out you go. And
here’s your milk, Professor.”

Professor Kazan said something in Russian which conveyed, quite clearly, the impression
that he didn’t like milk. But he was already drinking it by the time that Johnny,
in a very thoughtful mood, had left the room.

He walked down to the beach, along the narrow path that wound through the forest.
Most of the fallen trees had been cleared away, and already the hurricane seemed like
a nightmare that could never really have happened.

The tide was in, covering most of the reef with a sheet of water nowhere more than
two or three feet deep. A gentle breeze was playing across it, producing the most
curious and beautiful effects. In some areas the water was flat and oily, still as
the surface of a mirror. But in others it was corrugated into billions of tiny ripples,
sparkling and twinkling like jewels as their ever changing curves reflected the sunlight.

The reef was lovely and peaceful now, and for the last year it had been his whole
world. But wider worlds were beckoning; he must lift his eyes to farther horizons.

He no longer felt depressed by the prospect of the years of study still ahead. That
would be hard work, but it would also be a pleasure; there were so many things he
wanted to learn about the Sea.

And about its People, who were now his friends.

I hope that if you have read this far, you will want to know how much of this book
is based upon fact and how much is pure imagination.

The hovership described in the opening chapters does not yet exist, of course, but
the first commercial “Hovercraft” (the VA-3 and the SRN-2) are now operating in Great
Britain. In fifty years, such air-supported vehicles may well have grown to the size
of the
Santa Anna
. “Hydrofoils”—boats with large skis which allow them to skim on the surface of the
water at fifty miles per hour or more—are now in common use in Russia and Europe.
Versions carrying several hundred passengers are operating on rivers in the U. S.
S. R.

All the descriptions of the Great Barrier Reef, both above and below water, are entirely
factual and are based on my own explorations as described in
The Coast of Coral
. The story of Mary Watson in
Chapter 13
is perfectly true, and I have changed neither names nor dates. However, her tragic
adventure occurred not on my imaginary Dolphin Island, but on Lizard Island, much
nearer to the mainland. The full story, with a reproduction of Mrs. Watson’s diary—which
I have handled myself—will be found in
The Coast of Coral
.

Whether dolphins are quite as intelligent as I have assumed is one of the most fascinating
problems of present-day research. There is no doubt, however, that they
are
very intelligent and have some sort of language, as well as a marvelous “sonar” system,
which allows them to detect underwater obstacles and to catch fish in the dark. If
you want to know more about these delightful animals, try to get hold of Antony Alpers’
A Book of Dolphins
and Dr. John Lilly’s
Man and Dolphin
, from both of which I obtained much useful material. I would also like to express
my thanks to Mr. F. G. Wood, Curator of Marineland, St. Augustine, Florida, for providing
me with valuable information on dolphin behavior.

The controlling of animals by electrical impulses fed into their brains, as described
in
Chapter 16
, is already an accomplished fact; indeed, it was achieved as early as the 1930s.
If you want to learn more about this fascinating (and rather terrifying) subject,
see the article, “Electrically Controlled Behaviour,” in
Scientific American
for March, 1962.

The description of underwater ultraviolet fluorescence in
Chapter 18
is based on my own observations in the Indian Ocean with an ultraviolet source generously
provided by Dr. Richard G. Woodbridge of Transspace Laboratories, who has pioneered
in this field of submarine illumination. And perhaps I should mention here that I
do
not
recommend night-diving for beginners!