The Law of the Tongue

Off the coast of 1920s New South Wales, Hatch, a middle-aged captain, approaches a rival’s whaling station in his wooden motor boat. A right whale carcass bleeds out into the bay before the station, its lips and tongue completely eaten away. As Hatch and his mate, Blair, attempt to tow away the carcass, an orca slams into their boat, sending the men tumbling into the sea. The orca devours Blair, but the station’s whalers haul Hatch up onto the flensing deck. The Chief Whaler claims Hatch’s boat, but still shocked by the bleeding whale and the loss of his mate, Hatch demands to know the station’s secret. The Chief explains that the men live by a law of mutual benefit. The orcas drive the catch into the bay and get the tongue as a reward. Hatch promises their secret is safe with him, and the Chief can all but guarantee it as the orca leaps up and rips off Hatch’s jaw…by the law of the tongue!