Trading Halt Again, page-9

A beached whale. The vested parties wail and expect to be saved at no cost to themselves. However most will not help to save themselves saying that they did not beach the whale, those that were driving did. The knight that will save them has said "what is in it for me? We need to feed as we are helping " The collateral damage of the beaching are saying "if we help, what are we going to get? We want to be better off." On top of this there are wolves braying for blood.
The whale is beached. If it is not saved then it becomes a rotting carcass with which everyone loses.