Part III: Antarctica and Academe - Scott Polar Research Institute

to Meier Point for their various tasks, including Ian and Eric to count seals. Six of
us left later in the Geminis (for safety the practice was always to have two in
company, communicating by walkie-talkie radios between themselves and with
the ship). We sped to the largest Gosling Island, where we left Mac and Bob, the
former to botanize, the latter to count seals. Then off to the smaller Gosling
Islands to count seals. (There are a score of them – rounded and glacier smoothed
inshore and frost shattered further out). The general physiography of this area
was unlike anything on Signy, reflecting the different rock formations. The round,
smooth rocks, with shallow pools and inlets between them were beautiful. They
are obviously preferred by the seals as a haul out place, for there were 541
elephant seals, 60 Weddells, 5 leopard and 109 fur seals on these small islands.
We landed at a number of places from the gemini, Peter leaping ashore on the
rocks with the painter and the rest of us following. With some of the Weddells we
had difficulty in reading the tags, because they got into pools and escaped into
the sea. On the larger islands Owen and I split up to count one side or the other.
Most of them held quite large chinstrap penguin colonies. On one of the islands I
saw my first fur seal pup - a small waif, about 24-30 inches long, with black fur
and an old-looking greyish face. It was very active, hopping along and quite
aggressive, with a querulous bark. The geminis came back with Bob and Mac and
we went to see a small harem of 1 male, 8 cows and 15 pup fur seals on the largest
Gosling Island. Another 38 males were hauled out nearby. The pups were still
suckling and looked quite large in relation to their mothers, which in turn looked
very small compared to the bull. We then went to pick up Jerry on Meier Point to
transfer him to the large Gosling Island, which had two lakes at its centre. He
was in a wet suit and had had an interesting time on Cape Meier, where he had
found moss in a lake. A quick run ashore at a point about 2 miles north east
showed 155 elephant seals. There were breeding gentoo penguins, with downy
young and about 150 shags, many with fledged young. First returning to pick up
Jerry we all returned to the ship after a very worthwhile day.
Another fine day followed and we set off in the geminis for the points east of
Cheal Point. At two of them we found elephant seals - either on shingle beaches
fronting a glacier, but inshore of rock islets, therefore sheltered, or on rocky
ledges. There were chinstrap penguins on every rock outcrop. Andy drove us fast
along the coast, ice cliffs first, then very broken angular boulders around Cheal
Point and Return Point. Here again thousands of penguins had gained a foothold
on land, in some places very precarious (overlooking steep overhangs or high
cliffs). Humph and Mac landed on the south shore of Return Point and we
continued, seeing very few seals and then returned to pick up the others and then
out to the Biscoe offshore. The Sandefjord Peaks were very near and yet remote,
their fantastic bosses of highland ice, formed from rime, very prominent.
Biscoe now moved up into Sandefjord Bay and anchored. Owen Andy and I
went off again along the coast from Moreton Point northwards. There were very
few suitable beaches - most of this coastline is moraine or ice-cliff - but on one
shingle beach behind a rocky islet we saw 46 fur seals and some elephants. There
was a very good example of "fossil ice", overlain by moraine. At the northern end
of this stretch was a beautiful promontory of smooth, glacier-worn rocks under a
towering blue ice cliff. The rocks were rounded with pools in the hollows and
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