Part I: Seals teeth and whales ears - Scott Polar Research Institute ...

was a black terminal band to the tail; the underside of their wings and bodies
was white and shone in the sun.
At 3.45 pm I saw my first iceberg - initially a white spot on the horizon,
which assumed an architectural shape under the binoculars; but it turned out to
be only a small bergy bit. There were lots of ‘growlers’ about later and the first
real berg at 5.0 o’clock. A few hours later a wonderfully sculptured glacier berg
passed to our starboard side. Its shape and colouring were exquisite, as only ice
can produce, but it was still rather far away for us to see at all well and was
swallowed up in a sea-fog that closed down on us. The sea was steel grey and
almost glassy calm and there were several bands of ringed (chinstrap) penguins,
porpoising away from our bows as night fell.
On the 5th I was up at 6.30 am, to see many large tabular bergs around us –
in fresh green translucent shades and great variation in form and structure.
Some were breaking up, pieces falling off into the sea. We were by now in the
Bransfield Strait separating the Antarctic Peninsula from the South Shetland
Islands. While I was on galley duty the precipitous rocks and ice slopes of Smith
Island (6,600 ft) came partly into view through a rift in the sea fog and leaden
clouds, while delicate fluffy snowflakes drifted about us. This was a mystical
setting for my first sight of Antarctic land. There were very many ringed and
some macaroni penguins near, cape-pigeons, terns, giant petrels; mature
wandering albatrosses flew among the large bergs very near the ship, with
fantastic fretted towers and miniature mountain peaks. It was very calm with a
slight swell. At 8.30 am Snow Island and Castle Rock (a volcanic plug) off Smith
Island came into view dead ahead as we emerged from a bank of fog and we
altered course quickly. Then the low-lying Snow Island, with its ice cliffs and
outlying rocky islets showed up when the weather cleared for a short while.
Smith Island was visible again later, with the snow peak of Mount Bartlett on
Livingston Island rising behind it to 5,280 feet. There were many ringed
penguins in the sea around us. The cargo was unlashed in preparation for
unloading, but had to be lashed down again when heavier seas developed.
Deception Island and the South Orkneys
Then Deception Island appeared, cloud-capped and sombre, with less
snow than the other islands. It is volcanic and there are hot springs in places
along its shore. In shape it is roughly a horseshoe, with an excellent natural
harbour in the centre. It is bounded by cliffs of black basalt, red and black larva
ash, and rugged outlying rocks. Rounding the coast to the west, we entered
Whalers’ Bay through the narrow and impressive passage called Neptune's
Bellows and dropped anchor in Pendulum Cove, in 36 fathoms, after a total
passage time from Stanley of 3 days, 18 hours and 50 minutes, and a distance
traveled of 746 miles.
The Norwegian whalers built a shore station here in l912-13, which had
fallen into disuse since the whalers began to use factory ships in the l920’s.
There was talk of them reopening it again. The wrecked whaling station
installations straggled along the shore and to its west was the wooden fourteen-
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