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

‘hairy’ fringe over the cliff edges; the cliffs are quite high, with caves at their
foot. There was a number of bullocks on this island, several of which we saw. I
helped catch sheep and learnt how to carry them and how to tell their age up to
four years, from their teeth. We next went to First Passage Island and
disembarked our passengers and their shearing equipment in the small bay
where the houses were, and then headed north for West Point Island. It
roughened as we got out of the lee of the Passage Islands and headed north
past Split Island and the Death's Head into Woollie Gut. Mount Beaufort was
in cloud, but I could make out Byron Heights and all the small islands -
Hummock Island, Beuse Island and Rabbit Island. Dolphins accompanied us
and there were several whales spouting nearby. We passed close to the rugged
cliffs of Split Island; they told me there were foxes and guanaco there,
introduced by Jimmy Miller.
In the Woollie Gut there was a very violent tide race but Protector made
good speed, although yawing heavily and at last we rounded the point into the
anchorage of West Point, to find the Philomel lying there, near the little Golden
Fleece. We anchored at 6.50 pm, inshore of Philomel and had supper. As we
were finishing Roddy Napier came aboard to greet us and I went ashore with
him. West Point is an attractive settlement, consisting of a few red-roofed
houses on the hillside and the woolsheds down near the shore. Only six adults
lived there. The island slopes upwards towards the West and South, ending in
high cliffs near Lands End. Mollymauks nested there in large numbers and
many other birds, including penguins and ‘firebirds’ (the Falkland diving
petrel). I had a pleasant evening talking to Mr and Mrs Napier and Roddy
showed me some photographs of Arch Island where he had once stayed for a
few months. He rowed me out to the Protector after showing me several
trypots, formerly used for penguins on the island and now used to extract
mutton fat and tallow. I turned in at 11 o’clock.
Next day we adventurously headed for the string of islands which
stretches out to the Northwest of the Falklands. The anchor was raised at 5.l5
am and we rounded West Point Island, past Cape Terrible and Gibralter Rock
(Slipper Island), with Carcass Island blue in the distance and the remote,
almost mythical, Jasons just showing up to the Northwest. Gibraltar reef
remained on our port side for many miles, a turmoil of raging surf, rising in 15-
20 feet breakers. We passed between White Rock, near the western termination
of the reef and South Fur Island, with its reefs. South Fur was tussock-covered,
flat and with a rocky coast, but there were no longer any fur seal there.
The Philomel was behind us, falling steadily astern and rolling heavily. The
southwesterly swell increased in magnitude as we emerged from the relative
shelter of the reef and we were soon rolling, pitching and yawing, the troughs
of the waves often twenty feet below the crests – very large in relation to the
size of our vessel. There seemed to be reefs and tide rips in every direction and
on looking up the ‘South American Pilot’ I found the area described in
frightening terms.
South Jason, with its serrated ridge and reefs sticking out from both ends,
had to be rounded ‘south about’ before we could head for Elephant Jason. As
we saw the South Jason end-on it appeared as a perfect cone, but at both East
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