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

New Island, Beaver Island and Weddell came in sight and at mid afternoon
we passed the apparently inaccessible North and Saddle Islands and turned
into New Island’s Ship Harbour, past tussac-covered islands, and anchored. It
had been a rough trip. I went ashore with Peter Tilbury and Johnny and two
seamen. Cracker Davis agreed to take us over to the fur seal rookery on the
West side of the island, and we decided to walk rather than ride. The way led
over a hill north of the settlement, called Rookery Hill, and then down to a
rocky cove between Precipice Hill and Landsend Bluff. There had been fires
here and the blackened ground was covered with small pebbles, lying a few
inches apart, looking as if they had just been cast down.
Scrambling down we found ourselves overlooking some shelving rocks, on
which were lying over five hundred fur seals of all ages. It was a wonderful
sight for me to see these rare animals at such close quarters. There were one or
two sea lions amongst them. The old ‘wig’ fur seals were very large and looked
like old ‘jaspers’ (sea lions), except for the shape of the head and body and
absence of a mane. Many had silvery fur. There were several large pups in
sight and doubtless others among the rocks. The slopes above were black with
oil and filth, showing that the seal had often climbed one or two hundred feet
up from the sea. I found two dead pups and obtained two teeth and
measurements. The fur seals were very tame and it was only when we
dislodged a couple of sea lion ‘clapmatches’ (females), which plunged into the
sea, that the fur seals took fright. They played about in the water just offshore,
displaying no fear. Some of their attitudes were amusing; they would stand on
their heads under water, with only the hind flippers waving in the air for long
periods; they reclined gracefully and scratched their heads with their hind
flippers, or fought each other playfully, barking hoarsely. Others on the rocks
below Precipice Hill nearby didn't move.
We left them and climbed over the hill and over to Landsend Bluff. There
is a narrow channel between the main island and a small island, which has
rock walls falling vertically, even overhanging in places, to the boiling surf four
hundred feet below. The small peninsula we were on was equally precipitous.
Cracker led the way, along a narrow exposed ridge with a sheer drop on either
side, in a gale of sleet that threatened to blow us off. Lying down and looking
over the edge, which actually overhung, I saw an amazing sight. On a ledge,
which jutted out from the foot of the cliffs, both below us and around the small
island, were thousands of fur seals looking like wasps around a jam pot.
Smaller narrower ledges higher up were also packed tight and the seal were
even lying in shallow recesses cut in the rock by the waves. Other seals were
playing in the water. Not counting these, there were over seven thousand in
the area we could see; I was sure that ten thousand was a moderate estimate
for the numbers on this part of the coast. Cracker told me that there were more
on North Island and that he thought the seal here were an overflow.
We turned back and walked along the western side of the island above
more colossal cliffs. The views to the South were wonderful; all along this
coast was a line of cliffs of varying height, with boiling surf stretching out from
their base. Behind were rolling hills and then the gentle slopes of the East coast
with small sandy bays. Across the water stretched the expanse of Weddell
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