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

to struggle overboard and were scattered, swimming amongst the kelp, so the
rower had to go back and collect them up - with difficulty. One handles sheep
by thrusting one’s fingers into the wool and gripping tight, but it induces awful
cramps after a while.
Mr and Mrs Lee invited me to stay the night and be picked up next day,
but I was interested in seeing if there were any elephants at Bull Point, where
we intended to stay the night. So we collected cream tarts, vegetables, a bullock
hide and a wool press for delivery and left at 2.30 pm. It came on to blow quite
strongly and the ship’s rolls were up to 45° quite often. Bull Point materialized
out of the gloom and soon we were rounding it into calmer water, anchoring
between two beds of kelp. We walked westward over the camp, among high
grass tussocks with deep holes between them in places, and struck the coast at
a large bay, with a pebble beach and a reef of islands, across the mouth of
which surf thundered. We wandered along the beach finding several sea lion
skulls (which I collected) and much driftwood, old tree trunks and other
debris, which must have floated across from Patagonia. In places banks of kelp
were thrown up. There were several pairs of kelp geese, upland geese, grey
duck, logger duck, and some oystercatchers and shags - the only life we saw.
We walked back in rain-squalls to the boat and had an easy row back, helped
by the wind. Supper was at 6.45 pm and we spent a long evening talking with
the stove roaring inside and the wind outside.
Next day there was still no improvement in the weather. We weighed
anchor at 9 o’clock and headed for Fanny Cove. We were looking for a place to
collect shingle and, after a false start, due to errors on the chart, anchored in the
kelp off a shingle beach. Boats were lowered and loads of shingle carried off
from the beach, but there wasn’t enough and it was of poor quality, so we
weighed anchor and moved to Fanny Cove. Here the gravel was better and the
boys worked hard filling the hold. On 27 February the weather was again
unpromising, but Mr Lee at Sea Lion said the swell had moderated and that the
Gulch was quite calm, so we left for Sea Lion Islands. It was a gloriously fine
day, with bright sunshine and not a cloud to be seen. Mr Lee was there and
loading commenced immediately. It was a long process for the sheep had to be
lowered singly down the chute on a rope and then rowed out a considerable
distance in the boat.
I went ashore at 11.40 am and, gearing up the horse, took a ride over the
island. There were a number of elephant seal and sealion skulls, also many
very tame upland geese and some turkey buzzards. I enjoyed my ride
immensely and returned to lunch invigorated. Loading of sheep continued
and it was not until 3.30 pm that all were aboard. We weighed anchor and
headed directly for George Island. The wind was freshening and the swell was
higher. Some sixty sheep had been loaded into the hold and the hatch covers
had to be battened down. When it was uncovered again the heat and smell
from our cargo was oppressive, coming out in waves. We passed Barren Island
and anchored off George Island, as the sun was setting. After supper, and
some accordion music Tilbury, Ken and I rowed ashore to visit the Lee family.
Mr Lee and two boys were waiting at the jetty and we walked up to the house.
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