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

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to the almost landlocked inner bay. The motor boat and pram collected us from a rocky point that formed one side of this bay, and deposited us on the next beach along. We walked around the shore as far as we could, but saw no seal large enough to take – as the Gunner said ‘More peeples que elefantes!’ We were taken off to the ship at 5 o’clock and went on to Enten Bay (or Little Jason Harbour according to the Gunner), where we landed on a shingle beach, with the usual tussock grass stands behind it. But we got only one fair-sized elephant here and when it had been dealt with, waited in vain for the motor boat, which remained alongside the ship. Finally, as it was getting rather cold, we started to row out. The wind squalls were very strong indeed, despite the protection afforded by a line of high cliffs to the east. It was bitterly cold and, drenched with spray, we were only too glad when the motorboat eventually came and took us in tow. Reaching the ship as it was getting dark, everyone was very tired and there was a fine outburst of "fahnning" (swearing) from the Mate when some ropes became twisted while the motor boat was being shipped. But it had been a slightly more successful day than was usual on this trip. The sealers were always very cheerful and joked and pulled each other's legs; they certainly needed a keen sense of humour to keep up their spirits in such a rigorous and strenuous occupation. We quickly weighed anchor and headed for Maiviken, where we anchored half an hour later. As we crossed the West Fjord a fine view emerged of the three glaciers – Lyell, Giekie and Neumayer – the latter being one of the most magnificent on the island, with high blue ice cliffs. Unfortunately, much of the hinterland was obscured as usual by low cloud. People were talking about the expected arrival of Harpon, the transport vessel from Buenos Aires, due that afternoon. I thought she might have some mail for me. Next day, 6 April, we moved out of Maiviken as dawn was breaking and I went on deck as we rounded Sappho Point. The low sun gave promise of a fine day and as we crossed the East Bay there was a fine view to the south. The high mountains were still in cloud, but their lower slopes were bathed in warm sunshine. The rocks glowed with ruby tints and the sky was a coppery pink, where a band of cloud hung. Soon we were cruising down the east shore of the fjord, again looking for seal hauled out. We saw two herds of reindeer moving gracefully across the lower slopes of the Barff Peninsula, making for higher ground. In Sandebugten we dropped anchor and went ashore, but got only one seal (station 62). Then breakfast while Albatros towed the pram and the motor boat travelled under its own power. In the next bay we got three medium-sized seal and saw the reindeer again at closer quarters; some 250 had moved over the spur from the adjacent corrie. We cruised on down the coast as far as the Nordenskjold Glacier and then gave up the hunt. At about 9 o’clock, in bright sunshine, we turned and headed for Grytviken. I took photos of the sealers and crew, who had become good friends, and threw my stuff into a kitbag. At 10.30 am we tied up at Pesca and I was taken across to the Point in one of the station's motor boats. 365
Chapter 16 Spring in South Georgia: 1951 I n September 1951 I spent several weeks camping alone on Dartmouth Point, visible about 6 miles across Cumberland Bay from King Edward Point. I thoroughly enjoyed myself except when a tent pole snapped in a gale, and it was an inch thick! The weather was particularly bad at times and I usually skied more than ten miles a day whatever the weather, counting and observing seals, painting them for identification purposes, and killing and examining some individuals in connection with my studies. Setting up camp on Dartmouth Point: elephant seal pupping begins. The adventure began on 18 September when Arthur and I loaded the camp equipment into the clapped out government launch Stella before breakfast. After Arthur completed the met forecast Andy and Ian started her up and we headed for Dartmouth Point, a Seal Reserve in East Cumberland Bay. (Although Dartmouth Point was a reserve it turned out that it was affected by sealing activities. There was heavy sealing too at "Hestesletten" and Discovery Point (west of Dartmouth Point in east Cumberland Bay) and, more especially, at Maiviken). It was a perfect day for our purpose, with hardly a breath of wind and the sea mirror calm. The anchor was dropped 30 yards offshore near the conspicuous bluff south of the Point and taking several trips the equipment was ferried ashore. Although the sea was dead calm, with hardly any swell, we got quite wet in the surf, though fortunately none of the vulnerable kit, such as bedding suffered. Ian and Andy returned to KEP, after we had hauled the dinghy up the beach, but Arthur remained with me. We moved the gear in several loads to a place where I had decided to set up camp, about 200 yards inshore near a large triangular detached 366
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LARGE ANIMALS AND WIDE HORIZONS: AD
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FOREWORD When Richard M. Laws retir
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we might say today and led to deep
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We collaborated with the Royal Navy
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Chapter 1 Northumberland: Boy on th
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occasional nugget for money. The po
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to the cheers of the supporters. Cr
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from the allotments. I can still ta
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From my perspective local politics
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Because we returned each year for s
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uined abbey and a castle on a rocky
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a new lightweight "Raleigh" bicycle
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Chapter 2 Exploring the Lake Distri
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snow, catching the light and shadow
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keen climber and member of the Fell
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irds; stones and rocks abounded and
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The old school buildings were in Cu
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on mycorrhiza (the beneficial close
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inculcated self-reliance and practi
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who came by boat across the lake. S
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need of rest from the incessant air
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matter!" One Saturday in May l941 I
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straightforward until we came to th
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was still another 2 1 2 miles acros
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very strange as he was evidently a
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anything like it, hadn’t the fain
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Chapter 3 A Cambridge Student I tra
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stodgy dried egg omelettes late at
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never saw him because he cut most o
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patrolled the DR. At the end of eac
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Cultural influences at that time Sy
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Reading parties and vacation work I
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Holme, Ken Ashby, Alan Cock, Elspet
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Brian had done some novel work on p
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went up to Topsham and sampled the
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Office. Brian and Colin were biolog
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Islands and the Debenham Islands (i
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observations of their behaviour. I
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I was sorry to miss my elder brothe
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suspected it might have been the re
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The menu was: Soup - Turkey Sage an
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adjust the binocular focus to watch
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On New Year’s Eve it was extremel
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them off the ship, into the launch
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and the others followed in quick su
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in South Georgia and today the stew
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Of bawdy laughter penetrate Unto th
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Will be safe to step on and drink B
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anaesthetic - Pentathol - required
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After a very enjoyable and noisy ev
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chorus girl from Leicester. David a
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The Falkland Islands Then, at 4.45
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Next day I was on galley duty so th
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anchiae, and a large encrusting spo
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meet Derek. They were out but I fou
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was a black terminal band to the ta
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midsummer when some begin to get di
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ehind, about 70 feet above sea leve
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times during l929-1937. In l931/32
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leading to North Point is more or l
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seldom below -12°C. In terms of hu
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the ice faces of the peaks and the
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filled the gaps with wood wool and
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Work continued on the fitting out a
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Hill (907ft). This is the highest p
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A fortnight later, we decided to go
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Giant petrel colonies were numerous
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We cut across Orwell Glacier and ro
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more we set off down - but not befo
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Derek and I had a look at a rock ex
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145
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"the thing that strikes you is that
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Fuchs to arrange for us to be sent
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As to rubbish disposal, the site wa
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lively, questioning mind. He fitted
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specimens, clothes etc. and there w
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ut healed fairly quickly. I caught
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presence of others got one down. In
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Cooking. During the winter we were
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irthday. The birthday cake was very
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11 February l949 was the anniversar
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Edward Wilson, the biologist with C
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fortunate, as apart from a few nove
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4 ft., banking up snow behind some
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173
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eflected in the writing. Summer l94
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1.2°C and +1 °C, there was a cont
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was a touch green in hue. A few sno
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completely broke up the ice in the
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then shot up to -4°C overnight, fa
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sudden deepening from 2 ft to 5 ft
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accessible. We had breakfast and lo
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its fore-flippers. I took a series
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fine sunset effect on the Coronatio
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mauve, violet, purple, deep blue, o
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full of brash ice and small growler
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came in squalls, which tended to pu
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was fitter than the others because
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immatures had been absent for some
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possible to lie full length, even d
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should provide about 4 500 calories
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as was standard practice, because o
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journey of about the same duration
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journey, asking for details. Derek
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It was a misty day when I looked ou
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to my bosom, while Derek fiddled wi
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with the Sandefjord Twins behind it
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On 1 August the temperature was -14
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sledge. He was bleeding from one or
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sledge slightly differently, with t
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two-year stock of food, clothing (t
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In mid-July we listened to the FIDS
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We heard that the "John Biscoe" had
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The ships left on 5 December. I was
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18!); also various thermometers, st
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to study a very large established e
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year. In May 1949 I pursued the pro
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specimens back myself under my pers
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Swedish-British expedition so as to
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243
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Signy. The leopard is supposed to b
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possible. The shore here was deeply
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and it was then time for lunch. The
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couldn't move and there was nothing
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unpleasant and salutary incident il
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while I watched for an hour in a sn
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the webs. As Ralph walked away all
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Cow ‘green 7’ flipped snow onto
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(medical) stretcher to weigh the el
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another bull approached to some 60
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the harem. From this it appeared th
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Weddell - probably a 3-yr old femal
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cleaned the skin; lighting a fire a
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Two other females seemed to be ‘e
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proved to be pregnant. Next day a m
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mother had a large bloodstained sca
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attle-scarred males. There appeared
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side to side on the pup’s body as
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the young Weddell pups. We put flip
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283
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The only other birds were the Antar
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In the next few days we watched Dom
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grating, chirring noise and I locat
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shrimping net. He put up the terns,
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one's fingers are anywhere near the
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wings. The undersurface of the body
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notice. It was restless, scratching
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I began to construct what I called
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A week later, penguins were still a
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fish's? There was a lovely tern chi
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e sure of identification in future.
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lew about all over the place. They
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appeared to be formed but occasiona
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gentoos and Adélies - stopping and
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first skua egg near Balin Point. Th
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Page 328 and 329: She had been thinking about visitin
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Page 332 and 333: a grazing tussock beetle was the cu
Page 334 and 335: showed up startlingly. We put the s
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Page 340 and 341: where we still hoped to land, weath
Page 342 and 343: The evening passed quickly with tea
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Page 350 and 351: dryers, the guano store, would be f
Page 352 and 353: Hestesletten of Mt Paget (2915m) an
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Page 356 and 357: on the rocks. We launched the dingh
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Page 376 and 377: In area 10 there was one harem of 2
Page 378 and 379: 1 October was a fine morning with l
Page 380 and 381: In area 6 several cows had hauled o
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Page 400 and 401: for lunch on the way for steaks and
Page 402 and 403: An Arctic Voyage. A friend from ear
Page 404 and 405: We did three bottom temperature cas
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Page 408 and 409: As the trawlers lay all night gutti
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eginning of April, but since Novemb
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and 316 kg of meat and bone meal. F
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the total annual catch. But a decli
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were stable and natural mortality r
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population - the initial cohort - w
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so far. In fact the average oil yie
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In 1963 sub-let its lease to the in
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In the event, when I became Directo
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departure was delayed and we weren'
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There was not too much to do and I
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On 30 November, a few hours sailing
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equivalent to one blue whale, two f
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sperm whale work. Worked till eight
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time on the whaling grounds. We had
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from the stern. One was hauled aboa
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oil and yesterday the expedition
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say, to avoid going over the side,
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was a bitterly cold wind on deck. I
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long low black cloud on the horizon
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uoy, with a wire loop through which
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managed to avoid the ice floes; had
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word because they told me that it s
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Then to Haut Bay, which was very be
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keen sense of humour and stimulatin
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Taking a picnic we drove to Carvoer
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illiantly coloured and the calcite
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Because of the Navy's great interes
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Arthur Stride, was a marine geologi
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work on Balaena. and would be bette
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In l958 I was an invited speaker at
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Molde and had lunch at the hotel. T
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patches of sun. The ferry called at
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479
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Scotland and the Hebrides, about my
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Next day Brenda was off Rona at mid
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We spent a little time that day on
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cleft in the rocks - it was unable
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inspected the landing place to asce
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