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

y some bulls early in the season? The fact is that they can expect to acquire a harem
later when the situation “hots up”.
The totals for the counts that day were 74 bulls, 488 cows (plus three killed) and
106 pups, including the dead ones. I also made a compass traverse map of areas 1 to
6.
After lunch I heard footsteps outside and there was Mac with some boxes for me;
Andy was waiting in Stella offshore. We had a job getting the dinghy out through the
surf and in the end I took off my boots and stockings and waded out. They were still
having difficulty getting the engine started when I left to repaint some cows in areas
8 and 12 and when I returned at 3 o’clock Mac and Andy were still trying hard to
start it. Being unable to help I continued on to area 1 and repainted four cows and
date-painted a newly delivered cow in area 2.
When I returned at 4.30 pm, they were still anchored offshore, so I shouted to
Andy to take me out to Stella, which he did. The engine was full of water – probably
a crack somewhere. We played about with it until 6 o’clock, trying everything we
could think of, and then gave up. No search party was visible, so I decided that the
best thing was to tow Stella behind the dinghy; as far as home if possible, if not to
take her into Moraine Fjord, anchor her in shelter of the moraine rocks, and return to
KEP in the dinghy.
Andy and I towed her about a third of the way across the mouth of Moraine
Fjord, when a search party appeared and Andy rowed me ashore so that I could
return to camp. The breakers were large, our boat hit a rock and next thing we were
in the water, soaked! However, nothing was lost; we managed to empty out the
water and during a lull in the breakers pushed off again. But it was a hectic five
minutes especially when a seal I took for a rock, tried to bite me. I saw the Pesca
launch come alongside Stella, which Andy and Mac had rowed out through the kelp,
some figures waved and I waved back. Then, suddenly, very cold, for the sun had
gone down, I ran back to camp. It took me a long time to get warm again!
Next morning was fine, but I delayed starting in order to dry out all my clothes,
which were damp from the preceding day’s adventure. I decided to do areas 7-14
and Moraine Fjord first, so that I would know if Arthur came over. In harem 8a there
were three groups of 20, 67 and 30 cows each with a bull. These bulls were 30 yards
apart, from C in the centre, but there were no rigid lines of demarcation among the
cows. The expansion process had continued, as the cows’ individual distances
increased, and the harem now occupied much more ground. A small new harem, a
bull and 10 cows, had formed in the south east corner of 8 near 8e which contained
15 cows and 2 pups; 8c had 9 cows and 3 pups; harem 8d, on the beach, now had 3
bulls and 42 cows. The cows, which hadn’t yet pupped lay together. Two of the bulls
were within 5 yards of each other.
Harem 12c had 16 cows and 2 pups; 12a and b with bull F in charge had 48 cows
and 18 pups. Nineteen cows plus six pups were on the beach now with a bull in
attendance. Possibly they should be considered a separate harem. Area 14, with
lower-lobed-lip (bull R) in attendance contained one harem of 7 cows, some of which
he had shepherded south to link up with the others.
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