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

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At that time FIDS had no future jobs to offer and I had been looking around. During 1953 I was offered a job at the Fishery Research Station in St. John’s, Newfoundland. It offered the prospect of continuing research on seals – mainly the Arctic harp seal and perhaps other species including hooded seal By now Maureen and I were engaged and discussed it at length, but decided not to take it up. Meanwhile my achievements over my years in FIDS, were well known to the FIDS Scientific Committee and people on that Committee like Colin Bertram and Brian Roberts and of course Bunny were thinking about my future. As it happened Dr Neill Mackintosh who had done classic studies on the large whales from South Georgia (where I had lived and worked in the former laboratories of Discovery Investigations) and who was now Deputy Director of the National Institute of Oceanography (NIO), was a member of this committee. He offered me a permanent appointment at the NIO in the small group of three comprising the Whale Biology Section. The laboratories were located at Wormley in Surrey and the starting salary was reasonable, though not munificent. Maureen and I discussed this prospect in depth. I had no doubt that I could obtain an academic research post elsewhere, perhaps in Cambridge, where I was known. But whale research sounded interesting and had a practical purpose – to work much as I had done on seals - towards understanding of the biology of the larger whales and to contribute to their sustainable management and conservation. It would also be my first permanent and pensionable job. We decided that I should take up this appointment as a Senior Scientific Officer at the NIO and this meant that I would be part of the Royal Navy Scientific Service. However, at least nine tenths of the life of a large whale is spent under the surface in the vast remote reaches of the world’s oceans. It was not then possible to study their population ecology by direct observation, but there were three main ways of studying their biology indirectly. First, inferences about their distribution, and abundance could be made from sightings of their conspicuous blows at the surface. Secondly, by firing whale tags into their blubber, hoping they would be recovered when the whales were killed by whalers other inferences could be drawn - about their migrations between the Antarctic feeding grounds in summer and breeding areas in winter, and perhaps over time about their age and abundance. Thirdly, the most promising method, the basis of Mackintosh’s classic studies with Wheeler in the 1920s and 1930s, was to examine the carcasses of whales killed in the whaling industry – on shore stations or in pelagic whaling factories on the high seas. The observations and measurements of the dead whales, and collection of organs for subsequent study of feeding, growth, reproduction and age was the primary source of information, and was to provide validation for later non-invasive research methods. I had gained much experience of this approach in my elephant seal research and had seen whales being processed at the whaling stations on South Georgia. Such material could best be obtained by joining a commercial expedition where a fleet of whale catchers caught whales of several species and delivered them to a mother ship – a floating factory – for ‘rendering’ to oil, bone meal and meat meal, frozen meat and other so-called ‘by-products’ such as meat extract. The floating factories were just that – each a complicated processing factory, 409
contained within a large hull designed with a stern slipway leading to decks where the whales were dismembered and introduced into the factory below. While these operations were taking place it was possible for a biologist to collect material for research. But space to accommodate the ship’s company was at a premium; every berth had to be filled by a worker and there was no room for supernumeraries. However, the International Whaling Commission (IWC) regulations called for each factory ship to accommodate two Government Whaling Inspectors. Their duties were to observe, record and so ensure that whaling was carried out in accordance with the regulations on, for example, the whaling season, minimum lengths, prohibition on catching protected species or lactating or ‘milk whales’ of any species, They also imposed fines for infringements set by the IWC. Biologists were recruited to serve as inspectors as a means of undertaking research. I was to start my new job as a Junior Whaling Inspector, employed by the Ministry of Agriculture and Food (MAFF) for the duration of a 6-7 month whaling voyage on a British registered factory ship the 23.000 ton Balaena. I had until the end of October to receive a briefing from the MAFF, and from the NIO, including reading up on some of the relevant literature, then much less than there is today. Also I submitted my PhD thesis, and the oral examination was conducted in October 1953 by Colin Bertram (Director of the Scott Polar Research Institute) and Leo Harrison Matthews FRS (Director of Science, Zoological Society of London). They gave me a good grilling and recommended that I had reached the required standard. Now I was ready for the next big adventure in my life. 410
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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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we helped with the feeding process,
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in order to introduce the species t
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wine, examples of Madeira needlewor
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and visited each other in our respe
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several years published a short pap
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about obtaining registration for th
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She had been thinking about visitin
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got up to go he said, "Oh, by the w
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a grazing tussock beetle was the cu
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showed up startlingly. We put the s
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‘hairy’ fringe over the cliff e
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New Island, Beaver Island and Wedde
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where we still hoped to land, weath
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The evening passed quickly with tea
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and then headed towards Albemarle R
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were towed back to the station and
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This was the first station to be es
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dryers, the guano store, would be f
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Hestesletten of Mt Paget (2915m) an
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and the light administrative duties
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on the rocks. We launched the dingh
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(formerly to Lever Bros.). The wind
Page 360 and 361: Most of the charts of South Georgia
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Page 364 and 365: However, the chart appeared to be s
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Page 368 and 369: lock of rock. We erected the two te
Page 370 and 371: ow back to Grytviken along the oute
Page 372 and 373: the cows red-tail. Two of the cows
Page 374 and 375: (bull O) had 14 cows and 2 pups. Bu
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 384 and 385: There were two harems in area 11, o
Page 386 and 387: the cows and creates a bank in the
Page 388 and 389: Then the pup slid out in a rush at
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Page 396 and 397: The South Georgia Survey team had h
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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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Page 414 and 415: cutters of 30 to 40 tons that were
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Page 418 and 419: and 316 kg of meat and bone meal. F
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Page 424 and 425: population - the initial cohort - w
Page 426 and 427: so far. In fact the average oil yie
Page 428 and 429: In 1963 sub-let its lease to the in
Page 430 and 431: In the event, when I became Directo
Page 432 and 433: departure was delayed and we weren'
Page 434 and 435: There was not too much to do and I
Page 436 and 437: On 30 November, a few hours sailing
Page 438 and 439: equivalent to one blue whale, two f
Page 440 and 441: sperm whale work. Worked till eight
Page 442 and 443: time on the whaling grounds. We had
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Page 448 and 449: say, to avoid going over the side,
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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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Part I: Seals teeth and whales ears - Scott Polar Research Institute ...

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