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

Arthur Stride, was a marine geologist; Cox, a chemical oceanographer developing
electrical salinity meters and others. It was in all an eclectic group of scientists in
which to be involved.
Part of my duties was the organisation of field collections, particularly whale
ovaries (for estimating age from counts of corpora lutea and corpora albicantia) by
whaling companies and biologists. A number of biologists worked for me over the
years as whale biologists/Whaling Inspectors. Their number included: Malcolm
Clarke (later FRS and an authority on cephalopods – mainly squids); John Currey
(later Professor of Zoology at York); John Bannister (who later became Chairman
of the Scientific Committee of the IWC and was Director of the Perth Museum,
Australia); R D Weston; Douglas Raitt, Dennis Crisp (who joined the Institute of
Terrestrial Ecology) Gordon Williamson, Jeremy Sambrook and Cdr. Hernert
Jones, and finally Ray Gambell (who filled my post when I left NIO and later for
many years was Secretary of the International Whaling Commission).
We biologists all worked in a large, square, open-plan laboratory with
windows on three sides. We occupied desks along the sides, separated by free
standing bookcases. Centrally were cupboards, tables and chart tables. I also had
access to a small laboratory next door in a store room, which I set up for
histological preparation of whale tissues. This was hardly ideal. There were two
elderly scientists (ie in their sixties!): James Marr, when in the throes of composing
his magnum opus on krill, was wont to declaim passages of prose like an actor, or
to recite dirty limericks he had just composed, or to belch loudly and disgustingly.
John Hart, phytoplankton expert, was reclusive; he spent quite a bit of time during
the day doing his football pools, but was quiet as a mouse.
Robert Clarke was an admirer of Ernest Hemingway - he wore broadbrimmed
felt hats and string ties, and waxed lyrical in a sonorous manner, about
the aphrodisiacal properties of ambergris - a concretion from the large intestine of
the sperm whale, on which he was an authority. An old-fashioned ‘actor -
manager’ came to mind. One day a Visiting Group descended on us - an
inquisition on the research work. The group visited each of us in turn and we
could all hear the questions and answers as it progressed around the room. Robert
was the first to be seen, and as he was then in his ambergris phase (the open-boat
whaling phase had faded by then), he gave an impassioned account of ambergris
in ancient history. This involved cuisine, love potions, word descriptions of its
smell - "like bat's shit in an old sea cave", a fungus that was supposed to be found
only in association with ambergris, etc. The visitors listened, evidently fascinated
by the performance; Robert completed his final peroration and a distinguished
Professor (the famous J Z Young, FRS) said: "Ah, yes Mr Clarke, but what
precisely has this to do with basic research on the biology of whales - for which
you are paid your salary?" There was a deathly hush, but we never did hear
Robert's explanation. (It was said that Young, a neuro-anatomist/physiologist,
had been invited to serve on the Committee by mistake; a minion at HQ had been
told to invite 'Professor Yonge' to serve; much more appropriate since Professor C
M Yonge was a distnguished marine biologist! The mistake was partly rectified by
inviting CM Yonge onto the Committee as well!) Naturally all these aspects of our
environment, although entertaining were disturbing to our concentration!
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