THE DISCOVERY EXPEDITION
By C. M. YONGE
ON October 7th the R.R.S. ' Discovery II' sails for the Southern Ocean on her fifth commission. During the coming two years she will circumnavigate the Antarctic con- tinent studying the conditions of life in those cold and stormy seas. This may prove to be the last of the numerous voyages directed by the Discovery Committee which, under the auspices of the Colonial Office, has for the past thirteen years been conducting an examination into the economic resources of the Falkland Islands Dependencies. These, apart from some trawling grounds around the islands, consist of whales, the largest and amongst the most valuable of animals. The study of the breeding, growth, food, habits and migrations of these immense creatures has entailed the organisation of repeated oceanographical expeditions for the collection of data—physical, chemical and biological—from all regions of the Southern Ocean. ON October 7th the R.R.S. ' Discovery II' sails for the Southern Ocean on her fifth commission. During the coming two years she will circumnavigate the Antarctic con- tinent studying the conditions of life in those cold and stormy seas. This may prove to be the last of the numerous voyages directed by the Discovery Committee which, under the auspices of the Colonial Office, has for the past thirteen years been conducting an examination into the economic resources of the Falkland Islands Dependencies. These, apart from some trawling grounds around the islands, consist of whales, the largest and amongst the most valuable of animals. The study of the breeding, growth, food, habits and migrations of these immense creatures has entailed the organisation of repeated oceanographical expeditions for the collection of data—physical, chemical and biological—from all regions of the Southern Ocean.
Three vessels have been employed. The Discovery,' originally constructed for the National Antarctic Expedition of 1901 -3, was used for the first voyage but was then chartered by the Australian Government and replaced by the ' Dis- covery II' of 2 too tons displacement and especially designed for oceanographical research. A smaller vessel, the R.R.S. ` William Scoresby,' which recently sailed on her seventh commission, was built for chasing and marking whales, for trawling and for assisting in the general scientific programme.
In addition a marine biological laboratory was built at the harbour of Grytviken on the island of South Georgia, a dependency of the Falkland Islands and several hundred miles to the south of them. This island is the most important base for Antarctic whaling, and the cost of the expedition has been met out of fees charged on all whales landed there.
The Discovery Committee has recently published a brief report*, in which the technical contents of sixteen massive volumes of Discovery Reports are summarised for the general
• Report on the Progress of the Discovery Committee's Investigations. (Colonial Office. 3s. 6d.)
reader. The bulk of the investigations have naturally been concerned, directly or indirectly, with whales, the final objective being " to furnish a basis for the rational regulation of whaling." The work which this has involved represents one of the greatest contributions to the science of oceanography since the pioneer voyage of H.M.S. ' Challenger' in 1872-6.
The slowly-moving Greenland whale of the Arctic was almost exterminated by early European whalers armed with the hand harpoon. The invention of the harpoon-gun in the nineteenth century resulted in the destruction- of the more active Rorqual or Finner whales of the Northern Hemisphere. Then, led by the pioneer Norwegian whaler, A. C. Larsen, the whaling industry turned its attention to the still greater schools of whales in the Southern Ocean and the industry based on South Georgia was founded in 1904. This later spread to the neighbouring South Orkneys and South Shetlands and to the coast of Africa.
The fishery developed amazingly. It was able to exploit teeming populations of the two largest of all whales, the Blue whale which attains a length of one hundred feet and the Fin whale which is but little smaller. The wealth of oil extracted from the thick blubber of these titans attracted ever increasing fleets of whalers to which were added more recently factory ships of up to 20,000 tons. These vessels take the whales direct from the whale-catchers, haul the carcase on board, and there extract the oil and other products of commer- cial value. In 1930-31 the southern whales were exploited by 232 whale-catchers, which conveyed them to 41 factory ships and six land stations. This led to temporary over- production and a slump, but the fishery has since been resumed with almost equal intensity with the advent of German and Japanese vessels. It is expected that 33 factory ships will sail to the Antarctic for the coming season, each accompanied by from 5 to to catchers.
Comparative studies of large numbers of whales have revealed some remarkable facts.. These immense animals may reach 20 feet at birth, the Blue whale is 52 feet long when it is weaned and the Fin whale 39 feet, while both ate sexually mature at the` unexpectedly early age of two years,- when the former is over 70 feet long and the latter over 6o feet. Growth appears to cease at between six and eight years. The period of gestation -is between ten and eleven months, but the maximum rate of reproduction is only one birth in every two years. Although this slow rate of -reproduction is ample for the needs of animals with such few natural enemies this is certainly not so when the effect of the deadly harpoon- gun has to be combated. It is estimated that during the first fourteen years of life no less than 26 per cent. of the stock of whales is destroyed annually.
Even then destruction on this scale might just be offset by reproduction if these whales were only killed in the Antarctic. But this is probably not the case. Whales cer- tainly migrate. They do so first of all in connexion with their food, which consists - almost exclusively of a shrimp-like animal; Euphausia superba, known as whale-krill, which occurs in dense patches related to currents or to the plant life, this in turn being conditioned by the chemical composition of the water. But there are also great seasonal movements. After feeding voraciously on this food during the southern summer—to which period Antarctic whaling is confined— the whales .apparently move northwards for the winter. Certainly whales of the same character are then to be -found off the shores of South Africa- and Western Australia. The. ' William Scoresby ' has marked over 4,000 whales and, as these marks are gradually returned from captured animals, the details of the migrations are becoming clear. It is known that whales may move for over 2,500 miles. Great numbers of immature whales are killed off South Africa, and if these do belong to the same stock as those which appear later round South Georgia then destruction must certainly be greater than reproduction can make good.
An international conference on whaling was recently held in London, when regulations were drawn up in the hope of preserving the stock of whales. Close seasons of nine months for pelagic whaling (from factory ships) and of six months for shore stations were imposed. Certain areas were closed to pelagic whaling. It was agreed that whales should not be caught below a certain size. This agreement was signed by the European and American nations engaged in whaling, but has unfortunately not been accepted by either Japan or South Africa. The work of the ' Discovery' Expedition has certainly made possible the rational control of the whaling industry, and it can only be hoped that all nations will agree to this before the Antarctic whales have followed their northern relatives to extinction.
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