Chapter 5: My Voyage in Discovery II (continued)

After mapping the Balleny Islands we headed south into the Ross Sea. Mount Erebus was clearly visible from a position adjacent to the existing sites of the Scott and McMurdo bases. The ship then proceeded eastward with the Ross Ice Shelf to the south, but not too close because of thick pack-ice. With winter setting in, we then proceeded north by way of Campbell Island to Dunedin, New Zealand, where I left the ship.

The primary purpose of the voyage of Discovery II in which I participated was to reinforce territorial claims. This has always been the fundamental objective in Antarctic exploration. But now, as then, an important by-product has been the advancement of scientific knowledge of the area.

One such by-product was the increase in knowledge of the big blue and fin whales which grow to about 70 or 80 feet, and weigh about 80 tons. They had been marking these with a dart for many, many years. There was a prize for the flenser who returned a dart.

I spent a few days on a Norwegian factory ship to see what it was like. They were required to analyse the content of the whale's stomach, to determine what it had been eating. As I understand it, in winter-time no sunlight penetrates the Antarctic seas and the water is quite clear. When the sunlight begins to penetrate the seawater the chlorophyll content increases very rapidly. There is a small crustacean, krill, which marine biologists have worked on for years, which feeds on the plankton released by sunlight. They appear as a red cloud in the water which is visible two miles away. The volume of that cloud is as big as a suburban house. The whale eats only that particular crustacean so you see there are only two jumps from sunlight to the whale. Sunlight releases plankton, little Crustacea eat the plankton, and the whale eats only that type of crustacean. The period of gestation of a whale is twelve months. They move north to warmer waters to breed; they don't eat; they live on their blubber. They return to Antarctic waters to feed. It's a rather unique cycle. The biggest mammal, the shortest cycle of all.

Bureau of Meteorology