Discovery Investigations

The Discovery Investigations were a series of scientific cruises and shore-based investigations into the biology of whales in the Southern Ocean. They were funded by the British Colonial Office and organised by the Discovery Committee in London, which was formed in 1918. They were intended to provide the scientific background to stock management of the commercial Antarctic whale fishery.

The work of the Investigations contributed hugely to our knowledge of the whales, the krill they fed on, and the oceanography of their habitat, while charting the local topography, including Atherton Peak. The investigations continued until 1951, with the final report being published in 1980.

Shore-based work on South Georgia took place in the marine laboratory, Discovery House, built in 1925 at King Edward Point and occupied until 1931. The scientists lived and worked in the building, travelling half a mile or so across King Edward Cove to the whaling station at Grytviken to work on whales as they were brought ashore by commercial whaling ships.

Vessels used were:

Results of the investigations were printed in the Discovery Reports. This was a series of many small reports, published in 38 volumes by the Cambridge University Press, and latterly the Institute of Oceanographic Sciences. Many were printed as individual reports rather than in large volumes.

Pages/Plates/Charts

Plates I - VI

Plates VII - XVIII

A C Hardy MA
N A Mackintosh ARCS MSc

Plates XIX - XXIV

with Notes on Other Seals Found at South Georgia

Plates XXV - XLIV

J F G Wheeler MSc

Plates XLV - LVI

Plate I

Plate II

Plates III - IV

Plate V

Plates VI - VII

Plates I - X

Plates XI - XXXI

(With a report on Rock Specimens by GW Tyrrell ARCSc DSc FGS FRSE)

A L Nelson RNR

Plate XXXII

Plates XXXIII - XXXVIII

with a Description of a New Species from South Georgia

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Wikipedia