The Discovery Investigations were a series of scientific cruises and shore-based investigations into the biology of whales in the

Southern Ocean The Southern Ocean, also known as the Antarctic Ocean, comprises the southernmost waters of the World Ocean, generally taken to be south of 60° S latitude and encircling Antarctica. With a size of , it is regarded as the second-small ...

. They were funded by the

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

Colonial Office The Colonial Office was a government department of the Kingdom of Great Britain and later of the United Kingdom, first created to deal with the colonial affairs of British North America but required also to oversee the increasing number of c ...

and organised by the

Discovery Committee The Discovery Committee was a popular name for the Interdepartmental Committee for the Dependencies of the Falkland Islands established by the British Government to carry out scientific investigations (which became known as ‘Discovery Investigati ...

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 Atherton Peak () is a pyramidal peak, peak rising to about east of Fortuna Bay, South Georgia Island, South Georgia. It was charted by Discovery Investigations, 1929–30, and named after Noel Atherton, cartographer in the British Admiralty, ...

. The investigations continued until 1951, with the final report being published in 1980.

Laboratory

Shore-based work on South Georgia took place in the marine laboratory, Discovery House, built in 1925 at

King Edward Point King Edward Point (also known as KEP) is a permanent British Antarctic Survey research station on South Georgia island and is the capital of the British Overseas Territory of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands. It is situated in Cumberl ...

and occupied until 1931. The scientists lived and worked in the building, travelling half a mile or so across

King Edward Cove King Edward Cove ( es, Caleta Capitán Vago) is a sheltered cove in the west side of Cumberland East Bay, South Georgia. This cove and its surrounding features, frequented by early sealers at South Georgia, was charted by the Swedish Antarctic ...

to the whaling station at

Grytviken Grytviken ( ) is a settlement on South Georgia in the South Atlantic and formerly a whaling station and the largest settlement on the island. It is located at the head of King Edward Cove within the larger Cumberland East Bay, considered the b ...

to work on whales as they were brought ashore by commercial whaling ships.

Ships

Vessels used were: * RRS ''Discovery'' from 1924 to 1931 * RRS ''William Scoresby'' from 1927 to 1945 or later * RRS ''Discovery II'' from 1929 to 1951

Reports

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 Cambridge University Press is the university press of the University of Cambridge. Granted letters patent by Henry VIII of England, King Henry VIII in 1534, it is the oldest university press A university press is an academic publishing hou ...

, and latterly the

Institute of Oceanographic Sciences The National Oceanography Centre (NOC) is a marine science research and technology institution based on two sites in Southampton and Liverpool, United Kingdom. It is the UK’s largest institution for integrated sea level science, coastal and d ...

. Many were printed as individual reports rather than in large volumes.

List of the Discovery Reports

Books

The Discovery Investigations are described in the following books, all of which were out of print in 2008: * * * *

References

{{Reflist

External links

Scanned copies
of many of the reports are available at the Biodiversity Heritage Library. History of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands History of Earth science Biological oceanography Antarctic expeditions 1918 establishments in the United Kingdom Defunct organisations based in London