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
Plate XXXIX
Plates XL – XLIV
Charts 1 – 4
Plates I – IV
Plates VI – XVII
Arthur Earland FRMS
Plate I
Plates II – III
Plate IV
Assistant keeper in the Department of zoology, British Museum (Natural History)
Plates I – VI
Lecturer in zoology at the University of Glasgow
Plates VII – XLII
A G Bennett
Plates XLIII – XLIV
Plates XLV – XLVII
Charts 1 – 7
Plates XLVIII-LVII
Assistant-Keeper, Department of Zoology, British Museum (Nat. Hist.)
Plates 1 – VII
Plates VIII – X
Plates XI – XIII
Plate XIV
Plate XV
Plates I – XIII
Plates XIV – XV
Plate I
Plates II – XIV
Plates XV – XVI
Plates XVI – XXII
Plates I-X
Plate XI
Plates XII – XXV
ER Gunther MA
Plates I – IX
Plates X – XII
Plates I – IIa
With a report on Some Crystalline Components of the Weddell Sea Deposits. by FA Bannister MA
N A Mackintosh DSc
Plates XIV – XVI
Plates I – V
Plates VI – XIII
Plate XIV
Plate I
Alec H Laurie MA
Plate II
Plates III-XI
Plates XII-XVII
Plates XVIII, XIX
Plate I
Plate II
Plates III – VI
Plates VII – XIII
Plates XIV – XIX
PL Kramp
Plates XX – XXI
Plates I – XXV
Plates XXVII – XXXIII
Plates XXXIV – XXXVIII
With a Report on Rock Specimens by CE Tilley FRS
Plates XXXIX – XLII
Plates XLIII – LXVIII
Plates LXIX – XCV
HFP Herdman MSc
Plates I – XXIII
Plates XXIV – XXVI
Plates I – IV
Plates V – VI
Plates VII – VIII
Plate I – IV
Plates V – XIII
British Museum (Natural History)
Plates I – XIV
Plate XV
Plate XVI
Compiled mainly from manuscripts left by the late ER Gunther MA
Plates I – III
Plates IV – VI
Plates I – IV
Plates V – XXII
Plates XXIII – XXXI
Plate XXXII
Plates XXXIV – XXXVII
Plates XXXVIII – XLI
Plate I
Plates II – IV
University of Oslo
Plates V – X
Plates XI – XII
Plates XIII – XVIII
Plates I – XII
Together with Systematic and Biological Notes on Related Specimens from Other Oceans
British Museum (Natural History)
Part I. First Survey RRS William Scoresby March 1950
With an Account of the Reproductive System and Sexual Succession of Limacina bulimoides
National Institute of Oceanography
Part I. First Survey RRS William Scoresby March 1950
Plate XIII
Marine Biological Station, Port Erin
Plates XIV – XVIII
Dept of Zoology, British Museum (Nat. Hist.)
First Survey, RRS William Scoresby, March 1950
Plates XX – XXI
Plates I – II
Plates III – V
Plates I – VII
British Museum (Natural History)
Plates VIII – IX
With a Supplement to Isopod Crustacea, Part I. The Family Serolidae
Department of Zoology, Cardiff
Plates X
L H Pemberton
Plates XI – XII
The Zoological Laboratory, Oslo-Blindern, Norway
Plate XIII
National Institute of Oceanography
Plates I – VI
British Museum (Natural History)
Plates VII – XXVIII
Part I. Natural History and Morphology
Part II. Behaviour and Histology
A K Totton
G O Mackie
Plates I – III
British Museum (Natural History)
Ronald I Currie
Dept. Zoology, Univ. of Manchester
Plates IV – VII
Plates I – II
Plate III
Charts 1 – 11
Plate I
Rijksmuseum van Ntuurijke Historie, Leiden
Plates II – VII
Dominion Museum, Wellington, New Zealand
Plates VIII – XXI
Institut royal des Sciences naturelles de Belgique
National Institute of Oceanography, Wormley, Godalming, Surrey
Plates XXII – XXVI
Rothamstead Experimental Station
Plates 1 – 17
National Museum of Canada, Ottawa
Plates I – IV
Whale Research Unit,
National Institute of Oceanography
Whale Research Unit,
National Institute of Oceanography
Department of Zoology,
Exeter University
Plates V – VI
National Institute of Oceanography
Whale Research Unit, National Institute of Oceanography
Natural Environment Research Council
Plates I – XVII
Natural Environment Research Council
Natural Environment Research Council
British Museum (Natural History)
Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, Plymouth
The Discovery Investigations are described in the following books, all of which were out of print in 2008: