Voyage of the Scotia 1902-04

People of the Expedition

Young man holding a seal on the Scotia

During the 1902-1904 Scottish National Antarctic Expedition, organised and led by Scottish scientist and explorer William S Bruce on the exploration ship SY Scotia, various attempts were made to retain for scientific purposes live specimens of creatures such as penguins and seals.

Here we see a young crew member [possibly Johnnie Smith] with a three-day-old seal pup. During the day this was "relatively calm and quiet, but [...] almost always roved about at night, generally preferring to howl dismally on the poop-deck just above the cabins". (The Voyage of the Scotia, p130.)

Despite (or possibly because of) attempts to feed it on tinned milk, this pup died after a few days of separation from its mother.