Biological observations from the Discovery Investigations 1925-1952

The Discovery Investigations were a series of expeditions to the Southern Oceans funded out of proceeds from the sale of whaling licenses that took place between 1925 and 1951. The investigations had three main components: a marine laboratory at King Edward Point on South Georgia; the fast-sailing 326-ton RRS William Scoresby; and studies undertaken by the RSS Discovery. In 1929, the Discovery was replaced by the 1000-ton steel-hulled RRS Discovery II when the older ship was found to be simply too slow and cumbersome to carry out all the work required. A variety of sampling methods were deployed, including otter trawls, beam trawls, dredges, fish traps, and a variety of fine-meshed nets tow in the horizontal, vertical, or oblique.