Glacier (WAGB 4) - Naval Cruise Book

Page 35 text:

PENGUIN PURSUITS Sharing the top of the food chain with the seal are the birds. Operations ranging from collecting live specimens for later study to pumping the stomaches of penguins, the ■ bird people gathered valuable dietary information on the birds of the ice edge zone Collecting more than 1200 squid breaks, and many hundred fish bones, they were able to determine the diets of many types of birds and gather a range of dietary habits ranging from the ice edge to more than forty miles deep in the ice The pengiin leader welcomes on bad party to An V -Only to cfsco o- they are not from National Geosraprsc PENGUIN WRESTLING To collect the stomach contents of the pen- guins, the scientists first had to catch them. It was not an uncommon sight to see a scientist running around with what looked like an oversized but- terfly net chasing a fleeing penguin. After the bird was netted, it usuallv took at least two or three people to hold it still so the first scientist could place a rubber tube down the penguins throat, fill it up with salt water, and turn the pen- guin upside-down to collect the contents. When thev were finished, the penguin usuallv left as fast as possible. A 31

Page 34 text:

s c I E N C I ■am Jit The art of seal roping. WJft3 SEAL SURVEYS During the second science cruise, the entire food chain from the bottom to the very top was studied. Seals, comprising the top of the food chain in this area were therefore a key figure of study. Helicopters were dispatched daily to round up seals for studies. Among the most important and most difficult was the placing and remov- ing of dive recorders on the backs of the seals. Once a seal was singled out for placement of a recorder, the seal had to be caught out on the ice and immobilized for a period of several minutes while the epoxy dried. Once set free, the recorders had to be once again collected to get their data Expecting to recover only a few, the scientists used a large number of the recorders and tracking transmitters. With the aide of the helos, almost half of the recorders placed were recovered and more data than expected was collected. I I 30 Dive recorders were attached with epoxy to the seal ' s back. Later, stomache content and movement can be studied in conjunction.

Page 36 text:

PORT HUENEME, CALIF. Glacier arrived in Port Hueneme for an extremely busy two day working port. We loaded over 76,000 lbs of cargo. This included scientific equipment for both science cruises in the Antarctic as well as construction material and general cargo to be delivered to Palmer Station. It ' s not at the bottom is it, Lisa?!? Port Hueneme was more a yard period than a liberty port. The crew worked hard. After work most of us hit the NCPO club on base to shoot some pool, drink a few beers and dance. The only minor excite- ment occured when the stack caught on fire. The duty section fire party started cooling it down, the OOD set G.Q. and all nonduty personnel were mustered on the pier. Our training in Portland paid off, but the time the fire truck arrived the fire was out. Within an hour daily routine was reinstated Yosemite Sam arrives! November 27, we had our first taste Flight Ops when we recovered two hel carrying LCDR Zimmer and members AVDET 110. They had arrived the previo day from Mobile, Alabama Sea Cadt David O ' Sullivan and Paul Graham al reported aboard for the trip. The bird ' s in the nest Stack creature, MK3 Juhlin. 32 SN Webb cinces down her build it yourself boat kit