Abstract
In August 1964, and with a newly-minted BSc in his back pocket, this reviewer started on a journey to South Georgia, of which at the time he knew little, to inter alia administer the elephant sealing industry for the Falkland Islands government. Soon after arriving, he became intimately acquainted with three somewhat decrepit elderly ex-catchers (Dias, Albatros, Petrel) now relegated to taking their Japanese crew, a Norwegian skipper and gunner, and a probably unwanted sealing inspector on trips of three or four days duration to various beaches around the island. It is, therefore, of extreme coincidence that this reviewer finds himself in the position of reviewing an account of the life and times of one of these vessels, the venerable and scrofulous Dias.
The authors have produced a highly detailed account of the ‘times’, although less so of the actual ‘life’ of the Viola/Dias. Their descriptions of the conduct of the North Sea fishery and the auxiliary trawler fleet during WWI are particularly comprehensive and serve as a ‘hook’ on which to describe or deduce the activities of Viola. The sections on whaling and sealing are largely descriptions of the actual industries, and mostly readily available elsewhere. There is, in fact, little of substance that can be said about the specific role of the now-Dias in the sealing industry, as with Albatros and Petrel she took out sealing crews and brought back crews and pelts for up to three months in the austral spring and fall. The section on her refloating and rehabilitation is the most interesting part of her southern story.
However, the main problem with this book is that the ‘times’ significantly outweigh the ‘life’, thus giving a degree of cloudiness to the story of the ship. Where do ‘times’ start and end? What is directly relevant, or not? For this reviewer, there is a great deal of at best only vaguely relevant material in the text. While no doubt in itself interesting, much could be omitted without detriment to the story, or if it is felt necessary to include it then much better to place it into the endnotes, either in totality or as a pertinent reference which the interested reader can pursue further. One example might be the digression on the origins and activities of Alfredo Ryan (pp. 170–1), which Hart has covered previously elsewhere. As for the endnotes, their presence is less than adequate in terms of both number and positioning in the text, thus minimizing the importance of the work of others to the account. For example, where did the authors get the information that seal oil accounted for eighteen per cent of the quantity and value of oil produced from Grytviken?
The text also suffers from the need for a good edit to reduce redundancy, improve clarity, and check factual accuracy. On page 173, it is stated that ‘in December 1964 the Japanese left South Georgia early and did not return for the 1965 season.’ This is totally incorrect. Although they did not return to Grytviken, they did return to Leith Harbour for that shore station season, taking only 239 whales. Further, Chapter XI, note 7, states that ‘This name [Las Islas Malvinas] was given to [the Falkland Islands] by the French.’ Really?! In fact the French gave them the name Les Îles Malouines, after St. Malo, the departure point of the first ex-Acadian settlers. While accepting the difficulty of 100% accuracy, such information is readily available. The assertion on p. 157 that the elephant seal hunt ‘proved to be the only example of the sustainable hunting of sea mammals anywhere in the world’ might be challenged by anyone familiar with the annual hunt for harp seals off Newfoundland and Labrador, still continuing from a population of some 7 million.
It may also be appropriate to comment on the illustrations, which while acknowledging the cost of reproduction, the reviewer would prefer to see integrated into the text. Authors should also be taken to task for using incorrectly or unattributed images, in this particular case Number 26, ‘sealers returning to Dias’, which in the credits is stated as being of ‘unknown’ origin in the Hart collection. In fact, this image is the property of this reviewer who took the photograph in 1964, then in recent years passed it, along with other sealing images, to another author. How it came to be in the author’s collection is unclear, but its provenance should have been available to a diligent researcher/publisher.
This reviewer made three voyages on Dias in 1964, during which she brought back a total of 389 skins, at 129 per voyage only two less than the average achieved during four voyages on Albatros. She was therefore, probably no more or no less productive as a sealing vessel than the others in the fleet, a parameter difficult to measure in view of the multitude of factors affecting sealing. To further complete the record, her last sealing trip (Gunnar Virik Nilsen, master; Wiggo Reinertsen, gunner; Dickinson, sealing inspector; Japanese crew, Illustration 26) ended on 1 November 1964 when she put into Grytviken with 130 skins taken from six beaches in sealing divisions II and IV. However, this was not the last time she was off the wharf, being called into service in early 1965 with John Dye, the last of the long line of whaling inspectors at Grytviken on board, to assist, although subsequently not needed, the Japanese whale factory ship Kinjyo Maru reach the whaling station to collect a cargo of oil.
In summary, while recognizing that the book is about both ‘life’ and ‘times’, this reviewer would have found it a better read if there was much less of the ‘times’. Although it does not make a substantial new contribution to maritime history, much of its content having already been published, it is hoped that in some measure it may help catalyze the return of Viola/Dias to Hull.