410 Whale Tagging Dart

Whale Tagging Cartridge & Scientific Marking Dart — London

A fascinating and highly unusual example associated with the British scientific whale-marking programmes of the 20th century.

Whale marking was developed as a means of studying the movements, migration and distribution of the great whales. British researchers working through the "Discovery Investigations" experimented with whale marking during the 1920s, with an effective system being adopted in 1932.

The Discovery-type mark consisted of a numbered metal tube or dart designed to be fired into a whale and remain embedded beneath the blubber. If the animal was subsequently taken by a whaling vessel, the numbered marker could be recovered during processing and returned to researchers. Comparing the location where the whale had originally been marked with the location and date of its recovery provided scientists with valuable information about whale migration and population movements.

Some surviving British whale markers carry instructions for their return to “Discovery, British Museum (Natural History), London”, while earlier examples directed finders to return them through the Admiralty, London.

These remarkable objects therefore represent much more than unusual ammunition: they are surviving pieces of the history of British marine science and the pioneering attempts to understand the biology and migration of whales in the Southern Ocean.

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