Sea lions, greasepaint and the U-boat threat: Admiralty scientists turn to the music hall in 1916

Notes and Records of the Royal Society

Volumn 55, Issue 3, 2001, Pages 425-455

  Wilson, David A H ^a  

^a Cumbria Institute of the Arts   (United Kingdom)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

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EID: 0005983176     PISSN: 00359149     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1098/rsnr.2001.0156     Document Type: Article

References (146)

1. W.L. Mallabar, 'Musical seals and acrobatic sea-lions. How seals and sea-lions (their first cousins) play musical instruments, cricket, and other games, and amuse the public by their strange stage performances'. The Royal Magazine IX, 191-194 (1902).
2. J.B. Poole and K. Andrews (eds) The government of science in Britain, p. 12 (London: Weidenfeld and Nicholson, 1972). Sir Solly Zuckerman, Scientists and war. The impact of science on military and civil affairs. (Hamish Hamilton, London, 1966) refers to the uneasy relationship between the scientist and the military man from the Industrial Revolution to the First World War (and in a lesser degree to the present), caused by their different approaches to discipline and order: 'Where it is the habit of the scientist to question, it is that of the soldier to obey'.
3. This resentment, and strained relations often resulting in inefficiency and poor communication, lasted well into the period of the Second World War, as described by S. Zuckerman, From apes to warlords: an autobiography 1904-46 (Hamish Hamilton, London, 1978).
4. See R.M. MacLeod and K.A. Andrews, 'Scientific advice in the war at sea, 1915-1917: the Board of Invention and Research', J. Contemp. Hist. 6(2), 3-40 (1971). This is as much an account of naval hostility to the intrusion of civilian scientists as one about the achievements of the BIR.
5. W.D. Hackmann, Seek & Strike. Sonar, anti-submarine warfare and the Royal Navy 1914-54, p. 18 (HMSO, London, 1984).
6. MacLeod and Andrews, op. cit., note 4.
7. Public Record Office [hereafter PRO]: ADM 116/1430, Conclusions to the Holland-Skinner Report, cited in MacLeod and Andrews, op. cit., note 4.
8. G.M. Caroe, William Henry Bragg 1862-1942. Man and scientist, p. 82 (Cambridge University Press, 1978).
9. MacLeod and Andrews, op. cit., note 4.
10. Hackmann, op. cit., note 5, p. 25.
11. Hackmann, op. cit., note 5, p. 24.
12. Caroe, op. cit., note 8, p. 88.
13. MacLeod and Andrews, op. cit., note 4.
14. Admiral of the Fleet Viscount Jellicoe of Scapa, The crisis of the naval war, pp. 21-25, 54 (Cassell & Co, London, 1920).
15. Hackmann, op. cit., note 5, p. 29.
16. Quoted in: A.J. Marder, From the Dreadnought to Scapa Flow. The Royal Navy in the Fisher era, 1904-1919. Volume IV. 1917: year of crisis, pp. 78, 162 (Oxford University Press, London, 1969), citing a draft of a letter from Duff to Jellicoe, August 1928.
17. PRO: ADM 137/1927.
18. This was one of six Sections, and included in its area of responsibility the detection of submarines and mines.
19. Hackmann, op. cit., note 5, p. 19.
20. H. Newbolt, History of the Great War based on official documents by direction of the Historical Section of the Committee of Imperial Defence. Naval Operations. Vol. IV, pp. 323-324 (Longmans, Green and Co, London, 1928).
21. Admiral of the Fleet, The Rt Hon. The Earl Jellicoe, The submarine peril. The Admiralty policy in 1917, p. 5 (Cassell, London, 1934).
22. Newbolt, op. cit., note 20, pp. 27, 323.
23. Unrestricted Submarine Warfare meant the 'sinking of merchant-ships by torpedoes at sight and without warning'. Jellicoe in Foreword, p.viii, to R.H. Gibson and M. Prendergast, The German submarine war 1914-1918 (Constable and Co, London, 1931).
24. C.E. Fayle, History of the Great War. Seaborne trade, vol. II (John Murray, London, 1920-24).
25. Marder, op. cit., note 16, p. 51.
26. Jellicoe, op. cit., note 14, p. 4.
27. Newbolt, op. cit., note 20, p. 385.
28. Jellicoe, op. cit., note 14, pp. 33, 37, 181;
29. op. cit., note 21.
30. W.S. Sims, in collaboration with B.J. Hendrick, The victory at sea, p. 96 (John Murray, London, 1920).
31. Sims, op. cit., note 29, p. 23.
32. Jellicoe, op. cit., note 14, pp. vii, 1.
33. H. Newbolt, History of the Great War based on official documents by direction of the Historical Section of the Committee of Imperial Defence. Naval Operations, vol. V, pp. 20-21, 128 (Longmans, Green and Co, London, 1931).
34. Newbolt, op. cit., note 32, pp. 23, 58-59, 138.
35. The Rt Hon. W.S. Churchill, The world crisis 1916-1918 part II, pp. 350-351, 359 (Thornton Butterworth Ltd, London, 1927).
36. Fayle, op. cit., note 24.
37. Conversely, U-boat successes, and the ineffectiveness of British measures against them, were of course played upon in the German press. See, for example, the leading article in the Kölnische Zeitung of 1 August 1917 by Kapt. von Kühlwetter.
38. Newbolt, op. cit., note 20, p. 70.
39. C. Simpson, Lusitania, pp. 37-38 (Longman, London, 1972; Penguin Books, Harmondsworth, 1983).
40. MacLeod and Andrews, op. cit., note 4, p. 6.
41. Hackmann, op. cit., note 5, pp. xxiv, 13, 14, 18. Marder notes that 20,698 of these suggestions were submitted to the BIR between July 1915 and December 1916. A.J. Marder, Fear God and Dread Nought, vol. III: Restoration, abdication and last years 1914-1920, p. 270 (Jonathan Cape, London, 1959) (original source: PRO: ADM 212/158). The Holland-Skinner Report stated that the number of inventions dealt with by Section II between 5 July 1915 and 30 June 1917 was 14,655, of which 9825 concerned appliances to destroy submarines, the highest figure for any subject of any section. The overall total of inventions submitted to every section in this period was 41,127. (PRO: ADM 212/158.)
42. Hackmann, op. cit., note 5, pp. xxiv, 13, 14, 18. Marder notes that 20,698 of these suggestions were submitted to the BIR between July 1915 and December 1916. A.J. Marder, Fear God and Dread Nought, vol. III: Restoration, abdication and last years 1914-1920, p. 270 (Jonathan Cape, London, 1959) (original source: PRO: ADM 212/158). The Holland-Skinner Report stated that the number of inventions dealt with by Section II between 5 July 1915 and 30 June 1917 was 14,655, of which 9825 concerned appliances to destroy submarines, the highest figure for any subject of any section. The overall total of inventions submitted to every section in this period was 41,127. (PRO: ADM 212/158.)
43. Grand Fleet Secret Packs 1914-18, vol. XLVII, Pack 0022, Sections C, D1, D2, PRO: ADM 137/1927; vol. XLVIII, Pack 0022, Section D3, PRO: ADM 137/1928.
44. Grand Fleet Secret Packs 1914-18, vol. XLVII, Pack 0022, Sections C, D1, D2, PRO: ADM 137/1927; vol. XLVIII, Pack 0022, Section D3, PRO: ADM 137/1928.
45. Naval Staff, Admiralty, The technical history of the Navy. TH 40, p. 63 (1920).
46. Jellicoe, op. cit., note 21, p. 36;
47. P.K. Kemp, H.M. Submarines, p. 103 (Herbert Jenkins, London, 1952);
48. Marder, op. cit., note 16, p. 79.
49. The help of psychologists was enlisted after the formation by a group of businessmen of the Lancashire Anti-Submarine Committee in 1917, under the chairmanship of Professor Sir Ernest Rutherford, F.R.S. Staff of the Cambridge Psychological Laboratory participated in the selection and training of personnel for hydrophone work and among these was Miss E.M. Smith, the animal psychologist, but she was not invited to become involved in the work with sea lions ( F.C. Bartlett, 'Cambridge, England 1887-1937', Am. J. Psychol. 50, 97-110 (1937)). Her supervisor at Cambridge, C.S. Myers, F.R.S., had been appointed Consultant Psychologist to the British Armies in France in 1916, and frequently appeared as an expert witness in court-martial cases concerning a soldier's degree of responsibility for desertion or for other serious infractions of discipline. In the last year of the war he also devised tests and supervised their application for the selection of men suited to hydrophone work for submarine detection (
50. C.S. Myers, 'Charles Samuel Myers', in C.A. Murchison (ed.), A history of psychology in autobiography, vol. III (Clark University Press, Worcester, MA, 1936; Russell and Russell, New York, 1961).
51. J. Buchan, The three hostages, chap. 5 (Hodder and Stoughton, London, 1924).
52. This article is also noted by D. Katz, Animals and men: studies in comparative psychology, 2nd edn, p. 47 fn (Longmans, London, 1953). Earlier, more detailed accounts had appeared in The Star (26 March 1931) and The World's Fair (11 April 1931). Other references to the sea lion work appear in
53. Kemp, op. cit., note 43, pp. 102-103;
54. Marder, op. cit., note 16, p. 78;
55. Hackmann, op. cit., note 5, pp. 19-20;
56. R. Compton-Hall, Submarines and the war at sea 1914-18, pp. 95-97 (Macmillan, London, 1991). On 20 September 1993, BBC Radio 4 broadcast The case of the luminous sea lions, a short documentary researched by David Harvie.
57. Jellicoe, op. cit., note 14, pp. 61-67. Marder rejects the assertion of Gibson and Prendergast
58. (op. cit., note 23) that the introduction of the hydrophone marked the beginning of a new era in anti-submarine warfare: there was much exaggerated optimism at the time and claims of any moral and psychological effects on U-boat crews were unsubstantiated. 'Post-war trials finally condemned this equipment; hydrophones were abolished in 1921.
59. ' Marder, op. cit., note 16, pp. 76-77.
60. Gusewelle has claimed that the BIR undertook to investigate the dolphin in order to understand the principles by which this animal hears and communicates under water. This endeavour was said to be related to the idea that, if machines could be produced which imitated the methods employed by dolphins, specifically those involving echo sounding, the rudiments of what was to become SONAR could be grasped. The present author has not identified any reference, official or otherwise, to such an undertaking and no specific reference was given in Gusewelle's work. J.K. Gusewelle, The Board of Invention and Research: a case study in the relations between academic science and the Royal Navy in Great Britain during the First World War, p. 41, unpublished PhD thesis, University of California, Irvine (1971).
61. The lady was no doubt 'Captain' Fred Woodward's very attractive wife, Nina, who appeared regularly with her husband, his brother, Joseph, and the sea lions as 'La petite Nina'. She also helped achieve advance press attention for the sea lion acts (see, for example, the Southend Times 1 April 1926). The involvement of the Woodwards in the BIR's sea lion trials is discussed below.
62. F. Lloyd Hopwood was attached to the Admiralty Experimental Station, Parkeston Quay, Harwich, working on hydrophone development for the BIR.
63. Papers of Captain R.A. Trevor, R.N., Imperial War Museum 66/27/1. In J.B. Hattendorf, R.J.B. Knight, A.W.H. Pearsall, N.A.M. Rodger and G. Till (eds), British naval documents 1204-1960, pp. 938-939 (Scolar Press for the Navy Records Society, London, 1993).
64. 'Hearing in Fishes.' PRO: ADM 293/5, p. 271.
65. E.J. Allen, Report upon experiments on the hearing powers of sea-lions under water, and on the possibility of training these animals as submarine trackers, B.I.R. 30051/17 (Admiralty Board of Invention and Research, London, 1917). PRO: ADM 293/5, pp. 450-469.
66. Minutes of the meeting of the Panel of the B.I.R., 8 December 1916. Report from Sir Richard Paget. PRO: ADM 293/5.
67. Dr (later Sir Sidney) Harmer, F.R.S., of the British Museum (Natural History) was also consulted by the BIR in October 1916 as to whether fishes and marine animals could hear when moving underwater. PRO: ADM 116/1430 and PRO: ADM 212/158.
68. Bragg's biographer considered the project 'cranky', and distanced Bragg from responsibility for it, suggesting that it was pushed forward because of Paget's sense of humour. Caroe, op. cit., note 8, p. 86.
69. J. Woodward in 'The ways and work of the sea lions', a report in The World's Fair, 6 February, 8 (1915).
70. Many of these are given in R. Toole-Stott, Circus and allied arts. A world bibliography, 4 vols (Harpur and Sons, Derby, 1958-71).
71. G. Speaight, A history of the circus, p. 96 (Tantivy Press, 1980).
72. Arrangements for the accommodation of the aquarium in 1873 are documented in the Ramsgate Harbour Letter Books, nos 6, 7 & 8, held by the East Kent Maritime Trust.
73. Mallabar, op. cit., note 1, describes his role here as having been Superintendent of the Fish Department for seven years.
74. Speaight, op. cit., note 59.
75. W. Smith, Animal training extraordinary. Captain Woodward's musical pets. Chums July, 734-735 (London: Cassell & Co, London 1898).
76. Thanet Advertiser and Echo 24 January 1933 and
77. East Kent Times 25 January 1933, both of which newspapers also make early public reference to the anti-submarine trials, repeated in greater detail in the Echo at the time of Joseph Woodward's death in 1945;
78. The World's Fair 22 December 1945.
79. Speaight, op. cit., note 59.
80. Thanet Advertiser and Echo 11 December 1945;
81. East Kent Times 12 December 1945;
82. The World's Fair 28 January 1939.
83. Some reassurance on humane methods is usually given, too, at a time when the Jack London clubs were about to appear on both sides of the Atlantic.
84. Smith, op. cit., note 63.
85. Sir G. Tyrwhytt-Drake, The English circus and fairground, p. 141 (Methuen, London, 1946). Woodward had reported that a troupe of seven sea lions was consuming 250 1b of fish a day in 1915, when the war had more than doubled the price, through closure of fishing grounds , because of mine-laying and employment of fishermen in minesweeping. His weekly fish bill was then £24-£25, as opposed to about £7 in peacetime
86. (The World's Fair 6 February 1915).
87. T.H. Gillespie, Is it cruel? A study of the condition of captive and performing animals, p. 124 (Jenkins, London, 1934).
88. S.T. Felstead, Stars who made the halls. A hundred years of English humour, harmony and hilarity, p. 160 (T. Werner Laurie, London, 1946);
89. J. Charles, Naissance du Music-Hall, pp. 147-149 (Arthème Fayard, Paris, 1952).
90. Mallabar, op. cit., note 1.
91. F. Dolman, 'Four-footed actors', English Illustrated Magazine September, 525 (1899). Elsewhere it was claimed that seals were less tractable and intelligent than sea lions:
92. S.W. Todd, 'A school for sea-lions', St. Nicholas Magazine: Scribner's illustrated magazine for girls and boys. Conducted by M. M. Dodge New York. February (1918), pp. 367-368.
93. Smith, op. cit., note 63.
94. He later retired after the outbreak of war and at the time when he devoted his attention in 1916 to the requirements of the Board of Invention and Research.
95. Gillespie, op. cit., note 70, pp. 120-132.
96. The Performer 13 December 1945, making reference to the Performing Animals (Regulation) Act of 1925.
97. Thanet Advertiser and Echo 11 December 1945 and
98. Isle of Thanet Gazette 14 December 1945.
99. Report from the Select Committee on Performing Animals, together with the Proceedings of the Committee and Minutes of Evidence, House of Commons Sessional Papers, 1921, vol. vii, pp. 54-60. Hertz, who was a conjurer and not a trainer, also worked with rabbits and ducks.
100. Report from the Select Committee on Performing Animals, together with the Proceedings of the Committee and Minutes of Evidence, House of Commons Sessional Papers, 1922, vol. v, p. 139.
101. ibid., p. 130. Although it is difficult to imagine that life on the circus and music-hall circuit was an appropriately natural experience for his animals, there is evidence that Woodward was affectionate towards them and, at least by the standards of the time, most concerned for their welfare. As a practical health precaution, each morning the animals' teeth were cleaned with carbolic tooth powder and their mouths washed out with a solution of permanganate of potash; and in July and August they were taken for an annual 'holiday' by the sea at Shoreham
102. (The World's Fair 6 February 1915). Joseph Woodward's brother-in-law and cousin, John C. Essex, who assisted in the sea lion trials on the Solent (see below), was also mentioned before the Committee, but in a less fortunate light. It was noted that his difficulty in finding regular employment after the war was exacerbated by the fact that shortly before the Select Committee hearings he had been prosecuted for cruelty in his presentation of the 'Great Sousa Rooster Orchestra', consisting of cockerels dressed in tight bandsmen's uniforms which chafed and exhausted the birds as they apparently performed on musical instruments, which were in reality mechanically operated from the back of the stage (Report from the Select Committee on Performing Animals, together with the Proceedings of the Committee and Minutes of Evidence,
103. House of Commons Sessional Papers, 1921, vol. vii, pp. 11, 13, 14). John Essex's daughter, Ann (who until the age of eight lived with Joseph Woodward and his wife, Annie, in Southwick, Sussex, where the sea lions were trained), reports that her father subsequently looked after the animals in Carmo's Circus, before his appointment as first commissionaire at 'Dreamland' in Margate.
104. The World's Fair 26 February 1927.
105. Wilhelmina Stitch authored over thirty titles, mostly published by Methuen in the late 1920s and in the 1930s, having gentle, sentimental, morally uplifting and religious themes in prose and verse, some for children. Joseph Woodward willed that beneath her memorial tablet in Golders Green Crematorium should be added the lines: 'Remembering also Joseph Woodward, F.Z.S., naturalist, discoverer of latent equilibrist powers given to the sea lion species'.
106. Article by Philippa Mulready, Isle of Thanet Gazette 16 October 1998; and Dorothy Appleton, personal communication, 27 May 2000.
107. Bath Weekly Chronicle and Herald 15 December 1945. (Joseph Woodward temporarily evacuated to Bathampton, where he served as volunteer chief fire guard officer before returning to Ramsgate in 1944.)
108. Thanet Advertiser and Echo 11 December 1945.
109. Bath Weekly Chronicle and Herald 22 December 1945 and
110. Thanet Advertiser and Echo 18 December 1945. The panels are entitled '1878 Saving Life from Drowning', 'Progress in the Education of Seals 1878 and Sealions 1888', '1898 The First Sealion Equilibrists' and '1916-1917 Admiralty War Work Submarine Detector Improvements ' (with reference to the 'Fish Torpedo'). Forming one side of the monument is the following inscription: 'Nation shall speak peace unto nation. This tablet is dedicated by Joseph George Woodward to the brotherhood of English speaking peoples and to peace with understanding among all nations. To the remembrance of those who gave their lives in the great war of 1914-1918. To Motherhood and the legions of Hidden Saints, unknown and uncelebrated heroes of the humdrum whose goodness will never be known but whose names are in the Book of Life... Also to the many animals and birds that have suffered and died in wars between groping mankind. And to the gradually disappearing wild life of the earth.'
111. Muzzling was achieved by a wire cage attached by means of an elastic collar and a tape passing through the muzzle and across the animal's mouth. A small door in the front closed with a spring, and fish could be fed through it.
112. Correspondence between Bragg, Wood and Woodward is preserved in PRO: ADM 218/104.
113. A.B. Wood, Behaviour of sea-lions towards subaqueous sounds, B.I.R. 2228/17 (Admiralty Board of Invention and Research, London, 1917). PRO: ADM 218/20. A progress report was made by Paget at the meeting of the Sub Committee of Section II held on 9 January 1917 (PRO: ADM 293/5, p.327) and it was noted that Allen was by then studying the structure of the animals' ears. It was added that seals (sic) were available in very large numbers and were said to be easier to train than any other animal.
114. Woodward later claimed that the noted silence of his sea lions under water contributed to the development of towed hydrophones. The most successful of these was the 'Nash Fish' developed by G.H. Nash of the Western Electric Company and accepted by the Admiralty in October 1917. This type, together with rival 'porpoises' and rubber 'eels', is described in Hackmann, op. cit., note 5, pp. 60-63. Woodward's contribution is not mentioned in official records, but he reported: 'Some extraordinary tests were made with listening apparatus to try to increase its sensitivity. The machines were enclosed in various types of case, including a stuffed seal's body, to try to find out if the shape of the animal, or some peculiar property in its skin, assisted the reception of sounds. But it was simply the sea lion's acute hearing that enabled it to locate sounds miles away under water. Some of these factors gave a clue to the designing of the best form of submarine detector, and after a wide range of experiments with hollow stream-line towing containers a "fish-torpedo" resulted, in which the instruments were enclosed in the head with communicating wires leading to the parent ship'.
115. The World's Fair 11 April 1931.
116. '...trials were carried out in a swimming bath, in a loch, and finally, watched by an Admiral, in the sea off the Welsh coast.' Caroe, op. cit., note 8, p. 86.
117. A.B. Wood, 'From Board of Invention and Research to Royal Naval Scientific Service (Hawkcraig, Aberdour), 1915-17' Journal of the Royal Naval Scientific Service part 1, pp. 132-133 (1961). The caricature, which the present author has not been able to trace in spite of assistance from many of those acknowledged for their help in the preparation of this paper, had also been referred to earlier, in Wood's letter to the editor of the Journal of 10 March 1960 (PRO: ADM 218/3). In July 1915 and on Rutherford's suggestion Wood had become one of the first two research physicists to receive an official appointment to the Admiralty, to work on anti-submarine problems under the BIR: this appointment has been claimed as the beginning of scientific research in the Admiralty. Having started in Rutherford's university department in Manchester, becoming in 1914 Oliver Lodge Research Fellow and then lecturer in physics at the University of Liverpool, Wood later initiated at Aberdour some of the earliest methods of comparing sound intensities and used them to explore sound fields produced by sources in the sea. He was mainly responsible for the design of the first directional hydrophone, and after the war remained in Admiralty service.
118. G.E.R. Deacon, 'Obituary. Dr A.B. Wood, O.B.E.', Nature 203, 1224 (1964).
119. W.L. Borrows, 'Obituary. Albert Beaumont Wood 1890-1964', J. Acoustical Soc. Am. 36, 2248-2249 (1964).
120. The Zoo's involvement is referred to in L.R. Brightwell, The zoo you knew?, pp. 195-197 (Basil Blackwell, Oxford, 1936). Brightwell thought that a young naval officer had originally suggested the project, and that trials later included work in the North Sea.
121. R.A.S. Paget, 'Hearing of sea-lions', in
122. Allen, op. cit., note 53, appendix III.
123. Brightwell (op. cit., note 94) noted that the London baths were closed at this time, 'chiefly for the billeting of troops'. The City of Westminster Minutes of Baths and Wash-House Committee 1917-1919 (City of Westminster Archives Centre) refer to agreement to use the 1st Class Swimming Bath at Great Smith Street (14 February and 16 May 1917) and the General Superintendent's request to give up possession to enable cleaning before opening for the summer season on 1 May (18 April 1917).
124. An inspection of service records in the Public Record Office suggests that Nott was an army officer who had been discharged from the Front for various medical reasons. (PRO: WO 339/800.)
125. R.A.S. Paget, 'Experiments with sea-lions on Lake Bala' (23 April 1917); and
126. F.L. Pleadwell, 'Tracking and locating under-water sounds by means of the California sea-lion' (24 April 1917)
127. , in Allen, op. cit., note 53, appendices IV and V. Captain F.L. Pleadwell USN was head of the medical section of the American naval headquarters in London.
128. Sims, op. cit., note 29, p. 212.
129. Paget kept the Sub Committee informed of the latest developments at the meeting of 24 April 1917, and a report would be sent to the Director of the Anti-Submarine Division (PRO: ADM 293/5, p. 393).
130. Even in the Westminster baths it had been felt necessary to fit Queenie's muzzle with a stiff upstanding wire carrying a polished tin disc, to make the animal more visible on coming to the surface.
131. Sea lions routinely dive to around 450 feet. F.G. Wood, Marine mammals and man. The Navy's porpoises and sea lions (Robert B. Luce, Washington, 1973).
132. Woodward later explained that the sea lion was recalled by a sound-drum towed under the launch, whose noise was associated with a feed of fish (The World's Fair 11 April 1931).
133. The cause of death was not established, but it has been recognised that sea lions are susceptible to many diseases and parasitic infections, such as lungworm. Wood, op. cit., note 102.
134. Many of the experiments at Lake Bala were witnessed by Dr A. L. Davies, a curious GP, who took a keen interest in local matters and kept a diary of what he saw, noting the training methods, the use of the red wooden floats, and the quantity of valuable sea fish invested in the work. Archifdy Meirion, Dolgellau, ZM/59/6.
135. Dewi Bowen was a warden on Lake Bala (Welsh name, Llyn Tegid), and his photograph (exact provenance unknown) was used as the basis for a speculative article in the Western Mail by Roger Dobson on 5 September 1983. An outline of the sea lion work was given and the ancestry of Teggie, the Lake Bala monster, explained, the monster itself allegedly being at the time under investigation by an American professor from the New York based Institute of Lake Phenomena.
136. C15 was appropriately commanded by Lieutenant Dolphin.
137. R.A. Allenby, 'Use of sea-lions for submarine tracking', in
138. Allen, op. cit., note 53, appendix VI.
139. Colville's instructions are reprinted in Compton-Hall, op. cit., note 46, p. 96.
140. The Thanet Advertiser and Echo 11 December 1945, reported that John Essex had entered the submarine service and was then, as a Chief Petty Officer, posted to the trials, but there is no indication in service records in the Public Record Office that he served in the Royal Navy in any capacity in the First World War.
141. Paget informed the Sub Committee on 20 June 1917 that the experimental programme was in abeyance in view of Allenby's advice to the Admiralty that the trials at Gosport raised no hopes of success under sea conditions. He added that the Central Committee of the BIR had agreed to ask for a further report from Captain Woodward, who was not satisfied that in these trials the conditions allowed conclusive assessment; but Woodward's later submission failed to sustain the programme (PRO: ADM 293/5, p. 431).
142. At Lake Bala, an old sea lion, 'Dorando', had continued to perform well and this was attributed to his failing eyesight and hearing. In a harsher experimental environment it might have been suggested that a deliberate impairment at least of the animals' acute sense of vision would improve performance.
143. Brightwell (op. cit., note 94, p. 197) believed the distraction could have been caused by the huge shoals of fish which during the war had 'multiplied a hundredfold as a result of the unnaturally prolonged "close season"'.
144. Surgeon Pleadwell made no reference to these in the report of his observations.
145. Wood, op. cit., note 101.
146. Once again, muzzled sea lions were at first trained to carry out a task in return for rewards. A fully trained animal could locate a submerged object that emitted a sound suited to its hearing range, and after carrying and fixing a 'grabber' and line to it, could be reliably recalled, again responding to an appropriate sound. M.E. Conboy, 'Project "quick find": a marine mammal system for object recovery', Rapp. P.-v. Reun. Cons. Int. Explor. Mer., vol 169, pp. 487-500 (1975).