Since the discovery of these islands, human attitudes have shifted from arrogant disdain of the early explorers to the senseless brutality of later exploiters. Nobody cared about the beauty of the landscape when the living resources of the island could be turned to materialistic wealth. Who would use the word "respect" when in minutes a seal or whale could be transformed from a biological miracle to a barrel of oil for northerly nations.
Here you will find the deadly serious performing the ancient rites of death.
A place of brute love and bodily lusts.
In the political cant of the time, it may have been paraphrased this way, "Workers from many nations unite in a struggle against life on an inhospitable island; Show that a superior being; Harvest what's given to you and God bless your work".
The elephant seals are by far the biggest marine mammals on the shore, but not the most conspicuous. The fur seals have a history as troublesome as their. They used to inhabit most shores in this part of the Antarctic. But their fur was invaluable, and the slaughter as a consequence, brutal. One single fur ship, could kill 60,000 seals before returning to cash in at markets on distant continents. Its a time to reevaluate this period of history , time to recreate respect for the elephant seals.