Robert Clark (zoologist)

{{Short description|Scottish marine zoologist and polar explorer (1882–1950)}} [[File:Robert Clark.jpg|thumb|Robert Clark during ''Endurance'']] {{Use British English|date=August 2011}} {{Use dmy dates|date=February 2022}} Dr '''Robert Selbie Clark''' {{Post-nominals|post-noms=[[Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh|FRSE]]}} (11 September 1882 – 29 September 1950) was a Scottish [[marine zoologist]] and explorer. He was the biologist on [[Ernest Shackleton|Sir Ernest Shackleton's]] [[Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition]] of 1914–1917, and served as the director of the [[Scottish Home Department Marine Laboratory]], at [[Torry]], [[Aberdeen]].<ref name="Waterston">{{cite book |last1=Waterston |first1=Charles D |last2=Macmillan Shearer |first2=A |title=Former Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 1783–2002: Biographical Index |url=http://www.rse.org.uk/cms/files/fellows/biographical_index/fells_indexp1.pdf |access-date=30 December 2011 |volume=I |date=2006 |publisher=[[The Royal Society of Edinburgh]] |location=Edinburgh |isbn=978-0-902198-84-5}}</ref>

==Early life== Robert Clark was born on 11 September 1882 in [[Aberdeen]], the son of William Clark. He attended [[Aberdeen Grammar School]] and then [[Aberdeen University]] from where he graduated with an M.A. in 1908. In 1911 he attained a BSc and became Zoologist to the [[Scottish Oceanographical Laboratory]], Edinburgh, a post he held until he was appointed naturalist to the [[Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom|Marine Biological Association]] in 1913. While at the Scottish Oceanographical Laboratory, he worked on some of the Antarctic specimens that [[William Speirs Bruce]] had brought back from the [[Scottish National Antarctic Expedition]] of 1902–04.

He was a natural sportsman, a keen golfer and angler, and was selected to play [[Scotland national cricket team|cricket for Scotland]] in 1912.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/content/player/25170.html |title=Robert Clark |work=ESPNcricinfo |access-date=7 December 2013}}</ref> He had a reserved manner, not given to laughing or joking,{{Citation needed|date=December 2011}} but with a strong work ethic and a passion for biology.

==Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition== {{main|Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition}} On 9 August 1914 the ''Endurance'' departed Plymouth, carrying Shackleton and his crew on what was intended to be the first expedition to cross Antarctica from the Atlantic to the Pacific via the [[South Pole]]. Over 5000 applications for places in the crew had been received. The expedition was a failure: the ship became trapped in pack ice and was eventually destroyed by the pressure of the ice, but all the crew of the ''Endurance'' were eventually rescued after Shackleton and five men made an 800-mile sea journey to fetch help. Clark was a hard worker, and, despite his dour manner, quickly won the respect of the crew with his willingness to volunteer for some of the more arduous or unpleasant jobs aboard ship, although he was the butt of several jokes. He was not the politest of men, and a little verse was composed around his apparent inability to remember to say "please". The crew boiled some spaghetti and placed it in one of his collecting jars, causing him momentary excitement at the thought of having discovered a new species, and a standing joke claimed the penguins seen alongside were said to shout out "Clark, Clark" and chase after the ship whenever he was at the wheel. He worked arduously at his biological recording from the moment the expeditions set out, recording the specimens encountered using [[Marine biology dredge|dredging nets]] as the ship progressed southwards. When the ship became trapped in the ice he continued with his work, dissecting penguins and recording the changes in the plankton levels in sea.

When the ship had to be abandoned all Clark's specimens were left behind. [[Frank Worsley]] recorded: {{blockquote|I felt sorry for Clark, as I lay there that night and realised that he had been obliged to leave on the ''Endurance'' the whole of his valuable collection that he had been at such pains to classify and study.}}

Once they reached the edge of the pack ice the crew set out for [[Elephant Island]] in three of the small boats of the ''Endurance''. Clark travelled in the 22½-foot ''[[James Caird (boat)|James Caird]]'' with Shackleton, [[Frank Hurley]], [[Leonard Hussey]], [[Reginald W. James|Reginald James]], [[James Wordie]], [[Harry McNish]], [[Charles Green (cook)|Charles Green]], [[John Vincent (sailor)|John Vincent]] and [[Timothy McCarthy (sailor)|Timothy McCarthy]]. On arriving at the island, Shackleton set out almost immediately with five of the crew to fetch rescue from [[South Georgia Island|South Georgia]]. The rest of the men, Clark among them, stayed camped on the island with [[Frank Wild]] in command. Elephant Island was inhospitable. It was cold but humid which meant that neither the clothing nor the sleeping bags were ever completely dry. Though there were penguins and seals to eat, the supplies were not inexhaustible and fuel was scarce. The routine on the island was monotonous. Clark managed to produce a primitive alcoholic beverage from [[methylated spirit]], sugar, water and ginger which became known as "Gut Rot 1916" and was drunk with a toast to "Wives and Sweethearts" on Saturdays. On 30 August 1916, the men on Elephant Island were rescued by Shackleton aboard the Chilean ship ''Yelcho'', four months after he had left the island.

==After the expedition==

Clark returned to Scotland where he married Christine Ferguson. He served as a Lieutenant on minesweepers in the [[Royal Naval Reserve|Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve]] during World War I and then returned to Plymouth in 1919 when the war finished. His cricketing skills led to his again being selected for Scotland in 1924. In 1925 he gained a D.Sc. (Doctor of Science), and in the same year he became the director of the [[Fisheries Research Laboratory]] in [[Torry]], [[Aberdeen]]. In 1934, he was appointed Superintendent of Scientific Investigations under the [[Scottish Fisheries Protection Agency|Fishery Board for Scotland]]. He contributed papers on [[herring]] larvae and [[haddock]] stocks.

In 1935 he was elected a Fellow of the [[Royal Society of Edinburgh]]. His proposers were Sir [[D'Arcy Wentworth Thompson]], Sir [[John Graham Kerr]] and [[James Hartley Ashworth]].<ref>{{Cite book|last=Waterston|first=C. D.|url=https://www.royalsoced.org.uk/cms/files/fellows/biographical_index/fells_indexp1.pdf|title=Former Fellows of The Royal Society of Edinburgh 1783–2002: Biographical Index Part One|last2=Macmillan Shearer|first2=A.|publisher=The Royal Society of Edinburgh|year=2006|isbn=090219884X|location=Edinburgh|pages=185|language=English|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130124115814/https://www.royalsoced.org.uk/cms/files/fellows/biographical_index/fells_indexp1.pdf|archive-date=24 January 2013|url-status=dead}}</ref>

He retired in 1948 and died two years later at home in [[Murtle]], [[Aberdeenshire]]; he had no children.

==References== {{Reflist}} *{{cite web|url=http://www.visitandlearn.co.uk/factfiles05/obit5.asp|title=Endurance Obituaries: Robert Selbie Clark|year=2005|publisher=HMS Endurance Tracking Project|access-date=19 June 2007 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070708093043/http://www.visitandlearn.co.uk/factfiles05/obit5.asp  |archive-date = 8 July 2007}} *{{cite web|url=http://www.south-pole.com/p000098b.htm|title=Antarctic Explorers: Ernest Shackleton|publisher=South Pole.com|access-date=19 June 2007}} *{{cite web|url=http://www.coolantarctica.com/Antarctica%20fact%20file/History/biography/clark_robert.htm |title=Robert S. Clark|year=2001|author=Paul Ward|publisher=Cool Antarctica|access-date=19 June 2007}} *{{cite book|title=South|author=Sir Ernest Shackleton|orig-year=1919|year=1999|publisher=Penguin Books|location=Great Britain|isbn=0-14-028886-4|url=https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/5199}} *{{cite book|title=Endurance|author=Caroline Alexander|publisher=Bloomsbury|year=1998|location=London|isbn=074754123X|pages=211}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Clark, Robert Selbie}} [[Category:1882 births]] [[Category:1950 deaths]] [[Category:Scientists from Aberdeen]] [[Category:People educated at Aberdeen Grammar School]] [[Category:Alumni of the University of Aberdeen]] [[Category:British explorers of Antarctica]] [[Category:Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh]] [[Category:Personnel of the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition]] [[Category:Royal Navy officers of World War I]] [[Category:Scottish explorers]] [[Category:Scottish sailors]] [[Category:20th-century Scottish zoologists]] [[Category:Cricketers from Aberdeen]] [[Category:Scottish marine biologists]] [[Category:Marine zoologists]]