A Forgotten 1949 Recording Turns Out To Be The Oldest-Known Recording of a Whale Song
In early 2026, researchers made a remarkable discovery in the archives of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI): the oldest known recording of a humpback whale song. Recorded on an audiograph disc, the recording was made over 70 years ago, on March 7, 1949, near Bermuda.
“This is the first known recording of whale songs that we have,” said Ashley Jester, director of research data and library services at WHOI, who first discovered the recording hidden in the archive. Discover. “The other recordings from this era date from a little later.”
This newly discovered autograph recording predates the songs recorded by Marine engineer Frank Watlington in 1964, which helped biologist Roger Payne discover the complexity of whale song. These later recordings were released as Popular Album Songs of the humpback whale in 1970.
Creating some of the first recordings of whale songs
In 1949, researchers aboard the R/V Atlantis were testing sonar systems in partnership with the United States Office of Naval Research. The technology for recording underwater sounds was still in its infancy at the time, and it was by chance that they captured the hauntingly beautiful song of the humpback whale. Carefully, the research team preserved and recorded the recording.
For Lester, this important discovery is ultimately a story of scientific curiosity.
“The purpose of the research cruise itself was to conduct basic science on sonar, because we were really in the early stages of understanding how sound travels through water,” Jester said.
Nevertheless, researchers on board continued recording, capturing this whale’s song for the scientific record.
“This represents a real scientific curiosity. People are now making the decision to record data that they didn’t know exactly what it was or what it would mean,” she added.
Learn more: Humpback whales are increasingly giving up singing
Recording technology of the time
The 1949 humpback whale sounds were captured on a Gray Audograph, a desktop dictation device that burned audio onto thin plastic discs, and were likely recorded using the WHOI “suitcase,” an early experimental underwater acoustic recording system.
(Image courtesy of Rachel Mann, ©Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)
Today, researchers use a multitude of tools like sonobuoys and autonomous hydrophones to record ocean sounds. However, to capture this whale’s song in 1949, researchers used a waterproof microphone and a gray audiograph – a dictation device – that traced the audio onto plastic discs.
They likely used a device known as a “suitcase,” developed by WHOI researchers, to record the audio.
Unlike other recordings from the same period that were recorded on cassette and have since deteriorated, the audiograph records have stood the test of time, fortunately for the WHOI team. Experts are excited about this discovery, not only because of its historic nature, but also because of its research potential. Today’s oceans are very different from those of the 1940s. A multitude of anthropogenic noises make the groundwater soundscape very different from that of the 1940s.
A soundtrack from the past
This record, along with others yet to be digitized, could help researchers understand how the oceans, and perhaps even species, have changed in recent decades. It is thought that noise from increased shipping traffic, for example, may have changed the way whales communicate and make themselves heard amid the underwater din.
“This recording can provide insight into how humpback whale sounds have changed over time, while serving as a baseline for measuring how human activity shapes the ocean soundscape,” Laela Sayigh, marine bioacousticist and senior research specialist at WHOI, said in a press release.
Interestingly, there are over 200 autograph records in WHOI’s collection that may contain other ocean sounds from the near past.
“So far we’ve only listened to three of the digitized files,” Jester said.
Over time, the team hopes to hear more, and it is hoped that more such discoveries may well be made in the near future as the other records are analyzed.
For her, this also says a lot about the importance of recording and restoring the masses of data hidden in archives.
“When people ask, ‘What is the purpose of an archive and why do we maintain and preserve data?’ “It’s exactly for times like this,” Jester concluded. “With this, we traveled back in time to hear the song of this whale from more than 75 years ago.”
Learn more: Have blue whales stopped singing? Paying attention to their songs could benefit humans too
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