Scientific work in the Falkland Islands by the Scottish National Antarctic Expedition, 1903 & 1904

The 1902-1904 Scottish National Antarctic Expedition (SNAE) is one of the least celebrated enterprises of the ‘Heroic Era’ of Antarctic exploration. Led by William Speirs Bruce (1867-1921) it set sail aboard Scotia on 2nd November 1902 from Troon on the Firth of Clyde, bound for the Weddell Sea and the South Orkney Islands. Port Stanley was reached on 6 January 1903, so beginning the first of the expedition’s three visits to the Falkland Islands (Figure 1): 6-26 January 1903, 2-8 December 1903, and 30 January to 9 February 1904. The second and third of these visits took place during Scotia’s summer voyage from the South Orkneys to Buenos Aires to effect repairs and take on supplies, and her return journey to the South Orkneys to relieve the team that had been left there for the austral summer and then to continue the Weddell Sea explorations.