The geological collection from the Scottish National Antarctic Expedition (1902–04) in the Museo de La Plata, Argentina

2021 ◽  
pp. sjg2020-029
Author(s):  
Silvia Irene Carrasquero
Keyword(s):  
Buenos Aires ◽  
Meteorological Station ◽  
La Plata ◽  
Orkney Islands ◽  
Antarctic Expedition ◽  
South Orkney Islands ◽  
Small Collection ◽  
Rock Specimens

In December 1903, Williams Speirs Bruce, leader of the Scottish National Antarctic Expedition, arrived in Buenos Aires and contacted Francisco Moreno, director of the Museo de La Plata to request his assistance. Bruce asked Moreno to be an intermediary with the Argentine government and to facilitate Bruce's wish for Argentina to take over the meteorological station that the Scottish expedition had established on Laurie Island (South Orkney Islands). Moreno was please to provide the necessary assistance and was instrumental in Bruce achieving his ambition. As a gesture of appreciation, before leaving Buenos Aires Bruce presented a small collection of Laurie Island rock specimens to Moreno as a donation to the Museo de La Plata. This donation initiated the museum's Antarctic collection.

Discussion on ‘The geological collection from the Scottish National Antarctic Expedition (1902–04) in the Museo de La Plata, Argentina’ by Carrasquero 2021 (Scottish Journal of Geology, 57, 60– 66)

2021 ◽  
pp. sjg2021-005
Author(s):  
Philip Stone
Keyword(s):  
Buenos Aires ◽  
The South ◽  
La Plata ◽  
Orkney Islands ◽  
Personal Contribution ◽  
Antarctic Expedition ◽  
South Orkney Islands ◽  
Rock Specimens

The informative paper by Carrasquero (2021) reveals the personal contribution made by Francisco Moreno to the success of the 1902-04 Scottish National Antarctic Expedition (SNAE) during the time it spent in Buenos Aires, Argentina. It was a crucial intervention, and for the hospitality and generous assistance that Moreno arranged for the expedition's leader, William Speirs Bruce (Fig. 1), the presentation of a few rock specimens might seem scant reward, although as an additional mark of respect Bruce named Point Moreno on the expedition's published map of Laurie Island (Brown et al. 1906, p. 145): the name is still valid – 60° 44’ S, 44° 41’ W. Bruce would have been deeply satisfied by the knowledge that his donation of specimens from the South Orkney Islands had initiated the development of an Antarctic collection at the Museo de La Plata. His scientific outlook was always international and collaborative.

scholarly journals The Scottish National Antarctic Expedition, 1902–1904: reconstructing the missing geological report

2018 ◽  
Vol 45 (2) ◽  
pp. 350-362 ◽  
Author(s):  
Philip Stone
Keyword(s):  
Research Programme ◽  
Medical Doctor ◽  
Scientific Investigation ◽  
Orkney Islands ◽  
Unpublished Work ◽  
Antarctic Expedition ◽  
South Orkney Islands ◽  
Scientific Results ◽  
Quality Reports ◽  
Archive Material

The Scottish National Antarctic Expedition (1902–1904) made the first topographical survey and scientific investigation of Laurie Island, one of the South Orkney Islands, and completed an extensive oceanographical research programme in the Scotia and Weddell Seas. When the expedition returned to Scotland, the leader, William Speirs Bruce, embarked on an ambitious attempt to publish the expedition's scientific results in a series of high-quality reports. Sadly, by the time it came to the eighth volume (on geology) his funds were exhausted, and the series was abandoned. Nevertheless, many of the contributions that had been intended for that volume were produced; some were published elsewhere whilst unpublished proofs and archive notes survive for others. From these various sources the volume as planned by Bruce can be reconstructed. The key contributor was J. H. H. Pirie, a medical doctor and primarily the expedition's surgeon. Despite his limited relevant experience his geological observations were commendable, with the notable exception of an important palaeontological misidentification that was inexplicably supported by eminent British experts. The archive material illuminates the background to Pirie's contributions and the ways in which his unpublished work came to be preserved.

scholarly journals XXIX.—Turbellaria of the Scottish National Antarctic Expedition.

1907 ◽  
Vol 45 (3) ◽  
pp. 819-827 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. F. Gemmill ◽  
R. T. Leiper
Keyword(s):  
South America ◽  
Orkney Islands ◽  
Kerguelen Island ◽  
Antarctic Expedition ◽  
South Orkney Islands ◽  
The Antarctic

There were seven Turbellaria in the material handed to us by Mr W. S. Bruce, all obtained in April 1903 from Scotia Bay, South Orkney Islands (9–10 fms., Station 325, lat. 60° 44′ S., long. 44° 51′ W.). Their occurrence is interesting, as, although Studer (Ueber Seethiere aus dem Antarktischen Meere, 1876) mentions, without adequately describing it, a Eurylepta from Kerguelen Island, there are no definite records, so far as we have been able to ascertain, of Turbellarian species from nearer the Antarctic than the coasts of South America.

The Scottish National Antarctic Expedition 1902–04

Polar Record ◽  
1985 ◽  
Vol 22 (139) ◽  
pp. 379-392 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ralph E. Bernstein
Keyword(s):  
Ross Sea ◽  
Scientific Discovery ◽  
Weddell Sea ◽  
East Antarctica ◽  
Orkney Islands ◽  
Geographical Society ◽  
Antarctic Expedition ◽  
South Orkney Islands ◽  
20Th Anniversary ◽  
First Time

On 21 July 1904, just over 80 years ago, the barque-rigged, Norwegian-built auxiliary steamship Scotia sailed home up the Clyde with members of the Scottish National Antarctic Expedition (SNAE), concluding one of the most successful expeditions of the heroic period of Antarctic exploration. Contemporaneous with the more spectacular British Antarctic Expedition (1901–03) commanded by Robert Falcon Scott, the Scotia party under William Spiers Bruce had overwintered on Laurie Island (60° 44ʹ S, 44° 50ʹ W) in the South Orkney Islands, explored for the first time the oceanography of the Weddell Sea, assembled an important collection of scientific material, and discovered Coats Land, an icebound stretch of the East Antarctica coast.While Scott's Discovery expedition had emphasized geographical exploration inland from the Ross Sea sector of Antarctica, Bruce in the Scotia had concentrated more on scientific discovery in the Weddell Sea sector. On 12 November 1904 in Edinburgh, members of the Scotia and Discovery expeditions were guests at the 20th anniversary dinner of the Royal Scottish Geographical Society, Bruce and Scott together responding to a presidential toast that honoured the success of both.

scholarly journals III.—Polychæta of the family Nereidæ, collected by the Scottish National Antarctic Expedition (1902–1904).

1914 ◽  
Vol 50 (1) ◽  
pp. 41-48 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. N. G. Ramsay
Keyword(s):  
Deep Water ◽  
Falkland Islands ◽  
The South ◽  
Orkney Islands ◽  
The Family ◽  
Antarctic Expedition ◽  
South Orkney Islands ◽  
Chief Interest ◽  
The Antarctic

The collection of Nereidæ brought home by the Scotia proves to be of considerable interest. As other expeditions have indicated, the family is but poorly represented in the antarctic or sub-antarctic regions; and although a large number of specimens were collected at the South Orkney Islands, these have all proved to belong to one species, N. kerguelensis M'Int. No nereids were obtained at any of the deep-water stations farther south—the family being decidedly littoral in its range.The chief interest, however, lies in the material collected so assiduously throughout the vessel's wanderings. Six other species were obtained, including one from the Falkland Islands, hitherto undescribed.

scholarly journals Scottish National Antarctic Expedition. “Scotia” Collections. Collembola from the South Orkney Islands

1906 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
pp. 473-483 ◽  
Author(s):  
George H. Carpenter ◽  
William Evans
Keyword(s):  
Present Writer ◽  
Tierra Del Fuego ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Careful Study ◽  
Orkney Islands ◽  
Arctic Regions ◽  
Victoria Land ◽  
Antarctic Expedition ◽  
South Orkney Islands ◽  
The Antarctic

Our knowledge of Antarctic Aptera has been growing rapidly during the last few years, a number of species from remote southern regions having been described by Willem (1902) from the countries south of Patagonia explored by the Belgica, by Schaffer (1897) from Tierra del Fuego, by Enderlein (1903) from Kerguelen, and a single Isotoma by the present writer (1902) from South Victoria Land. We find in the Antarctic as in the Arctic regions that in our advance towards the most remote and inhospitable lands, where winged insects eease to be represented, the primitive Aptera are still found fairly numerous in species, and often multitudinous in individuals. A careful study of these small frail insects fully repays the naturalist, both on account of the interest of their structure and the light which their distribution throws on geographical problems.

Antarctic Ecosystems The freshwater lakes of Signy Island and their fauna

1967 ◽  
Vol 252 (777) ◽  
pp. 347-362 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Summer Season ◽  
Falkland Islands ◽  
Freshwater Lakes ◽  
Orkney Islands ◽  
Signy Island ◽  
Antarctic Expedition ◽  
South Orkney Islands ◽  
The Antarctic ◽  
Taxonomic Evaluation ◽  
British Sector

Prior to 1962 work on freshwater within the British Sector of the Antarctic had been confined to the collection of specimens and their subsequent taxonomic evaluation. Collections were made by such expeditions as the Scottish National Antarctic Expedition 1902- 04, the various Discover y Investigations in this region 1925-37, the British Graham Land Expedition 1934-37 and the Falkland Islands Dependencies Survey 1945-62. During the 1961/1962 summer season an ecological investigation of the freshwater lakes of Signy Island, South Orkney Islands, was started. This paper is an interim report on that work.

The polar ship Scotia

Polar Record ◽  
2005 ◽  
Vol 41 (2) ◽  
pp. 131-140 ◽  
Author(s):  
Angus B. Erskine ◽  
Kjell-G. Kjær
Keyword(s):  
North Atlantic ◽  
Weddell Sea ◽  
Biological Research ◽  
Orkney Islands ◽  
Antarctic Expedition ◽  
South Orkney Islands ◽  
Antarctic Continent ◽  
The Uk ◽  
The Antarctic ◽  
The Great War

The ship that the oceanographer Dr William Speirs Bruce used on the Scottish National Antarctic Expedition, 1902–04, was originally a sealer named Hekla, built in Norway in 1872. In 1889 the Norwegian skipper Ragnvald Knudsen explored the northeast coast of Greenland between latitudes 74° and 75°, and in 1891–92 the ship was used by the Danish naval officer, Lieutenant C. Ryder, to explore the inner recesses of Scoresby Sund, finally visiting Angmagssalik. In 1902, re-named Scotia and captained by Tam Robertson from Peterhead, she sailed to the Weddell Sea under the leadership of Bruce. The southern winter of 1903 was spent at Laurie Island in the South Orkney Islands, and in March–April 1904 the party discovered 150 miles of previously unknown coastline of the Antarctic continent, reaching a farthest south of 74°01′S, 22°00′W. An extensive programme of marine survey and biological research was carried out. Back in the UK, Bruce sold the ship, and she returned to sealing, based in Dundee until appointed to be the first international North Atlantic Ice Patrol ship after the tragedy of Titanic. The Great War caused her to become a freighter in the English Channel area until she caught fire and was burnt out on a sandbank in the Bristol Channel on 18 January 1916.

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