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William Speirs Bruce (1867-1921)
led the Scottish National Antarctic Expedition of
1902-1904, along with many other scientific expeditions to both
Polar Regions of the world.
The observations made by
this expedition completely changed the way Antarctica was seen, from a
geographical point of view, as well as the way the surrounding islands
were seen from a zoological perspective. During this trip, a base was
set up on South Georgia, a new area, Coats Land (named in honour of the
Coats brothers, who had bankrolled the enterprise) was discovered and
1100 species of animal were catalogued, 212 of them previously unknown
to science. The seas around the Antarctic were explored in the yacht
'Scotia'.
"The 'Scotia' stone was
unveiled at Millport (on Great Cumbrae Island on Firth of Clyde) by HRH
The Princess Royal in June 2004 to celebrate the safe return to Scotland
in July 1904 of the Scottish National Antarctic Expedition led by
William S Bruce. The expedition left Troon in November 1902 made an epic
voyage of over 30,000 nautical miles and discovered Coats Land on the
south east part of the Weddell Sea. Sailing past is the research vessel
'Arora' of the University Marine Biological Research Station, Millport" |
