Scots of the Antarctic Transcript (Scotland: A Scottish History Podcast)
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Scotland - A Scottish History Podcast
Episode 33 - Scots of the Antarctic
MICHAEL PARK: It is 1903 and you lay the last piece of stone down on the wall and take a step back to see what you’ve built.
It’s not much but given that you and your shipmates had to quarry the very rocks around you to put it together, the 20 foot square little building, squat and dark against the blinding white is pretty impressive if you do say so yourself.
The building still needs a roof but Mr Brown the botanist says it should be easy enough to rough one out of the sails of the ship. He said given that you had no mortar and no mason’s tools you should be proud of building such a lasting little house. He says it’ll still be standing in a hundred year’s time.
You’re not so sure.
As you trudge back across the rocks and ice and gaze up at the steep cliffs which you hope are going to give you protection for the winter you think about home, about Troon, where people laughed at you and said that you, Jimmy Rice, a ship’s carpenter, were never going to go to Antarctica.
If only they could see you now. Joke would be on them.
Maybe… I mean it is pretty cold.
It’s not quite as cold as you’d expected mind you. You joined the crew of the Scotia, the ship which is currently frozen solid in ice about a quarter of a mile from shore expecting things to be a fair bit less comfortable than it actually is.
The minute the ship had become ice bound the crew had set about converting it into a home for the winter. You’d dismantled the engines and emptied the boilers, pulled down the highest parts of the mast and pulled a massive canvas canopy over the deck to keep it enclosed.
It wasn’t the Ritz, but you’ve stayed in worse places.
As it stands the scientists go out every day and collect samples of strange animals and fish. You never thought you’d taste penguin - you weren’t 100% sure what a penguin was but you bloody well knew now.
Mr Florence the chief cook had tried to show you how to cook one on night but it was kinda tough to look at them after you’d watched them all waddling around and one had even done a wee dance for the piper.
You kind of wish you hadn’t brought a piper.
Mr Bruce - William Speirs Bruce to the great and good - is already making plans to go back to Buenos Aires to pick up supplies and get some repairs done to the Scotia once winter let up. The rudder had been damaged in the ice and if the ship was going to make it further into the Weddell Sea during summer she’d need some work done to her.
But still. This is such an adventure and Mr Bruce is dead excited that a crew of Scotsmen have made it this far.
Even the Scotsman had written about it…
THE SCOTSMAN: "The leader and all the scientific and nautical members of the expedition are Scots; the funds have been collected for the most part on this side of the Border; it is a product of voluntary effort, and unlike the expedition which will be simultaneously employed in the exploration of the Antarctic, it owes nothing to Government help"
MICHAEL PARK: That wasn’t strictly true. Tommy MacKenzie was born in New Zealand but no-one held it against him.
It wasn’t like those other expeditions that would come later that had the blessing - and the money - of the British government behind it.
In fact you’re pretty sure that none of the scientists will be going home to the prestigious Polar Medal from the Royal Geographical Society, not like those money bags boys from the Discovery expedition - bought and paid for by the British government.
You sail for Argentina in November, leaving seven men behind on the ice. Six who would man the little stone building which Mr Bruce christened Omond House in honour of the director of the Edinburgh Observatory, and the ship’s engineer Alan Ramsey who had sadly succumbed to a heart condition and passed away in August 1903. He was buried in a little graveyard they created just for him.
There are now a dozen other people buried in it.
The sailing to Argentina is the last for you. You, along with quite a few of the crew, take ill during the voyage and leave the ship when it arrives in Buenos Aires.
You and your shipmates recover and some of you look forward to the next adventure. The Scotia returns to the Antarctic with Argentinian scientists who remain on Laurie Island and then sails on into the Weddell Sea, eventually reaching the antarctic mainland in March 1904.
The Argentinians remain there to this day - not the same ones obviously - but Omond House, now known as Orcadas Base is the oldest Antarctic research station still in operation.
The crew of the expedition returned to Scotland to a hero’s welcome before being promptly ignored by the larger British expeditions and the Royal Geographical Society who snubbed the crew for the medals they coveted since their chairman had clashed with William Speirs Bruce over a place on the Discovery expedition.
William Speirs Bruce went on to found the Scottish Oceanographical Laboratory and was acclaimed for his role in an expedition which discovered 212 species of animal that were previously unknown to science.
The Scotia herself was sold off and was used as an iceberg patrol boat following the sinking of the Titanic in 1912.
And, on Laurie Island, among the seals and the penguins, and the research scientists, nestled between the cliffs, and although it’s seen much better days, Omond House still stands... just like Mr Brown the botanist said it would.
CREDITS
You’ve been listening to Scotland, it was written and produced by me, Michael Park and is a production of Be Quiet Media.
Additional voices in this episode were by Chris Moriarty.
The music for every episode of Scotland is by Naval Cipher Number 3, Mitch Bain, you can check out more of his work at mitchbain.bequiet.media.
Additional voices for this episode were by Jamie Mowat. Jamie does stunning illustrations for us which you can see in our episode art. See more and buy prints at tidlin - t i d l i n - .com.
Scotland is supported by Chris Lingwood and listeners like you on Patreon. You can get loads more from us for as little as two dollars at: patreon.com/scotlandhistorypodcast
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Thanks for listening, we’ll see you next time.