South Georgia Newsletter, April 2016 – May 2016

A Centenary Service of thanksgiving for the courage and endurance of Sir Ernest Shackleton CVO and his men was held on Friday 20th May in Westminster Abbey to mark the anniversary of the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition (1914-1917). It was an occasion which the Government of South Georgia & the South Sandwich Islands was pleased to support.

A Commemorative Booklet was produced for the occasion. A copy can be downloaded here.

GSGSSI also released a special stamp issue to mark the centenary. This date was chosen to coincide with the arrival of Ernest Shackleton, Tom Crean and Frank Worsley at Stromness whaling station on South Georgia.

The Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition, also known as the Endurance Expedition after the expedition ship, is considered by some to be the last major expedition of the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration. By 1914 both Poles had been reached so Shackleton set his sights on being the first to traverse Antarctica. Shackleton arrived at South Georgia on 5 November 1914. After a month-long stop at Grytviken whaling station the expedition sailed into the Weddell Sea with the aim of crossing the Antarctic continent to the Ross Sea where they would be met by the Ross Sea party aboard the Aurora. Eighteen months later Shackleton returned to South Georgia, albeit in very different circumstances. The Endurance had been lost in the ice and her 28-man complement had spent months in makeshift camps before they took to the lifeboats to reach Elephant Island. It was from here that Shackleton and five companions made their 1,300 km boat journey aboard the James Caird to King Haakon Bay, South Georgia. After a short period of recuperation Shackleton, Tom Crean and Frank Worsley crossed South Georgia on foot to Stromness whaling station where they arrived on 20th May. Shackleton then began his – ultimately successful – efforts to rescue his men on Elephant Island.

On the stamp issue, the 70 pence stamps features a photograph of Ernest Shackleton on board Endurance at Millwall Docks, London, before leaving for the Antarctic in 1914. On the 80 pence stamp Ernest Shackleton is shown with one of the expedition dogs on board Endurance.  The £1 stamp shows Ernest Shackleton during the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition and on the £1.25 stamp he is featured sitting at “Patience Camp”. The First Day Cover features a picture of Shackleton taken prior to the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition.

Further information at www.pobjoystamps.com and www.falklandstamps.com.

25th Anniversary Stamp Release

To help celebrate the 25th anniversary of the International Association of Antarctic Tour Operators (IAATO) GSGSSI released a new stamp issue.

IAATO is a non-profit industry association and its founding principles and mission are to advocate and promote the practice of safe and environmentally responsible private sector travel to the Antarctic.

During the 2015/16 season over 8,000 visitors travelled to South Georgia & the South Sandwich Islands on IAATO cruise vessels and yachts. IAATO’s high standards and self-regulatory approach mean that IAATO vessels visiting South Georgia & the South Sandwich Islands have access to a wide range of approved landing sites. GSGSSI has a long association with IAATO andI is currently working with the organisation to better understand the tourism challenges of the future, including the importance of facilitating visitor access whilst protecting this UK Overseas Territory’s unique environment.

The 55 pence stamp shows M/V Lindblad Explorer – the first vessel specifically built for taking fee paying passengers to the Antarctic in 1969 and was the first cruise ship to visit South Georgia. The 70 pence stamp shows a zodiac cruise to view a penguin colony on South Georgia. The 80 pence stamp features an overland expedition, while the £1 stamp depicts the visit of a yacht to South Georgia.

Further information at www.pobjoystamps.com and www.falklandstamps.com.

GSGSSI Annual Update to IAATO

GSGSSI were represented at the annual IAATO Meeting in Newport, Rhode Island. The meeting provided an opportunity to engage directly with IAATO members to review the 15/16 tourist season and brief them on plans for the year ahead. Among the issues discussed were administrative and environmental protection updates, a review of incidents and exercises, and an update on the heritage works programmes for the coming season.

GSGSSI also hosted a special half-day workshop with IAATO members to review visitor activity on South Georgia as part of a project aimed at improving site management and the integration of visitor sites into the future system of Terrestrial Protected Areas. The workshop proved a valuable and collaborative step forward in the development of an evidence-based plan for visitor monitoring.

The full briefing document can be downloaded here.

Dundee University Professor Tony Martin, project director at the South Georgia Heritage Trust, has been named Conservationist of the Year by the Zoological Society of London.

Professor Martin spearheaded the “Team Rat” project on South Georgia to eradicate the island’s rats for the first time in 200 years to enable the native seabirds to flourish and save some rare species, including the South Georgia pipit, from extinction.

The project started in 2007 with the baiting work, using rat poison pellets, continuing in 2011, 2013 and 2015.

Monitoring work to date indicates that the first phase of baiting was successful, and a large survey at the end of 2017 will assess whether the areas baited during the second and third phases were similarly effective in removing every single rodent.

Professor Martin said he was “immensely proud” to be named Conservationist of the Year. He added: “It was a privilege to lead such a remarkable team of people, ‘Team Rat’ as we became known, on this breath-taking sub-Antarctic island.”

Professor Martin’s book on the project, Reclaiming South Georgia, was recently reviewed on the Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels website.

A graphic novel ‘Shackleton – The Voyage of the James Caird‘ has been published.

When the mighty Endurance becomes trapped in the Weddell Sea, Ernest Shackleton’s dream to cross the Antarctic becomes a fight to save the twenty-seven souls that set sail with him. With five others, he takes to the sea in the lifeboat, James Caird, and sets a course for South Georgia, 800 miles away across treacherous waters. This graphic depiction brings to life the ceaseless struggle against the harshest environment on Earth, and culminates in the most dramatic real-life open-boat journey in the history of mankind.

It is the first illustrated retelling of the greatest feat of leadership and survival ever recorded.

Illustrator David Butler put together a video about creating the cover of his book.

South Georgia – Wildlife and Heritage: A mini-documentary made from the footage not used in the Britain’s Treasure Islands documentary series on BBC Four – now available on YouTube.

• 9 April – 11 June 2016: Enduring Eye: The Antarctic Legacy of Sir Ernest Shackleton and Frank Hurley. At Manchester Central Library:
  http://www.rgs.org/WhatsOn/Exhibitions

• June 2016: By Endurance We Conquer: Shackleton and his Men. Dockyard Museum, Stanley. More.

• 19 – 20 September 2016: The Historical Antarctic Sealing Industry Conference 2016
  http://www.spri.cam.ac.uk/events/thasic/

• 22 September 2015 – 3 September 2016: By Endurance We Conquer: Shackleton and his Men:
  http://www.spri.cam.ac.uk/events/