Voyage of the Scotia 1902-04

The Antarctic

Copeland Observatory at Scotia Bay on Laurie Island in the South Orkney Islands

This 2.1m x 1.5m (7ft x 5ft) wooden hut was given the grand name of Copeland Observatory after Ralph Copeland, the then Astronomer Royal for Scotland. It was erected on Laurie Island in the South Orkney Islands to house the equipment with which meteorologist Robert Mossman made his terrestrial magnetic observations during the 1902-1904 Scottish National Antarctic Expedition.

The instruments deployed inside were a Kew portable unifiliar magnetometer (for determining horizontal force and declination) and a Barrows dip circle (for determining dip or inclination).

In February 1904, when the rest of the expedition embarked on its homeward journey, Mossman and William Smith (the cook) stayed on for the remainder of that year. The observatory was handed over to the Argentine Meteorological Office, which continued recording observations thereafter.