Voyage of the Scotia 1902-04

The Antarctic

A sledge-load of boulders

One of the challenges faced by the members of the 1902-1904 Scottish National Antarctic Expedition led by Scottish scientist William S Bruce was finding suitable materials for building the various structures required for the expedition base on Laurie Island in the South Orkney Islands.

Some timber had been brought from Scotland on the expedition ship the SY Scotia, but stone had to be quarried locally by hand from the nearest glacial moraines and transported by dragging it on sledges.

Here we see one sledge-load of the hundreds of tonnes of boulders used in the construction of Omond House and its ancillary facilities such as the breakwater designed to protect it from the high seas experienced in severe storm conditions.