Scotland and the Antarctic

Section 4: William Speirs Bruce - early exploration

Blencathra Expedition 1898

In the winter of 1897 Bruce assisted Professor J Arthur Thomson in teaching zoology in Edinburgh University. He also did some more work on the Ben Nevis observatory. In 1898 he was asked to join the yacht Blencathra on an expedition to the Arctic. Blencathra was owned by the wealthy thread manufacturer Andrew Coats of Paisley.

This expedition was mainly a hunting trip but Bruce was in charge of meteorology and deep-sea soundings. He kept a log of sea birds and collected marine specimens.

The party landed on Kolguev Island to shoot walrus and then on to Novaya Zemlya. Their next destination was Spitsbergen but although they sighted the island they could not approach due to the thick pack ice. They returned to Tromso in northern Norway. Bruce managed some biological and meteorological work but did not think the expedition was a great success.