No. of stamps in the set:	6 stamps
Quantity:
Face values:	30p, 40p, 45p, 70p, 95p, £1.00
Size:	28.45 x 42.58 mm
Presentation:--------------	Sheets of  50 (2x25) stamps
Colours:	Multicoloured
Gum:	-
Paper:	CA Watermark
Perforation:	14 per 2cms
Print technique:	Lithography
Author, design:	Michael Skidmore
Printers:	BDT International Security Printing

No First Day Cover has been advertised for this issue.

30p The Oceanographic Cruises of Scotia in the Weddell Sea

Coronation Island and Laurie Island are the two largest islands of several islands comprising the South Orkney Islands group. They lie just south of 60o S about 1270 km southeast of the Falkland Islands. Both have extensive ice caps and comprise the summits of mountains rising from the depths of the Scotia Sea. Laurie Island is the smaller of the two, only about 20 km long, and comprises a number of precipitous ridges radiating from a central mountainous spine. These form long narrow peninsulas enclosing deep embayments in which numerous short glaciers terminate as steep ice cliffs plunging directly into the sea.

The stamp shows the two oceanographic cruises in the Weddell Sea from South Orkney Islands. It was the first successful penetration of the area since James Weddell reached his most southerly point of 74°Ol' S in 1823. Scotia's first cruise (blue) began on 4th February and lasted until she anchored in Scotia bay 25th March 1903. On this cruise, she passed through the most southern of the South Sandwich Islands before heading south. By 22nd February they had reached 70° S but they were abruptly halted and almost trapped. With winter approaching Scotia turned and battled her way northwesterly along the edge of the Weddell Sea ice front, aiming to reach the South Orkney Islands and establish a winter base on one of them. During this part of the cruise Scotia stopped almost every day to take soundings, trawl and take water temperature and salinity measurements at various depths as part of the expedition's oceanographic studies. Constant meteorological observations continued since leaving the Falkland Islands.

Scotia's second oceanographic cruise (red) commenced on 22nd February 1904 when she left the South Orkney Islands for good. On 1st March 1904 she crossed the track of the previous year's cruise with clear water to the south. Here, soundings were much shallower than expected and on 2nd March land was reported. They soon encountered lofty cliffs of an ice shelf barring their southerly progress. By 6th March it had been traced southwesterly for 240 km to their most southerly point. The icy surface could be seen rising towards the hinterland although there were no rocky outcrops. It was named Coats Land in honour of the Coats Brothers of Paisley, chief sponsors of the expedition. On 7th March Scotia was caught by a northeasterly blizzard and driven into an embayment in the ice shelf. For seven days Scotia remained trapped and it was not until 14th March that favourable winds opened the enclosing pack and she was finally released.

As Scotia made her way steadily northwards, the expedition continued to As Scotia made her way steadily northwards, the expedition continued to trawl and take soundings until they left the Weddell Sea. On the way they discovered that Ross Deep, an objective of the expedition, did not exist. James Clark Ross had found no bottom at 4000 fathoms (7320 m). This had provided misleading data for the next 60 years. Heading for Gough Island in the mid-Atlantic Ocean and then to Cape Town, the expedition arrived home in July 1904.

Scotia's most southerly point was off the ice shelf at 74° 01' S, not quite as far south as that achieved by James Weddell. It shows that Weddell was indeed unfortunate in not encountering land at his most southerly point and in such open water as there was in 1823. Perhaps, with one more day's sailing south ......

40p The Piper and the Penguin

During the expedition's second oceanographic cruise in the Weddell Sea new land was discovered in the south. At their most southerly point of 74°01' S, 22° 0' W a northeasterly blizzard drove Scotia into an embayment in the ice shelf where she was beset for seven days.

The stamp design shows one of the more light-hearted moments whilst awaiting release during this trying period. Unsure of how long Scotia might remain in this position, a number of emperor penguins were caught for the pot. Whilst awaiting their destiny, and to test the effect of music on them Piper Gilbert Kerr played his pipes to one. It was reported that "neither rousing marches, lively reels, nor melancholy laments seemed to have any effect on these lethargic, phlegmatic birds: there was no excitement, no signs of appreciation or disapproval, only sleepy indifference". The fact that the bird had to be tethered by a cord to the piper's foot does, however, suggest that escape might have been a priority on the penguin's mind. Whether to escape its human captors or just the sounds they were making has never been satisfactorily established!

45p SY Scotia

In the autumn of 1901, Dr W S Bruce visited Norway in order to purchase the whaler Hekla, following advice from Colin Archer, the designer of Fridtjof Nansen's Frain. However, extensive repairs had to be undertaken in Troon. Renamed Scotia, she was a barque-rigged auxiliary screw-steamer of 400 tonnes, 42.5m long, sheathed in greenheart. The new engines and boilers gave an average speed of 6 knots. She was fitted out for oceanographic studies, with two laboratories, a dark room, a trawling derrick for tow nets and two cable drums, each carrying 10,975m of cable and powered by a steam winch. Meteorology was also a major aspect of the scientific programme for which she was fully equipped.

The voyage of the Scotia commenced from Troon, Ayrshire on 2nd November 1902 and arrived off the Falkland Islands on 6th January 1903 returning to Kingstown Harbour, Ireland on 15th July 1904. Shortly after, she returned to Millport on the Clyde to a rousing reception after a distinguished voyage of 38,000 km accomplished in 20 months. It was one of the last expeditions in a wooden ship and without radio communications.

Bruce had hoped that Scotia could be used for further oceanographic work and training students of the Scottish Universities. However, in 1905 she was sold to offset the expedition costs, sailing for many years in the Greenland whaling fishery. However, in 1912 she was fitted out for a further period of scientific study when the Board of Trade sent her to conduct ice study movements in the North Atlantic after the loss of the Titanic. Sadly, during the First World War she caught fire and was burnt out after being beached near Sully, Glamorgan, whilst ferrying coal to a French port.

The design of the stamp represents Scotia about to become frozen into the sea ice of Scotia Bay. In fact within a few days of her arrival there sea ice had drifted in trapping the vessel, and shortly afterwards, during a rapid freeze up Scotia became firmly iced in. During this period from March to November 1903, she was the expedition's winter operations base whilst Omond House was constructed ashore. From her, the expedition's scientists continued their work. She lay about 400 m off a boulder-strewn beach, technically a tombolo, which linked the two mountainous areas of Laurie Island. Protected by a snow embankment thrown up on the windward side, Bruce and his staff established a meteorological observatory on the ship, commencing hourly observations on 1 April 1903. Despite the intense cold a scientific programme for the winter was undertaken which involved the exploration of the whole of Laurie Island. It was surveyed, geologically mapped and its natural history studied on land and from the waters below the sea ice.

The latter included regular catches from fish traps set out in Scotia Bay. Near the ship under the sea ice a trawl was hauled over 400 times across the floor of the bay between two fixed holes. An amazing richness of life was found to come from this hitherto unknown world despite it being the same stretch of sea bed. The abundance of marine life was remarkable, comprising a few small fish and a wide variety of invertebrate creatures: isopods, amphipods, sea spiders, sea cucumbers, sea urchins and a variety of repulsive worms. Other traps in deeper water of the bay were regularly checked and provided an abundance of bigger fish. On several days a week, after the first specimens went to the laboratory and the greed of the zoologists had found satisfaction, the rest went to the cook. It was recorded that members of the expedition frequently committed sacrilege by consuming for breakfast fish, which were probably new to science!

70p One Hundred Years of Meteorological Observations

The Scottish National Antarctic Expedition of 1902-04 established the world's most southerly permanent weather station on Laurie Island on Ist November 1904. On that day the hourly observations, started on leaving Port Stanley in the Falkland Islands, were transferred from Scotia to Omond House.

Bruce was keen to continue this important meteorological work and he visited Buenos Aires after the winter. Here he negotiated with the Argentine Government to take over the running of the house on the departure of the expedition. Accordingly, Scotia returned after her refit in the Falkland Islands with three members of the Argentine Meteorological Office to carry out this task, supported by members of the expedition who remained a second year. The staffing of the station has continued without a break ever since.

The stamp design is a montage to celebrate one hundred years of continuous meteorological observations. It shows a member of the expedition taking readings from meteorological instruments. These are housed, then as now, within a Stevenson screen. Thomas Stevenson, civil engineer, and father of the famous author R L Stevenson, designed the Stevenson screen. It consists of a white-painted wooden cupboard with a hinged door mounted on a steel or wooden stand so the base is 1.2m above the ground. A double roof with louvered sides ensures unrestricted airflow around the thermometers and other instruments inside and unaffected by direct sunshine. The screen must be sited well away from obstructions. The instruments shown comprise horizontal maximum and minimum thermometers, vertical wet-bulb and drybulb thermometers, a thermograph and a hydrograph for recording temperature and relative humidity continuously.

95p William Speirs Bruce

The sepia portrait of W S Bruce continues the theme of this series of stamps. William Speirs Bruce was born in 1867. Although he qualified as a medical doctor he was a naturalist and a scientist at heart and it was these interests he cultivated during his lifetime. He visited the Southern Ocean and the northern parts of the Antarctic Peninsula as a scientific member of the Scottish Whaling expedition 1892-93. With a growing love of the science of oceanography he resolved to return to the Weddell Sea area, turning down a chance of going on Scott's first Antarctic expedition to lead his own in 1902

Love of his country was equal to that for his science and he wanted Scotland to be represented among the several Antarctic expeditions of the time. Thus with public subscription and much financial support from the Coats brothers of Paisley, he assembled an impressive group of scientists and seaman to carry out the first systematic oceanographic work in the Weddell Sea, to survey the South Orkney Islands and study their wildlife and carry out meteorological observations of the area.

The achievements of the Scotia expedition were considerable and enduring. Besides establishing the first Antarctic meteorological station, which has been in continuous operation ever since, the expedition added substantially to the limits of the Antarctic continent, discovering new land in 74°S. It also provided significant data to add to the known bathymetry of the Weddell Sea, and to the Southern Ocean between the Falkland Islands and the South Orkney Islands, now known as the Scotia Sea.

William Bruce was a quiet private man with a scientific passion. After the expedition and largely with his own money, he set up the Scottish Oceanographical Laboratory. Later he became an expert on the island of Spitsbergen. Bruce died in 1921 after a long illness and his ashes were scattered in the waters of Antarctica.

£1 Omond House

After Scotia's first oceanographic cruise along the northern front of the pack ice in the Weddell Sea she returned to the South Orkney Islands. After several anxious days search, a large sheltered bay was found on the south side of Laurie Island and Scotia anchored there on 25th March 1903. It was only just in time, for within three days she had become frozen in for the winter. Shortly after, a survey cairn, a magnetics but and a stone house for accommodation were constructed. In the spring it would be necessary for Scotia to return to the Falkland Islands for a refit, stores and spares, and thus accommodation ashore would be required for continuing the meteorological observations started on leaving the Falkland Islands.

A suitable site was cleared of snow, and stone foundations for a house comprising one room, about 4.25m square, were prepared from the abundant moraine and scree. The walls were 1.2-1.5 m thick with buttressing at the corners. By mid-May 1903 the walls were ready for the roof. Wood was acquired from various sources on the ship to form a frame and gable. It was from 1.8 to 2.4 m high and was made from a double layer of oil and greasesaturated canvas, with felt between, stretched and weighted down with stones. A canvas porch protected the entrance door. There were small windows on the north and eastern walls and hatches from the Scotia insulated the floor. A foc's'le stove provided a cooking range and furniture was constructed of packing cases. Two mattresses and four hammocks supplied the beds. It proved to be most comfortable and extremely warm, as at mid-winter snowdrifts half buried the house.

The stamp depicts the view of Omond House from Uruguay Cove in Jessie Bay, with store sheds adjacent to the house and an old, condemned whaleboat providing a roof. Four Stevenson screens, supported on two thick spars between two rock caims, are shown not far from Omond House. Steep cliffs of Laurie Island rise beyond. The but was named in honour of R T Omond, a prominent meteorologist of Edinburgh and keen supporter of the expedition. It was declared open on 1st November 1903 when meteorological observations were transferred there from Scotia. When the Scottish party finally departed Laurie Island in January 1905 Omond House was taken over by the Argentine Meteorological Service. A meteorological presence has been there ever since.
 
 

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