William Speirs Bruce was a British naturalist, polar scientist and oceanographer who organised and led the Scottish National Antarctic Expedition to the South Orkney Islands and the Weddell Sea. Among other achievements, the expedition established the first permanent weather station in Antarctica. Bruce later founded the Scottish Oceanographical Laboratory in Edinburgh, but his plans for a transcontinental Antarctic march via the South Pole were abandoned because of lack of public and financial support.
William Speirs Bruce
The Speirs Bruce Way in Granton, Edinburgh, Scotland, named for William Speirs Bruce
Fridtjof Nansen
Prince Albert of Monaco, aboard Princesse Alice, with a dissected cetacean
Scottish National Antarctic Expedition
The Scottish National Antarctic Expedition (SNAE), 1902–1904, was organised and led by William Speirs Bruce, a natural scientist and former medical student from the University of Edinburgh. Although overshadowed in terms of prestige by Robert Falcon Scott's concurrent Discovery Expedition, the SNAE completed a full programme of exploration and scientific work. Its achievements included the establishment of a staffed meteorological station, the first in Antarctic territory, and the discovery of new land to the east of the Weddell Sea. Its large collection of biological and geological specimens, together with those from Bruce's earlier travels, led to the establishment of the Scottish Oceanographical Laboratory in 1906.
SNAE expedition ship Scotia, in the ice at Laurie Island, South Orkneys, 1903–1904
William S. Bruce, SNAE expedition leader
Flag of the Scottish National Antarctic Expedition
"Omond House"