South Georgia Survey

The South Georgia Survey was a series of expeditions to survey and map the island of [[South Georgia Island}South Georgia]], led by Duncan Carse between 1951 and 1957. Although South Georgia had been commercially exploited as a whaling station during the first half of the 20th century, its interior was generally unknown, and maps were largely based on the original survey by James Cook, who first landed on the island in 1775. The South Georgia Survey was intended to make high-quality modern maps covering the entire island, and took place in four austral summer seasons: 1951–52, 1953–54, 1955–56, and 1956–57.

The survey was funded by the Royal Geographical Society, the Falkland Islands Dependencies, Odhams Press, and other private supporters. The War Office and Ministry of Supply provided 250 man-days of cold-weather rations, along with a loan of clothing and sledging equipment. Transportation to and from South Georgia was provided on the ships used to supply the whaling stations and ferry whale oil back to market. The survey members also often rode along on the whaling vessels to survey the coasts of the island and to be dropped off or picked up for inland work. The survey used the whaling settlement of Grytviken as its base of operations in South Georgia, with lodging provided in the Grytviken jail, which had space for 3–4 men and was generally unoccupied.

The first expedition consisted of six men: Carse, deputy leader Kevin Walton, the surveyors Gordon Smillie and John Heaney, the geologist Alec Trendall, and the mountaineer Walter Roots. The expedition departed from Glasgow on the whaling tanker Southern Opal on 16 Sept 1951, and arrived in South Georgia on 1 November. The goals for this campaign were to map the southwest coast of the island between Cape Disappointment and King Haakon Bay, and to survey the interior of the island to the south and west of the Allardyce Range (the side away from the whaling stations). The surveying was hampered in early January when the geologist Trendall fell into a crevasse and severely injured his left leg. The party spent a week transporting the injured man back to Grytviken, where he was cared for in the whaling station's hospital and sent home on the vessel Orwell. The remaining members of the expedition resumed the survey in late January and continued through late March, and by the end of the season, about 35–40% of the interior of the island had been mapped. The survey showed that South Georgia was somewhat thinner overall than indicated by previous maps, and this realization suggested that complete coverage could be attained with three seasons' work. The party left South Georgia on April 18, again on the Southern Opal.

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