William Speirs Bruce

William Speirs Bruce ( born August 1, 1867 in London, † October 28, 1921 in Edinburgh) was a London- born polar explorer and oceanographer Scottish descent. He led the Scottish Antarctic Expedition from 1902 to 1904 in the Weddell Sea.

1892-93 resulted in a whaling voyage, the Dundee Whaling Expedition to the Falkland Islands for the first time Bruce in Antarctic waters. Among the participants of this expedition was also his friend and artist William Gordon Burn Murdoch.

1901 should Bruce Robert Falcon Scott accompany the Discovery Expedition to the Antarctic. However, he refused, saying he was preparing an expedition of its own, the Scottish National Antarctic Expedition. November 2, 1902, he sailed with the Scotia to the south. He reached the mainland, but found no suitable place for a winter, and he drove back north and spent the winter at the South Orkney Islands and the local fauna examined.

In January 1904 he discovered Coats Land on the eastern coast of the Weddell Sea. He named the area after James Coats, Jr., and Major Andrew Coats, who were the main supporters of the expedition. On July 15, 1904, the ship arrived after return to Northern Ireland. This expedition was the first that could produce moving images of the coast of Antarctica, also the first use of bagpipes in the area of ​​Antarctica has been documented by this expedition. Due to the first film and sound recordings of Bruce Antarctica is also considered a pioneer of the documentary.

On Laurie Iceland Bruce established the weather station Omond House, which was later acquired by Argentina and to this day is the longest- located without interruption in operation meteorological station Antarctica.

Bruce further research concentrated mainly on Spitsbergen, further he headed from 1915-16, a whaling station in the Seychelles. However, since Bruce hated the tropical climate, he moved back to Scotland. There he died in 1921 after a long illness. His ashes were spread in the Southern Ocean.

Works (selection)

• Polar exploration ( Home university library of modern knowledge; 8). Williams & Norgate, London 1911
• The voyage of the " Scotia ". Being the record of a voyage of exploration in Antarctic seas. Blackwood, Edinburgh 1906 (together with Robert C. Mossman and James H. Pirie )