Sunday, March 11, 2007

Duncan Carse and South Georgia

Duncan Carse, it seems, was a man obsessed with the Island of South Georgia, way down in the southern Atlantic Ocean. He died in 2004 aged 90, and his obituary in the Telegraph reported that he wished to be remembered for his survey of South Georgia.

Having just read Stephen Venables book, Island at the Edge of the World, I have learnt some things that are worth passing on here.

furthermore...

South Georgia was most recently famous as being the spark that ignited the the Falklands War in 1982. On the island was an abandoned whaling station and some Argentinian scrap merchants decided to clean the place up. There are remains of the whaling station, abandoned ship hulks and other various rusting metal parts. This, is a gross simplification of the events that led to the British forces being dispatched to remove the trespassers, but after the war, the island was, from then on, permanently occupied by a small garrison of UK army personnel.

Duncan Carse admired Shackleton who is buried on South Georgia. Carse, surveyed and then mapped the whole of South Georgia between 1951 and 1957. Possibly due to some desire to be alone, he then returned in 1961 and built for himself a hut, intending to stay for at least 18 months. A tidal wave struck the beach that he occupied and he was left to endure a winter alone, with only a tent and few provisions.

When he did finally manage to gain the attention of a sealer and was rescued, he (according to a radio interview he gave) was nevertheless sad to be leaving the island that he loved.

Duncan Carse was also the voice on the BBC for the Dick Barton character

Other accounts of South Georgia include ‘Antarctic Isle’ by Niall Rankin, 1951