Below is a gallery of images from the Signy Base in the South Orkney Islands as well as aspects of RRS John Biscoe in King Edward Cove. There is also an image of the Grave of Ernest Shackleton at Grytiviken, South Georgia. The hull of the ship being grey dates the photographs to the late-1950s as the ship had its hull painted red in 1960.
“Station H: Signy” An Historic Sketch
Location: Factory Cove, Borge Bay, Signy Island, South Orkney Islands
60°43’S 45°36’W
Purpose: Biology research
George Powell and Nathaniel Palmer, British and American sealers, discovered the South Orkney island group in 1821. A few years later, Matthew Brisbane, as part of an expedition led by James Weddell, surveyed the south coast of Coronation Island and discovered Signy, although he did not name the island. Powell named Coronation Island to celebrate the crowning of George IV. Visitors to the islands were rare until 1902 when the Scottish National Antarctic Expedition, led by William Speirs Bruce, established a base on Laurie Island. However, in 1904 the British Government declined to support the expedition and the base was handed over to the Argentinians who have remained there ever since in what is now known as Orcadas Station. Whaling started in the South Orkney Islands in 1907–08. Petter Sørlle, captain of the whale catcher Paal, surveyed the island in 1912–13, naming Signy after his wife and a number of the surrounding islands after his daughters.
The original building that comprised of Signet Station was erected on Berntsen Point, overlooking Factory Cove on 18 March 1947. It was named Clifford House after Sir Miles Clifford, Governor of the Falkland Islands 1947–1954.
A laboratory was added on 12 February 1948 and an extension to the main hut on 25 February 1950. The latter building had originally stood at Admiralty Bay. These buildings were re-sited in Factory Cove. The main building established on 3 Feb 1955 was named Tønsberg House after the whaling company Tønsbergs Hvalfangeri. It was established on the site of the company’s old whaling station at Factory Cove. Construction of a plastic hut containing living accommodation and laboratories began on 18 December 1963. A bulk fuel tank was built in 1965. Sørlle House was erected in December 1980 to house diving and laboratory facilities. It was named after the Sørlle family – Petter Sørlle was the whaling ship Captain who surveyed the South Orkney Islands 1912-13 and named Signy Island after his wife. It was demolished in March 1995. During the 1995/96 season, a new Sørlle House was erected on the foundations of the old, providing improved living accommodation, laboratories, and offices, and a fuel farm established. In January 1997 the plastic hut was closed except for use as a store. During the 2001/02 season the plastic hut, Tønsberg House, 1965 bulk fuel tank, and pump house were demolished.
Field huts and hides have existed at one time or another at the following sites: Foca Cove, Gourlay Peninsula, Three Lakes Valley, Cummings Cove, Jane Col, Factory Bluffs, Moraine Valley, Shagnasty, and North Point. Shingle Hut, built in Jan 1963 at Shingle Cove, Coronation Island, was used as a depot and staging post for personnel traveling on Coronation Island (demolished and removed February 2007).
The images below show Signs prior to the building of the plastic hut and bulk fuel tank.
Until August 1977, the station was known simply as “Signy Island.”
from: M. A. Martin and J. Rae, A Brief History of the Research Stations and Refuges of the British Antarctic Survey and its Predecessors, Edition 6.2 (Dec 2016). British Antarctic Survey Archives, Natural Environment Research Council – British Antarctic Survey, 2016.
