Dr. William S. Bruce and party planting Saltire flag on Saddle Island
14/02/1903 Photgrapher unknown
On 4th February 1903, during the Scottish National Antarctic Expedition of 1902-04, the steam-assisted sailing-barque "Scotia", carrying the members of the expedition, reached Saddle Island in the South Orkneys. This location had been visited only twice before: firstly by James Weddell in 1823, and more recently by Dumont d'Urville on the French corvette "Astrolabe" as long ago as 1838. A party of several members of the current expedition eventually succeeded in landing on the island, where they made many interesting ornithological, botanical, and geological observations. Dr. William S. Bruce, who was simultaneously both an internationalist and a Scottish nationalist, is here seen planting the Saltire flag on the shores of the island, presumably thereby "claiming" it for his beloved Scotland!
