2007 was a landmark year for South Georgia’s small bird population, driven from their coastline habitat by the invasive brown rats introduced by sealing and whaling vessels. Many small birds nest on the ground or in shallow tunnels, where their eggs are easy prey for the rats. One of these is the South Georgia pipit, which is completely excluded from most of the coastline by the presence of rats.

In 2007 thanks to generous donations from the Island Foundation in the US, and the UK’s Rufford Maurice Laing foundation, as well as several donations from the public, SGHT raised close to £400,000 for Habitat Restoration. This means that the task of restoring the birds’ habitat can begin in 2008. Thanks to the Government of  South Georgia, biosecurity measures are being put in place to ensure that invasives are not introduced to South Georgia in the future.

Help SGHT protect the future of South Georgia’s small birds by making a donation today. Thank you.

In October SGHT funded the 2nd edition print of the booklet “Shackleton at South Georgia” by Robert Burton and Stephen Venables. This popular booklet, with a foreword by Shackleton’s grand-daughter, the Honourable Alexandra Shackleton, gives a personal interpretation from both writers of Sir Ernest Shackleton’s connection with South Georgia.

Robert Burton has delved into firsthand accounts of Shackleton’s visits to the island from diaries and newspaper reports, while the mountaineer Stephen Venables describes Shackleton’s crossing of the island in the light of his re-enactment of that journey.

“Shackleton at South Georgia” can be purchased from SGHT online at www.southgeorgia.absolutewebhosting2.co.uk.

Shop Front

This summer has been the busiest so far in the museum, with around 65 cruise ship visits and 20 yachts visiting Grytviken. Over 8000 cruise passengers visited South Georgia from October 2007 to March 2008.

The season started very quickly for the staff, as they had one day between arriving on the island and the first cruise ship, NordNorge, visiting.

Taxidermist and sculptor Steve Massam, who was ‘on sabbatical’ from the Falkland Islands Museum, was a great addition to the museum team.

Steve managed to stuff a Snow Petrel and a new Wandering Albatross to replace the one currently in the Bonner Room. He also made sculptures and jewellery to sell in the museum shop. Steve has created a truly beautiful bronze sculpture of a Wandering Albatross in flight, which will be auctioned to raise funds for SGHT.

Repair to Husvik

After doing a wonderful job restoring the exterior of Husvik manager's villa in 2006, the team of Norwegian volunteers who carried out the work were looking forward to completing the renovation.

Thanks to logistical help from South Georgia government, Norwegian sponsors including Vestfold Fylkeskommuneand with free transportation from the NordNorge cruise ship of the Hurtigruten group, and Explorer II cruise ship of Abercrombie and Kent, these intrepid craftsmen returned to Husvik in January 2008.

Over January and February, the team repaired the interior of the manager's villa, fitted new windows and a stove, and made the villa ready for the teams of researchers that use the villa as a base. So far the villa has been used by British Antarctic Survey, Sea Mammal Research Unit and British Schools Exploring Society. The additional weatherproofing and facilities that the team have installed will make this villa an invaluable scientific resource on South Georgia. SGHT would like to thank all of the team and sponsors for their important contribution to South Georgia.

James Caird III sets off for South Georgia

An eagerly awaited addition to the museum next season is a full-scale 23 foot, seaworthy replica of the James Caird lifeboat, which brought Shackleton and five other crew members to Cape Rosa from Elephant Island, 800 miles in some of the stormiest seas in the world.

The JC3 as it is known, has been built using traditional boat-building methods, by Bob Wallace. Bob built the lifeboats used in the IMAX film “Shackleton’s Antarctic Adventure” and played Shackleton himself for one scene in the film which was shot around South Georgia. Sadly this first replica and its companions, the Dudley Docker and Stancomb Wills, were lost during filming in a storm, so Bob decided to build another replica that one day might recreate the epic journey.

After a successful fundraising campaign in the US, the JC3 was purchased by SGHT for South Georgia Museum. SGHT and the Falkland Islands Museum hope to hold a joint exhibition in Stanley in June/July with the replica as a centrepiece. Next season, one of the principal donors involved in its purchase, Quark Expeditions, will carry the JC3 on the deck of one of their cruise ships from Stanley, Falkland Islands to its new home in Grytviken.