Scottish National Antarctic Expedition - Homecoming and After

Homecoming and After

The expedition was warmly received on its return to the Clyde on 21 July 1904. A formal reception for 400 people was held at the Marine Biological Station, Millport, at which John Murray read a telegram of congratulation from King Edward VII. Bruce was presented with the Royal Scottish Geographical Society’s Gold Medal, and Captain Robertson with the silver medal.

A particular achievement of the expedition was the cataloguing of more than 1,100 species of animal life, 212 of them previously unknown to science. However, there was no official acknowledgement from London, where under the influence of Markham the work of the SNAE tended to be ignored or denigrated. Its members were not awarded the prestigious Polar Medals, which were bestowed on members of the Discovery Expedition when it returned home two months after Scotia. Polar Medals would also be awarded after each of Sir Ernest Shackleton’s expeditions, and after Douglas Mawson's Australian expedition. Bruce fought for years to right what he considered a grave injustice, a slight on his country and on his expedition, but to no avail. Some of the restraint shown by the London establishment towards the SNAE may have been due to Bruce's overt Scottish nationalism, reflected in his own prefatory note to Rudmose Brown's expedition history, in which he said: "While Science was the talisman of the Expedition, Scotland was emblazoned on its flag; and it may be that, in endeavouring to serve humanity by adding another link to the golden chain of science, we have also shown that the nationality of Scotland is a power that must be reckoned with".

A significant consequence of the expedition was the establishment by Bruce, in Edinburgh, of the Scottish Oceanographical Laboratory, which was formally opened by Prince Albert of Monaco in 1906. The Laboratory served several purposes: as a repository for the large collection of biological, zoological and geological specimens amassed during the Scotia voyages, and also during Bruce’s earlier Arctic and Antarctic travels; as a base from which the scientific reports of the SNAE could be prepared; as a general headquarters where polar explorers could meet—Nansen, Amundsen and Shackleton all visited—and where other Scottish polar ventures could be planned and organised. In fact, although he continued to visit the Arctic for scientific and commercial purposes, Bruce never led another Antarctic expedition, his plans for a transcontinental crossing being stifled through lack of funding. The SNAE scientific reports took many years to complete; most were published between 1907 and 1920, but one volume was delayed until 1992. A proposal to convert the Laboratory into a permanent Scottish National Oceanographic Institute failed to come to fruition and, because of difficulties with funding, Bruce was forced to close it down in 1919. He died two years later, aged 54.

By this time, the Scotia expedition was barely remembered, even in Scotland, and it has remained overshadowed in polar histories by the more glamorous adventures of Scott and Shackleton. In these histories it is usually confined to a brief mention or footnote, with little attention given to its achievements. Bruce lacked charisma, had no public relations skills ("...as prickly as the Scottish thistle itself", according to a lifelong friend), and tended to make powerful enemies. However, in the words of oceanographer Professor Tony Rice, his expedition fulfilled "a more comprehensive programme than that of any previous or contemporary Antarctic expedition".

The expedition ship Scotia was requisitioned during the Great War, and saw service as a freighter. On 18 January 1916 she caught fire, and was burned out on a sandbank in the Bristol Channel. One hundred years after Bruce, a 2003 expedition, in a modern version of Scotia, used information collected by the SNAE as a basis for examining climate change in South Georgia during the past century. This expedition asserted that its contribution to the international debate on global warming would be a fitting testament to SNAE's pioneering research.