Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
Figure 1.11
Illustration of the
meteorological screens from the
South
Polar Times
, the midwinter topic written
and illustrated by Captain R. F. Scott's
British National Antarctic Expedition
1901-04.
Enlightened imperialism
Britain had played a major role in exploring Antarctica and had claimed
major areas of it for the Crown, an imperial approach that few other countries
had followed. After Captain C. A. Larsen established the
first whaling station
on South Georgia, the British Government recognised the importance of legal
controls over what would become the most pro
table whaling area in the world.
The Letters Patent issued in 1908 claimed the Falkland Islands Dependencies
and provided control over all the shore-based whaling from South Georgia to the
Peninsula. This allowed the then Governor of the Falklands, William Allardyce, to
introduce regulations to protect female whales with calves and restrict the number of
whaling stations and catchers. This must have been the
first conservation initiative
in the Antarctic and paved the way for the later establishment of the Discovery
Investigations at South Georgia whose scienti
c reports have proved invaluable
to all who have since worked on the Southern Ocean.
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