Friends of South Georgia Island

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Friends of South Georgia Island is a non-profit organization located in Colorado, USA dedicated to raising funds for the protection and conservation of the sub-Antarctic Island of South Georgia.

08/28/2026

The Wandering Albatross (𝘋𝘪𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘥𝘦𝘢 𝘦𝘹𝘶𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘴) also now recently known taxonomically as the Snowy Albatross, spends most of its life roaming the vast Southern Ocean.

These extraordinary birds can travel thousands of kilometres in a single foraging trip, using dynamic soaring to glide for hours with barely a wingbeat. With their striking white plumage, pink bills and wings that can stretch over three metres, they’re among the most impressive seabirds on Earth.

Wandering Albatrosses breed on a handful of remote sub‑Antarctic islands, including South Georgia. After fledging, young birds remain at sea for 5–10 years, mastering long‑distance flight before returning to the island of their birth to breed.
Both parents share incubation and chick‑rearing.

A single chick takes around 9–10 months to fledge and consume up to 220lbs of food during that time. Wandering Albatrosses breed only once every two years, making each chick a major investment for the species.

Photo Credit:
Pictures of two birds: Tony Martin
Picture of Albatross Soaring: Ewan Edwards

08/21/2026

If you’ve ever seen a colony of King Penguin chicks on South Georgia, you’ll know they look nothing like their parents. Instead, they have thick, shaggy coats of brown down – so distinctive that early sailors gave them a memorable nickname: “Oakum Boys.”

Oakum was the loose h**p or flax fiber used aboard wooden ships, teased from old rope, mixed with tar, and hammered into the seams to keep vessels watertight. To sailors arriving in the subantarctic, the resemblance was right there: the fluffy King Penguin chicks looked just like bundles of oakum. Some sources suggest that the boys who worked with the oakum ended up covered in the fibers, maybe making them look like chicks (though we are unsure how true this is!)

It's not their only nickname; King Penguin chicks were mistaken for another species entirely by early explorers!

Have you visited the Oakum Boys on South Georgia before?
Photo of Single Chick: George Lemann
Photo of Multiple Chicks: Trevor Clement

08/01/2026

On this day in history, 1 August 1914, Tom Crean stood at the helm of Endurance as Shackleton’s ship departed Millwall Dock, London, and set course for the far south.

Crean was Endurance’s Second Officer, entrusted with a wide range of responsibilities—including taking charge of one of the expedition’s dog teams and caring for the puppies born aboard ship.

No one at the dock could have foreseen the voyage ahead: a ship trapped and crushed by ice, months adrift on the Weddell Sea, and a fight for survival that would become one of history’s greatest polar epics.

When the men finally reached Elephant Island, Crean was chosen to join Shackleton, Frank Worsley, and three others in the tiny lifeboat James Caird for the desperate voyage across roughly 800 miles of Southern Ocean to South Georgia in search of help.

After landing on the island’s uninhabited coast, Crean was one of the three men—alongside Shackleton and Worsley—who crossed South Georgia’s unmapped mountains and glaciers to reach the whaling station at Stromness. In their final descent, they slid down a glacier toward the other side of the island and civilization beyond.

And Crean’s journey was not over. After three rescue attempts were defeated by ice, he returned with Shackleton and Worsley aboard the small Chilean tug Yelcho. On 30 August 1916, they reached Elephant Island and brought all 22 waiting men safely aboard—returning them at last to civilization.

From the helm of Endurance to the rescue aboard Yelcho, Tom Crean’s courage, loyalty, and endurance helped carry his comrades home.

07/22/2026

Dr William Nigel Bonner (1928–1994) was one of the most influential zoologists to work in South Georgia, leaving a legacy that continues to shape conservation and heritage work on the island today.

In 1953, Nigel joined Bernard Stonehouse on a government‑funded expedition to study king penguins. After recovering from appendicitis on arrival at Leith Harbour, he spent 15 months conducting pioneering research on southern elephant seals at Paul Beach. He married Jenny, whom he’d met as a student at University College London in 1950.

He returned in 1956 as Government Biologist and Sealing Inspector, implementing a science‑based management plan that successfully protected elephant seals from decades of over‑exploitation. Bonner additionally carried out the first research on South Georgia’s introduced reindeer, producing a monograph that remained the primary reference for many years.

The original one-year contract was extended to six years, and his wife and infant son joined Bonner for three years at King Edward Point. The couple became fluent in Norwegian and made friends among the whalers. Einar Strand, the long-serving blacksmith at Grytviken, became an unofficial bestefar [grandfather] to their son, Martin Bonner.

After his field career, Bonner headed the Life Sciences Division of the British Antarctic Survey (1974–1986) and later served as Deputy Director (1986–1988). He received the Polar Medal in 1987 for his contributions to Antarctic science.

In retirement, Bonner played a central role in the environmental clean‑up of abandoned whaling stations and cleared the Manager’s Villa in Grytviken to serve as the South Georgia Whaling Museum, which later widened its scope and became the South Georgia Museum in 1992. Six small cruise ships visit the island in the 1992-93 summer season.

Today, the Bonner Room in the museum bears his name, and his name also lives on at Bonner Beach and the Bonner Laboratory at Rothera Research Station.

Credit for images: Picture 1 - Nigel Bonner, credit South Georgia Museum, Picture 2 - South Georgia Whaling Museum in 1992, credit Aah-Yeah, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons, Picture 3 - Elephant seals, credit Tracy West

07/17/2026

In the 1950s, Jennifer 'Jenny' Bonner’s life took an extraordinary turn. She and her husband, zoologist Nigel Bonner, met as students at University College London in 1950. Just a few years later, Nigel left for South Georgia on a two‑man expedition to study seals and penguins - the beginning of a lifelong connection with the island.

While Nigel was away for a second time, supervising sealing operations, a cable arrived for Jenny:

“Can you come South Georgia?” Her reply was simple and brave: “Yes, but how?”

In 1957, she made the journey south, spending several months travelling around the island with Nigel before returning home. Later that year he accepted a five‑year contract, and in 1958 their first child, Martin, was born.

Just eight days later, Jenny and baby Martin boarded the ship with five tons of luggage, including an unforgettable 1200 tins of Heinz baby food, and set off for their new life on South Georgia.

They settled at King Edward Point, adapting to a new climate, a new diet, and a small, close‑knit community of men, women, children and pets. For nearly three years, South Georgia was home. When the family finally returned north in 1961, Martin had his first taste of fresh milk in Holland and saw trains and cars for the very first time.

Credit: Jennifer 'Jenny' Bonner

07/03/2026

Salute to Frank Hurley-The Man Who Brought the Ice Home

If you’ve ever marvelled at the iconic images of Shackleton’s Endurance trapped in the ice, you’ve already met Frank Hurley. Born James Francis “Frank” Hurley in 1885 in Glebe, Sydney, school didn’t hold his interest, so he left early to work in an ironworks, where he picked up practical skills in metalworking and electrics. But everything changed when teenage Hurley bought a 15-shilling (around £75/$100) Kodak Box Brownie. His passion for photography was born.

Hurley’s talent carried him first to Douglas Mawson’s Australasian Antarctic Expedition (1911–14), where his still and cinematic work earned him a reputation for brilliance. After returning to Antarctica again then back to Australia (and even filming an outback expedition), he pushed hard for a place on Shackleton’s next venture. With Mawson’s reluctant help, Hurley finally secured the role of photographer on the Imperial Trans‑Antarctic Expedition.

On the Endurance, Hurley was unstoppable. When the ship was trapped in the ice, he often found even higher or in more hazardous places to get more dramatic footage. When the Endurance was abandoned, he even dived back into the wreck’s icy hold to rescue his glass‑plate negatives. Shackleton later ordered him to select just 120 images to save - smashing the rest to avoid the temptation to carry more.

After the crew’s rescue, Hurley returned to South Georgia to shoot more footage for what became the celebrated 1919 film South. His career didn’t slow down: he served as an official photographer in both World Wars, documented Australia from the air, returned to Antarctica with Mawson in 1929–31, and published influential photographic books.

Hurley was awarded the Polar Medal three times. He died in Sydney in 1962 sat in his favourite armchair, leaving behind a body of work that still shapes how we imagine the Heroic Age of Antarctic exploration.

South Georgia and the Southern Ocean still echo with the stories he helped preserve.

Credit - Picture One: National Library of Australia from Canberra, Australia - Captain Frank Hurley with a camera on board the Discovery, circa 1931. Picture Two: By Frank Hurley - State Library of New South Wales, ON 26, Public Domain. Picture Three: By Frank Hurley - https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-158918644/, Public Domain.

06/28/2026

On 12 June 1956, glaciologist Mario B. Giovinetto became the first known person to land on S**g Rocks. Geological specimens were collected during the visit. Rising from the sea some 150 miles west of South Georgia, these six jagged pinnacles appear suddenly from the mist like the broken teeth of an ancient mountain range. Though the tallest reaches only 75 metres above the waves, they seem far larger as they erupt directly from the depths of the Scotia Sea.

The rocks are the exposed summits of the ancient Scotia Ridge, a geological link between South America and Antarctica. Their white appearance is not snow but the accumulated legacy of countless generations of seabirds. South Georgia S**gs, petrels, prions, and albatrosses have nested here for centuries, painting the dark stone with a brilliant white mantle visible for miles.

Small but immense in significance, S**g Rocks forms part of the South Georgia and South Sandwich Islands territory and stands at the gateway to one of the richest marine ecosystems on Earth.

Information thanks to South Georgia historian R.K. Headland.

06/24/2026

Dias. Petrel. Albatros.

Three iconic whaling vessels whose rusting hulls still rest on South Georgia, holding the history of an industry that shaped this remote island.

Today, these ships stand as powerful reminders of a different era.
If you’ve ever wandered past their weathered decks and wondered who worked here? What were their lives like? What really happened on these ships? There’s a place keeping those memories alive.

Explore the Whalers’ Memory Bank: A digital archive preserving photographs, diaries, artefacts, and first‑hand accounts from the people who lived and worked in South Georgia’s whaling stations. It’s an extraordinary resource for anyone interested in polar history, maritime heritage, or the human stories of whaling.

Dive into the archive: https://whalersmemorybank.sgmuseum.gs/
Photo Credits: Petrel/Trevor Clement, Dias & Albatros/Keiron Fraser,

06/21/2026

Happy Father’s Day to the dedicated dads of South Georgia, especially the Gentoo Penguin.

They help build the nest, take turns incubating the eggs, and share the hard work of raising their chicks. You’ll often see a Gentoo dad standing proudly over the nest, keeping the egg warm against the island’s winds or guarding the chick while the mother is out feeding.

Today, we celebrate all the fathers, grandfathers, and father figures help their families thrive just like the steadfast Gentoo Penguin!

Photo Cred: Marie Ann D'aloia

06/19/2026

Today, on World Albatross Day, we honor one of the most extraordinary seabirds on the planet: the Wandering Albatross. With the largest wingspan of any living bird – stretching up to an incredible 11 feet – this species is built for the open ocean, gliding thousands of miles with barely a wingbeat. Thanks to a technique called dynamic soaring, they use wind gradients over the ocean to stay aloft with almost no effort.

South Georgia is home to some of the most important breeding colonies of Wandering Albatrosses anywhere in the world. Each pair returns to these remote shores to raise a single chick, investing more than a year in its survival. Pairs form long‑term bonds, often lasting their entire lifetime. Their courtship includes bill clacking, sky‑pointing, synchronized calls, and wing spreading – it’s like a choreographed performance.

Do you have a favorite kind of albatross?

Photo Credit: Ewan Edwards

Address

Friends Of South Georgia Island 25 Dakota Meadows Drive
Carbondale, CO
81623

Website

http://fosgi.org/

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