Past Events

This is  an annual event to build global awareness of Antarctica, celebrating this milestone of peace in our civilization with hope and inspiration for future generations.  http://www.ourspaces.org.uk/antarctica-day.html John Cooper, Principal Investigator, Antarctic Legacy of South Africa, Department of Botany and Zoology, Stellenbosch University  

Visit the SANAE 55 Facebook Group page for news of their journey down south and of their time in Antarctica John Cooper, Principal Investigator, Antarctic Legacy of South Africa, Department of Botany and Zoology, Stellenbosch University

The H.M.S.A.S. Transvaal (Lieutenant-Commander John Fairbairn) sailed from Cape Town on 21 December 1947 on the secret Operation Snoektown to annex Marion and Prince Edward Islands. John Cooper, Principal Investigator, Antarctic Legacy of South Africa, Department of Botany and Zoology, Stellenbosch University

HMSAS Transvaal in Table Bay John Fairbairn as a Commodore later in life Lieutenant-Commander John Fairbairn (o/c H.M.S.A.S. Transvaal) and Petty Officer Steward Henry Schott go ashore on Boulder Beach, Marion Island from the ship's motor boat at 11h32 on 29 December 1947.   After building a small rock cairn with a metal Union of South Africa flag planted in it on Gunner's Point, Lt-Cmdr Fairbairn reads out the Deed of Sovereignty  occupying the island for South Africa.  He then…

On 31 December 1961, early in the morning, South Africa's first Antarctic supply ship, the R.S.A., suitably dressed with flags, docked in Table Bay on  its delivery voyage from Osaka, Japan. The 1572- gross ton ship was built by the Fujinagata Shipbuilding and Engineering Company.  The keel was laid on 4 April 1961,  the R.S.A. was launched on 28 September, undertook sea trials in Osaka Bay over 28/29 November and set sail for Cape Town, South Africa on 30 November on…

Following the occupation of Marion Island on 29 December 1947, Lieutenant-Commander John Fairbairn, Captain of the frigate H.M.S.A.S. Transvaal, is landed by "crayfish dinghy" after being towed by the ship's motor boat into Cave Bay on Prince Edward Island on 4 January 1948. Only two others are with him in the dinghy: Petty Officer Ernie W. Sadler and Leading Seaman Firmani.  While they hold the dinghy in the shallows off the boulders, Fairbairn jumps into the water and scrambles ashore…

On 5 January 1994 the German yacht Freydis arrived at the Prince Edward Islands as part of a circumnavigation of Antarctica over the years 1990 to 1998.  The 14.3 m, 25-ton steel yacht started the southern Indian Ocean leg of its Southern Ocean voyage in Richard's Bay, South Africa and ended it in Fremantle, Australia. The Freydis' crew consisted of  Erich Wilts (52), Dr. Heide Wilts (52) , Peter Chmella (55), Karl Hiesserich (61), Manfred Mende (45), Steffen Menger (27),…