MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

South Georgia Museum open for business; 113 cruises booked to visit the Island

An all-female team of five are ready to receive the season ahead, which is expected to be the busiest ever, with 113 cruise ships booked to visit

The Museum on South Georgia is fully open and offering all its services for the first time since its early closure during 2019-20 season. It was closed slightly early in March 2020 due to the global pandemic and remained closed the following summer and then a very small team managed to partially operate the museum for part of last (2021-22) season.

Now an all-female team of five has headed down to the island from their UK homes.

They will be busy! The season ahead is expected to be the busiest ever, with 113 cruise ships booked to visit, bringing around 15,000 visitors.

Museum Assistant Helen Balfour from the Shetland Islands (north Scotland) had an especial reason to want to work at South Georgia. Her two grandfathers and her great-grandfather had all worked there as whalers.

Helen is looking forward to getting to know cruise ship passengers, “We’re expecting thousands of visitors,” she said. “I think it’s going to be lovely.”

One of the first jobs on arrival was to unpack the Quest Crow’s Nest from its special shipping crate and put it on display in the Shackleton’s Last Quest exhibition.

The Crow’s Nest, returns to the island for the first time since 1922. Along with the cabin in which Shackleton died, the Crow’s Nest is one of only two sections of Shackleton’s last expedition ship Quest that still exist following the ships sinking in 1962. The Crow’s Nest is on loan from the Crypt Museum, All Hallows by the Tower, London.