now see things from your point of view, and wish you success"—a sentiment apparently not reflected in Markham's subsequent attitude towards the Scottish expedition. Voyage of the Scotia With financial support from the Coats family, Bruce had acquired a Norwegian whaler, , which he transformed into a fully equipped Antarctic research ship, renamed Scotia. He then appointed an all-Scottish crew and scientific team. Scotia left Troon on 2 November 1902, and headed south towards Antarctica, where Bruce intended to set up winter quarters in the Weddell Sea quadrant, "as near to the South Pole as is practicable". On 22 February the ship reached 70°25′S, but could proceed no further because of heavy ice. She retreated to Laurie Island in the South Orkneys chain, and wintered there in a bay he named Scotia Bay. A meteorological station, Omond House (named after Robert Traill Omond), was established as part of a full programme of scientific work. In November 1903 Scotia retreated to Buenos Aires for repair and reprovisioning. While in Argentina, Bruce negotiated an agreement with the government whereby Omond House became a permanent weather station, under Argentinian control. Renamed Orcadas Base, the site has been continuously in operation since then, and provides the longest historical meteorological series of Antarctica. In January 1904 Scotia sailed south again, to explore the Weddell Sea. On 6 March, new land was sighted, part of the sea's eastern boundary; Bruce named this Coats Land after the expedition's chief backers. On 14 March, at 74°01′S and in danger of becoming icebound, Scotia turned north. The long voyage back to Scotland, via Cape Town, was completed on 21 July 1904. This expedition assembled a large collection of animal, marine and plant specimens, and carried out extensive hydrographic, magnetic and meteorological observations. One hundred years later it was recognised that the expedition's work had "laid the foundation of modern climate change studies", and that its experimental work had showed this part of the globe to be crucially important to the world's climate. According to the oceanographer Tony Rice, it fulfilled a more comprehensive programme than any other Antarctic expedition of its day. At the time its reception in Britain was relatively muted; although its work was highly praised within sections of the scientific community, Bruce struggled to raise the funding to publish his scientific results, and blamed Markham for the lack of national recognition. Post-expedition years Scottish Oceanographical Laboratory