2022 Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration: 04 Swedish Expedition £2 BU

Brand new £2 celebrating 100 years since the end of the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration featuring the Antarctic.

The Antarctic was a Swedish Steamship built in Drammen, Norway in 1871. The ship was originally built and used for activities such as seal hunting across areas such as Greenland. However, in 1900 Otto Nordenskjold purchased the Antarctic for use in his exploration of the Antarctic Peninsular region. The Swedish Antarctic Expedition, led by Nordenskjold, has often been distinguished by the sheer volume of its scientific findings and overcoming of substantial difficulties.

The coin features the Antarctic ship and its leader Otto Nordenskjold. Issued on behalf of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands the coin. The obverse of the coin features an effigy of Her Late Majesty Queen Elizabeth II produced exclusively by Pobjoy Mint.

After being stranded on Snow Hill Island for 2 years due to harsh weather conditions, the Antarctic ship finally returned and the expedition group were able to leave Snow Hill and begin their journey across the sea-ice to Uruguay. Not long into their voyage tragedy struck when pressure of the surrounding ice soon became too much for the Antarctic, slowly crushing the ships planks causing substantial damage and holding the ship captive for days, eventually leading to its sinking on February the 12th, 1903. The Antarctic remains one of the many sailing ships to have sunk off the coast of the north-eastern end of the Antarctic Peninsula and to this day Nordenskjold’s ship remains intact laying on the bed of the Weddell Sea floor.