COMMEMORATIVE ISSUE

Duncan Carse
1913 - 2004

Issue Date: 26 September 2005





Duncan Carse, adventurer and broadcaster died at the age of 90 on 2 May 2004. The Government of South Georgia & the South Sandwich Islands are issuing a set of four stamps commemorating the life of a man who did so much to improve knowledge of the topography of the island of South Georgia.

This liner card can only give a snapshot of such a varied life, witnessed by the many friends and representatives from the Scott Polar Research Institute, British Antarctic Survey, the Royal Geographical Society, the Navy, Army and the BBC who attended a special celebration of his life held in Stopham Church, West Sussex 22 May 2004.

50p - South Georgia Survey 1951-1957 Between 1951 and 1957 Duncan arranged the finance and organised and led four surveying expeditions. The resulting map is still used today. The first expedition in the summer of 1951/52 was a simple topographic survey with a second expedition taking place in 1953. In 1955/56 a third expedition, the most ambitious, discovered and corrected some significant inaccuracies in existing maps. The survey was completed by Duncan alone during the summer of 1956/57 the full results being published in the Directorate of Overseas Survey Map 1958. This map proved its worth during the 1982 Falkland Islands conflict.

50p - Duncan Carse at Undine South Harbour 1961 Duncan was back on South Georgia in 1961 to conduct a personal psychological experiment by living alone on South Georgia, being granted a lease of land near Undine South Harbour on the hostile south-western coast.

75p - Voice of Dick Barton Special Agent The much loved BBC radio show ran between 1946 and 1951 on the Light Programme. Duncan took over the role of Dick Barton from the original actor (Noel Johnson) in 1949 and played him until 1950. He was employed by the BBC as an announcer between May 1938 and July 1946 although he enlisted in the Navy in November 1942 and so did not broadcast between late 1942 and his resignation in 1946. His resignation left him free to undertake film commentaries and scriptwriting, and polar exploration. In later years he returned to broadcasting, directing and filming the documentary Gateway to the Antarctic and writing the dialogue for the documentary The White Continent.

£1 - AMOW House 1961 'All My Own Work' was the name Duncan gave to his hut, erected by him at Undine South. This view used reference material from his own album and shows curious Gentoo penguins in the foreground. On 20 May a surge wave swept away AMOW House although Duncan survived the next 116 days before being rescued by the sealing vessel Petrel.

First Day Cover The background to this stunning view of seven expedition members manhauling their sledges in March 1956, is Mount Carse a 2300 metre peak, the highest mountain of the Salvesen Range at the south eastern tip of South Georgia.

Cancellation Cachet The cancellation cachet utilises the Polar Medal for its design. The medal and clasp were awarded to Duncan Carse in 1939 by King George VI for his part in the British Graham Land Expedition of 1934-1937, a second clasp being awarded in 1992 by Queen Elizabeth II for the mapping of South Georgia.

TECHNICAL DETAILS

Designer : Nick Shewring
Printer : BDT International Security Printing Ltd
Process : Lithography
Stamp Size : 38 x 30.56mm
Format : Sheets 50 (2 x 25)
Perforation : 14 per 2cms
Paper : CA Spiral Watermark
Denominations : 50p 50p 75p £1

Stamps of South Georgia & the South Sandwich Islands may be obtained from ;

Falkland Islands Philatelic Bureau	Sovereign Stamps
Post Office	P O Box 123
Ross Road	Sutton
Stanley	Surrey
Falkland Islands FIQQ 1ZZ	SM1 4WH
www.falklands.gov.fk/pb	www.sovereignstamps.co.uk
philatelicbureau@townhall.gov.fk	allen.price@crownagents.co.uk

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