Antarctic Museum at the end of the world: South Georgia

"The old smell of dead whale permeates everything. It is a strange and curious place."

So reads the final entry in the diary of polar explorer Ernest Shackleton. Hours later he would be dead.

South Georgia is a fitting place for an Antarctic hero to be buried. Remote, cold and uncomfortable, the island in the south Atlantic is somewhere you don't end up by mistake.

But you might turn up here on holiday.

Grytviken is home to a population of elephant seals, maybe 20 people, and the world's most remote museum.

The UK overseas territory is 1600km and a two day sail away from the Falklands / Malvinas Islands, or a 19-hour flight from RAF Brize Norton in the UK. There's even a single UK postcode SIQQ - should you wish to correspond.

The team of seven employees includes a taxidermist and sculptor, whose work is on display in the museum gift shop.

Curious place: The South Georgia Musuem in Grytviken. Photo / Wolfgang Kaehler, Getty Images

It's remote and outlandish. With seals outnumbering residents 100 to 1 you might wonder who visits apart from giant seals and the odd polar explorer.

South Georgia, is one of the most popular ports of call for Antarctic cruise tourists. Pre-pandemic 10,000 visitors a year would pour through the doors of the tiny museum.

"This small museum in its incredibly remote location is a surprising find," read the Tripadvisor Reviews.

None of them are quite as pithy as Shackleton's summary, but they all follow a theme:

"A beautiful but desolate place."

Visitors are surprised to discover the violent and unlikely things which have occurred within a few paces of the museum.

Whalers, explorers and a daring SAS raid on a submarine during the Argentine War 40 years ago.

The 2020 South Georgia Museum Team take down the flag before being evacuated ahead of the pandemic shutdown. Photo / Supplied

Remote and outlandish - it brings a certain type of tourist and an even more rarefied type of archivist.

It was a love of Antarctica and penguins that inspired curator Jayne Pierce to take up a role at the museum at the end of the world.

A geologist by training she graduated in 1992 but could not apply for a job with the British Antarctic Survey on the Island, because at the time it did not employ women. Something that would not change for another five years.

Despite the "macho" history preserved in the museum, the majority of staff are women.

Every bit as hardy as the rest of South Georgia - they describe the mad rush to save the museum when they were evacuated during the 2020 pandemic. Readying it for Antarctic winter and proofing it against two-ton elephant seals, they were given a moment's notice.

"It was a different end to the season than anticipated," recalls the newsletter.

The elephant seals are the only permanent residents of the remote sub-Antarctic Island. Photo / Rob Oo, Flickr

The team is a diverse bunch of Australians, Europeans and Falkland Islanders. There's a seasonal internship for budding archivists and explorers.

Anyone can apply. As long as you have a love for the Antarctic and a high tolerance for preserved food.

One cruise visitor recalls having the museum team on ship to give a lecture, and their delight at seeing fresh food.

"They joined us for breakfast and could not get enough fruit. When you live in such isolation, every visitor is a gift."

— Government SGSSI (@GovSGSSI) November 18, 2021

The team are involved in natural conservation tasks as well, including eradicating pests and rats which feed on penguins and native birds. It's a job that requires a degree of bravery, says Sarah Lurcock, the museum's director.

"We have breeding, aggressive fur seals, right here, sometimes literally on our doorstep," she recently told the BBC. "If you've got an alternative exit, you will go the other way, because you do not want to disturb them."

Then again, bravery is not unusual in these islands. Visited by some of the most famous Antarctic explorers the island is something of a pilgrimage site for the heroic age of exploration.

Most visitors to South Georgia are there to visit one person in particular.

A Replica of J Caird, a safety boat Ernest Shackleton used to sail from Elephant Island to South Georgia. Photo / Getty Images

Ernest Shackleton - famously led a daring 1200km escape to the island in 1916. After his ship the Endurance was crushed by Antarctic ice, he was able to lead his sailors to safety across the South Sea in a liferaft to Grytviken. It's a story that immortalised the Irish explorer.

However he couldn't cheat death forever. On 5 January - 100 years ago this year - Shackleton was again passing through South Georgia when he died. A heart attack, at 48, preparing to sail for Antarctica.

There is no population on the island. It's a place that one passes through - from or to the Antarctic continent.

Tourists, explorers and polar scientists still come to pay their respects at the grave site in Grytviken.

Names in the museum visitor book include explorer Henry Worsley, who visited before his death, skiing across the continent of Antarctica in 2016.

Lone Star: The grave of Ernest Shackleton, on South Georgia. Photo /Wolfgang Kaehler, Getty Images

It's become a monument to the end of the "Heroic Age" of Antarctic exploration, which many see as ending with his death.

Despite the smell of rotten blubber, Shacklton's diary seems to end with a note of peaceful contemplation.

Looking south, with a journey still ahead of him:

"A wonderful evening. 'In the darkening twilight I saw a lone star hover: gem like above the bay'."

As Antarctic tourism slowly returns, your can follow along the story of Shackleton's final Quest via the museum's website sgmuseum.gs