Philip van Dueren: Last April I contacted the Foundation offering to assist in the transcription of Wilkins’ diaries. I was an underemployed travel agent suddenly with a lot of extra time on my hands and as a bit of a polar nut had read several books featuring our man. Dr Stephen Carthew sent me some pages from Wilkins’ 1911 diary which quickly showed this was not going to be an easy task! However I persisted and slowly became more proficient and soon started the 1912 diary where I learned that he travelled to England and arrived in Southampton 109 years ago this week (on a day the Titanic was in port before its doomed voyage). A fascinating insight into his Balkan War reporting followed later that same year. Next was his 1920 diary where he writes about his first journey down to the Antarctic with the Cope Expedition, he didn’t last long mainly due to severe mismanagement by its leader. The 75-day journey to get to the start of that expedition on the Falkland Islands contrasts with my journey there 4 years ago in less than a day! In September 1921 Wilkins sailed from England on the Quest with Shackleton but was sent ahead to South Georgia when they arrived in Rio. The 5 weeks he spent on South Georgia would be particularly interesting to keen birders or ornithologists as he is employed as the expeditions’ Naturalist. It is a bit of a killing spree however which makes even Wilkins feel guilty when killing a pair of albatross – ‘I felt like a murderer + had a mind to give up the whole ??? of bird collecting but then decided it must be done so I shot the remaining bird almost with my eyes shut praying to some unknown power to forgive me + hoping that if there is such a thing as a Valhalla for birds that these two would go to it.’