The remote island of South Georgia, between South America and Antarctica, is among nine new locations to have been mapped on Google Street View.
The island, where the explorer Ernest Shackleton found refuge, is one of the most least-visited places on Earth. Now it is possible for users to discover the path of the legendary polar explorer from their own homes.
In 1914, Shackleton was planning to cross Antarctica via the South Pole, but en route from Buenos Aires his ship, Endurance, became trapped in the ice. After living on the ice for two months, the crew sailed their lifeboats to the small and barren Elephant Island, before risking their lives navigating a further 800 nautical miles to the South Georgia whaling stations to find help.
The explorer died of a heart attack on his return to the islands in 1922, on a further expedition, and Grytviken, South Georgia, was his final resting place.
The Google Trekker project is the result of a collaboration between Linblad Expeditions and National Geographic to commemorate the centenary of Shackleton’s extraordinary expedition. The Trekker is a backpack-mounted camera that has 15 lenses and shoots a photo every 2.5 seconds.
More than 10,000 panoramas were shot at nine locations, including Shackleton’s grave, Grytviken church, Grytviken whaling station and Prion Island.
You can also observe the colonies of penguins, albatrosses and elephant seals that occupy the islands.
