Henry George Gino Watkins

Henry George [Gino] Watkins was born on 29 January 1907 in London. While an undergraduate at Trinity College, Cambridge, he led the Cambridge University Expedition to Spitsbergen in 1927, organized to explore and map Edgeya, the third largest island in the Svalbard Archipelago. The following year Watkins returned north on an expedition to Labrador, accompanied by James Maurice Scott, exploring and surveying in the upper reaches of the Hamilton River from July 1928 to May 1929.

On his return, Watkins gained the support of the Royal Geographical Society for the British Arctic Air Route Expedition [BAARE], 1930-1931, organized to investigate the possibilities of an air route from Britain to the west coast of the United States via Iceland, Greenland, Baffin Island, Hudson Bay and Edmonton. Watkins proposed to explore the east coast and Inland Ice of Greenland, the least known areas along its course. Sailing in Quest from London in July 1930, the expedition reached Ammassalik in East Greenland, where a base camp was established. On 8 September 1930, a meteorological station was established on the ice cap at 67 05°N, 41 48°W, where a series of observations was conducted. Several exploratory flights were made, during which a range of high mountains was discovered, later named the Watkins Mountains. Sledging and boat journeys were made to survey and chart parts of the east coast of Greenland and to examine the ice cap of the interior. Already an experienced dog-driver, Watkins became skilled in the practice of hunting by kayak during this expedition, and demonstrated considerable ability in combining techniques learned from the Eskimo and previous explorers with innovative use of modern technology.

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