Andrew Coats was born on 27 May 1852, sixth son of Thomas Coats, a partner in a wealthy firm of thread manufacturers in Paisley, Scotland. In 1898, he led the British Sport-hunting and Scientific Expedition, primarily a private sporting expedition for shooting bears and walruses, but with some scientific programs to be conducted by the naturalist William Speirs Bruce. Sailing in Blencathra from Gare Loch in Scotland, the expedition called at Trompsø before heading for Novaya Zemlya. As they sailed through the Barents Sea, Bruce began meteorological and other observations and also began tow netting and trawling for biological samples. In June, Blencathra made two landings in the southwest of Novaya Zemlya before sailing to Vardø for more supplies. In July, the expedition took the ship along the edge of the pack ice almost to Novaya Zemlya, dredging, tow netting, and trawling continually and charting the ice edge. After the expedition, Bruce published his natural history observations and his records of deep-sea soundings in the Barents Sea.
Andrew Coats and his younger brother, James, later provided generous financial support to Bruce's Scottish National Antarctic Expedition, 1902-1904. This expedition conducted the first oceanographic exploration of the Weddell Sea and discovered Coats Land, an area of East Antarctica between the Weddell Sea and 20° West, named for the two brothers.
Coats later served as a major with the sixth battalion of the Imperial Yeomanry, participating in the Boer War in South Africa between 1900 and 1901, for which he was awarded the D.S.O. in 1900. He died on 17 February 1930.
From the guide to the Andrew Coats collection, 1898-1913, (Scott Polar Research Institute, University of Cambridge)
