Verner Duncan Carse[1] (28 July 1913 – 2 May 2004) was an English explorer and actor known for surveying South Georgia and for the portrayal of Special Agent Dick Barton on BBC Radio.
While in Port Stanley, Falkland Islands, Carse encountered the British Graham Land Expedition, which was on its way to Antarctica on the yacht Penola.
Carse secured permission to transfer to the expedition, serving as a seaman and wireless operator and helping to lay depots on the Antarctic Peninsula.
Carse returned to England in 1937, and in 1939 he was awarded the silver Polar Medal and Clasp for his part in the Graham Land expedition.
At the suggestion of the Royal Geographical Society and the Scott Polar Institute, he decided to focus his attention on the subantarctic island of South Georgia.
[9] Carse maintained a long interest in the expeditions of Sir Ernest Henry Shackleton and wrote the Introduction and Notes to the 1974 Folio Society Edition of Shackleton's Boat Journey by Frank Worsley A second Polar Medal clasp was awarded in 1982 for his leadership of the later Survey work – this mapping being of particular value in the period of conflict in the Falklands.
A number of expedition images of Carse from 1934 to 1937 are now in the Scott Polar Research Institute on line archive, Freeze Frame.