[3] In 1823, Antarctic explorer Captain James Weddell anchored at the island, and commented on its excellent harbours and its natural food and water supplies.

The vessel arrived on 24 December, but during one month of operation only 40 whales (24 fin, 12 sei, 3 sperm, and 1 humpback) were caught.

[4] Admiralen proceeded to Admiralty Bay in the South Shetland Islands to look for blue and right whales, thus becoming the first floating factory to operate in the Antarctic.

A transport vessel and a whale catcher arrived on 22 December and brought a decommissioned land station from Fáskrúðsfjörður in Iceland.

Protector III was built in 1942, and was one of 12 minesweepers constructed for the Royal Navy by the Wagstaff Hatfield Shipyard in Port Greville, Nova Scotia.

The Trust was managed by a Board of Trustees under the Chairmanship of Air Vice-Marshal David Crwys-Williams CB, a former Commander of the British Forces, Falkland Islands, in the 1980s.

[10] Resident pods of Peale's dolphins frequent the bays of New Island and Southern Elephant seals are occasionally found here but do not breed.

Birds for which the site is of conservation significance include Falkland steamer ducks, ruddy-headed geese, gentoo penguins (ca.

29,000 pairs), thin-billed prions, white-chinned petrels, imperial shags, striated caracaras, white-bridled finches, blackish cinclodes and Cobb's wrens.