Datasets:
illuin-conteb
/
mldr-conteb-eval

Dataset card Data Studio Files Community
1
chunk_id
stringlengths
5
8
chunk
stringlengths
1
1k
1267_3
Seropian's first video game was a Pong clone, written and released nearly 20 years after the original, called Gnop! (Pong spelled backwards). The game was created in 1990, almost a year before Bungie's official incorporation, but was released under the Bungie name and is considered by Bungie as its first game. Seropian released Gnop! free of charge, but sold the source code for the game for US$15. Gnop! was later included in several compilations of early Bungie games, including the Marathon Trilogy Box Set and the Mac Action Sack. Seropian officially founded Bungie Software Products Corporation in May 1991 to publish Operation: Desert Storm. Seropian culled funding from friends and family, assembling the game boxes and writing the disks himself. Operation: Desert Storm sold 2,500 copies, and Seropian looked for another game to publish.
1267_4
Seropian met programmer Jason Jones in an artificial intelligence course at the University of Chicago. Jones was a longtime programmer who was porting a game he wrote, called Minotaur, from an Apple II to the Macintosh platform. Jones recalled, "I didn't really know [Alex] in the class. I think he actually thought I was a dick because I had a fancy computer". Seropian and Jones partnered to release the role-playing video game as Minotaur: The Labyrinths of Crete in 1992; while Jones finished the coding, Seropian handled design and publicity. The game relied on then-uncommon internet modems and AppleTalk connections for play and sold around 2,500 copies, and developed a devoted following. Both Seropian and Jones are considered co-founders of Bungie.
1267_5
The team focused on the Macintosh platform, not Windows-based personal computers, because the Mac market was more open and Jones had been raised on the platform. While Jones was responsible for many of the creative and technical aspects, Seropian was a businessman and marketer. "What I liked about [Seropian] was that he never wasted any money", Jones recalled. With no money to hire other personnel, the two assembled Minotaur boxes by hand in Seropian's apartment. While the pair remained low on funds—Seropian's wife was largely supporting him—the modest success of Minotaur gave the duo enough money to develop another project.
1267_6
Inspired by the shooter game Wolfenstein 3D, Jones wrote a 3D game engine for the Mac. Bungie's next game was intended to be a 3D port of Minotaur, but Jones and Seropian found that Minotaurs top-down perspective gameplay did not translate well to the 3D perspective, and did not want to rely on modems. Instead, they developed a new storyline for the first-person shooter that became Pathways into Darkness, released in 1993. Jones did the coding, with his friend Colin Brent creating the game's art. The game was a critical and commercial success, winning awards including Inside Mac Games' "Adventure Game of the Year" and Macworlds "Best Role-Playing Game".
1267_7
Pathways beat sales expectations and became Bungie's first commercial success. Bungie moved from a one-bedroom apartment to a studio in Chicago's South Side on South Halsted Street; Seropian and Jones's first full-time employee, Doug Zartman, joined in May 1994 to provide support for Pathways, but became Bungie's public relations person, honing Bungie's often sophomoric sense of humor and irreverence. Bungie composer Martin O'Donnell remembered that the studio's location, a former girls' school next to a crack house, "smelled like a frat house after a really long weekend" and reminded staff of a locale from the Silent Hill horror video games.
1267_8
Marathon, Myth and Oni (1994–2001) Bungie's next project began as a sequel to Pathways into Darkness, but evolved into a futuristic first-person shooter called Marathon. It introduced the rocket jumping mechanic to gamers (then known as "grenade hopping") and was the first control system where players could use the mouse to look up and down as well as pan side-to-side. Pathways had taught Bungie the importance of story in a game, and Marathon featured computer terminals where players could choose to learn more about the game's fiction. The studio became what one employee termed "your stereotypical vision of a small computer-game company—eating a lot of pizza, drinking a lot of Coke" while the development team worked 14 hours every day for nearly six months.
1267_9
After showing the game at the Macworld Expo, Bungie was mobbed with interest and orders for the game. The game was not finished until December 14, 1994; Jones and a few other employees spent a day at a warehouse assembling boxes so that some of the orders could be filled before Christmas. The game was a critical and commercial success, and is regarded as a relatively unknown but important part of gaming history. It served as the Mac alternative to DOS PC-only games like Doom and System Shock. The game's volume of orders was unprecedented for the studio, who found that its old method of mail or phone orders could not scale to the demand and hired another company to handle the tens of thousands of orders. Marathon also brought Bungie attention from press outside the small Mac gaming market.
1267_10
The first game's success led to a sequel, Marathon 2: Durandal. The series introduced several elements, including cooperative mode, which made their way to later Bungie games. The game was released November 24, 1995, and outsold its predecessor. When Bungie announced its intention to port the game to the Windows 95 operating system, however, many Mac players felt betrayed, and Bungie received a flood of negative mail. Seropian saw the value of moving into new markets and partnering with larger supply chains, although he lamented the difficult terms and "sucky" contracts distributors provided. The game released on Windows 95 in September 1996. Marathon Infinity was released the following year.
1267_11
After Marathon, Bungie moved away from first-person shooters to release a strategy game, Myth: The Fallen Lords. The game stressed tactical unit management as opposed to the resource gathering model of other combat strategy titles. The Myth games won several awards and spawned a large and active online community. Myth: The Fallen Lords was the first Bungie game to be released simultaneously for both Mac and Windows platforms. The success of Myth enabled Bungie to change Chicago offices and establish a San Jose, California based branch of the studio, Bungie West, in 1997. Bungie West's first and only game would be Oni, an action title for the Mac, PC and PlayStation 2.
1267_12
Halo and buyout (2001–2007) In 1999, Bungie announced its next product, Halo: Combat Evolved, originally intended to be a third-person shooter game for Windows and Macintosh. Halos public unveiling occurred at the Macworld Expo 1999 keynote address by Apple's then-interim-CEO Steve Jobs (after a closed-door screening at E3 in 1999).
1267_13
On June 19, 2000, on the ninth anniversary of Bungie's founding, Microsoft announced that it had acquired Bungie and that Bungie would become a part of the Microsoft Game Division. Halo would be developed as an exclusive first-person shooter title for the Xbox. The reasons for Bungie accepting Microsoft's offer were varied. Jones stated that "I don't remember the details exactly, it was all a blur. We'd been talking to people for years and years—before we even published Marathon, Activision made a serious offer. But the chance to work on Xbox—the chance to work with a company that took the games seriously. Before that we worried that we'd get bought by someone who just wanted Mac ports or didn't have a clue". Martin O'Donnell, who had joined Bungie as an employee ten days before the merger was announced, remembers that the stability of the Xbox as a development platform was not the only benefit. Shortly before Myth IIs release, it was discovered versions of the game could erase a
1267_14
player's hard drive; the glitch led to a massive recall of the games right before they shipped, which cost Bungie nearly one million dollars. O'Donnell stated in a Bungie podcast that this recall created some financial uncertainty, although accepting the offer was not something Bungie "had to do". Seropian and Jones had refused to accept Microsoft's offer until the entire studio agreed to the buyout.
1267_15
As a result of the buyout, the rights to Myth and Oni were transferred to Take-Two Interactive (which at the time owned 19.9% of the studio) as part of the three-way deal between Microsoft, Bungie and Take-Two Interactive; most of the original Oni developers were able to continue working on Oni until its release in 2001. Halo: Combat Evolved, meanwhile, went on to become a critically acclaimed hit, selling more than 6.5 million copies, and becoming the Xbox's flagship franchise. Halos success led to Bungie creating two sequels. Halo 2 was released on November 9, 2004, making more than $125 million on release day and setting a record in the entertainment industry. Halo 3 was released on September 25, 2007, and surpassed Halo 2s records, making $170 million in its first twenty-four hours of release.
1267_16
Independent company (2007–2022) On October 1, 2007, Microsoft and Bungie announced that Bungie was splitting off from its parent and becoming a privately held limited liability company named Bungie, LLC. As outlined in a deal between the two, Microsoft would retain a minority stake and continue to partner with Bungie on publishing and marketing both Halo and future projects, with the Halo intellectual property belonging to Microsoft. While Bungie planned on revealing a new game at E3 2008, Bungie studio head Harold Ryan announced that the unveiling was canceled. Almost three months later, Bungie announced that the new game was a prequel and expansion to Halo 3 titled Halo 3: Recon. The next month, Bungie changed the game's title from Halo 3: Recon to Halo 3: ODST. At E3 2009, Bungie and Microsoft revealed the company was developing another Halo-related game, Halo: Reach, for release in 2010. Reach was the last game in the Halo franchise to be developed by Bungie.
1267_17
Bungie continued expanding, though it did not commit to details about new projects and ship dates. The company grew from roughly 120 employees in May 2008 to 165 in June 2009, outgrowing the studio Microsoft developed. Ryan helped redesign a former multiplex movie theater in Bellevue into new Bungie offices, with replacing the the company occupied previously. In April 2010, Bungie announced that it was entering into a 10-year publishing agreement with publisher Activision Blizzard. Under Bungie's agreement with Activision, new intellectual property developed by Bungie will be owned by Bungie, not Activision, in a deal similar to the Electronic Arts Partners Program.
1267_18
On June 30, 2011, Bungie announced the "Bungie Aerospace" project; its slogan, "Per audacia ad astra", translates to "Boldly to the stars". The project is intended to provide independent game developers with publishing, resources, and support, including access to the Bungie.net platform. In November 2011, Bungie Aerospace published its first game, Crimson: Steam Pirates, for iOS, developed by startup video game developer Harebrained Schemes. In addition to publishing and distributing Crimson, Bungie Aerospace provided players with statistical support and a dedicated discussion forum on Bungie.net. In 2013, Bungie announced Destiny, which launched for the PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, and Xbox One platforms on September 9, 2014. During January 2016, Ryan stepped down as president and Pete Parsons, who had been the company's chief operating officer and executive producer since 2002, became its chief executive officer.
1267_19
Chinese video game conglomerate NetEase had invested $100 million into Bungie in 2018, in exchange for a minority stake in the company and a seat on the company's board of directors. Bungie terminated its publishing deal with Activision in 2019, after eight years; as per their agreement, Bungie retained all rights to Destiny and will self-publish future installments and expansions. This included transitioning Destiny 2 from using Activision's Battle.net to Steam. Bungie's communications director David Dague dispelled ideas that Activision was a "prohibitive overlord" that limited Bungie's creative control, and instead stated that both companies amicably split due to different ideas of where the Destiny franchise should head.
1267_20
Bungie announced a major expansion of its firm in February 2021. In addition to more than doubling its headquarters space in Bellevue, Washington, Bungie announced plans to open a new studio in Amsterdam by 2022. This would support additional staff not only for Destiny but additional media related to Destiny outside of video games, as well as a new intellectual property unrelated to Destiny that Bungie expects to release by 2025. Acquisition by Sony Interactive Entertainment (2022–present)
1267_21
On January 31, 2022, Sony Interactive Entertainment announced its intent to acquire Bungie for $3.6 billion. While Bungie would become part of the PlayStation family of studios it would remain an independent subsidiary under Sony in development and publishing and would not be part of PlayStation Studios. Instead, Sony's investment would help Bungie with hiring for developers to expand their work on the Destiny franchise and other planned games. Both companies stated that the deal would not affect platform availability or exclusivity for Destiny 2 but instead was geared towards media beyond video games that Bungie had been interested in pursuing for some time. Bungie, in return, would help Sony enter the live service games market, as Sony had announced plans to launch at least ten such games by 2026 in an investors' presentation following the Bungie acquisition announcement. Of the $3.6 billion, Sony anticipated that at least $1.2 billion will be used as incentives for retention of
1267_22
Bungie's current employees.
1267_23
Bungie.net Bungie.net serves as the main portal for interaction between company staff and the community surrounding Bungie's games. When Bungie was bought by Microsoft, the site was seen as in competition with Microsoft's own Xbox.com site, but community management eventually won out as the bigger concern. The site has been redesigned several times.
1267_24
During Bungie's involvement with the Halo franchise, the site recorded statistics for each game played. This information included statistics on each player in the game, and a map of the game level showing where kills occurred, called "heatmaps". On January 31, 2012, Bungie announced that, as of March 31, 2012, Bungie.net would no longer update Halo game statistics and Halo player service records, host new user-generated Halo content, or operate Halos "Bungie Pro" service. Bungie's cessation of these services on March 31 completed the transition process of all data for Halo games being managed by 343 Industries. Bungie.net records player's statistics for their game franchise Destiny. In addition to the collection of data and the management of Destiny player's accounts, the website serves as a form of communication between Bungie and the community.
1267_25
While Bungie had long provided places for fans to congregate and talk about games, as well as releasing new information and screenshots over Bungie.net, it historically had made less effort and been less successful at providing access to the inside workings of Bungie and its staff. As part of a move to become more familiar with fans, Bungie recruited recognized and respected voices from the fan community, including writers Luke Smith, Eric Osborne, and others. Bungie also has an iOS and Google Play application that allows provides news, inventory management, and group finding for their game Destiny on the go. Culture
1267_26
Martin O'Donnell described Bungie's workplace culture as "a slightly irreverent attitude, and not corporate, bureaucratic or business-focused"; artist Shi Kai Wang noted that when he walked into Bungie for an interview, "I realized that I was the one who was over-dressed, [and] I knew this was the place I wanted to work". Bungie's content manager and podcast host, Frank O'Connor, comically noted that at a GameStop conference, the Bungie team was told to wear business casual, to which O'Connor replied "We [Bungie] don't do business casual".
1267_27
This informal, creative culture was one of the reasons Microsoft was interested in acquiring Bungie, although game designer Jordan Weisman said that Microsoft came close to destroying the company's development culture, as it had with the now-defunct FASA Studio. Studio head Harold Ryan emphasized that even when Bungie was bought by Microsoft, the team was still independent: One of the first things [Microsoft] tried after acquiring Bungie, after first attempting to fully assimilate them, was to move Bungie into a standard Microsoft building with the rest of the game group. But unlike the rest of the teams they'd brought in previously, Bungie didn't move into Microsoft corporate offices – we tore all of the walls out of that section of the building and sat in a big open environment. Luckily Alex and Jason [Seropian and Jones, Bungie's founders] were pretty steadfast at the time about staying somewhat separate and isolated.
1267_28
In 2007, Microsoft eventually moved the studio to Kirkland, Washington, where it reincorporated as Bungie, Inc. Despite the move, financial analyst Roger Ehrenberg declared the Bungie-Microsoft marriage "doomed to fail" due to these fundamental differences. Bungie also pointed out that it was tired of new intellectual property being cast aside to work on the Halo franchise. Edge described the typical Bungie employee as "simultaneously irreverent and passionately loyal; fiercely self-critical; full of excitement at the company's achievements, no matter how obscure; [and] recruited from its devoted fanbase".
1267_29
The Bungie workplace is highly informal, with new and old staff willing to challenge each other on topics, such as fundamental game elements. Staff are able to publicly criticize their own games and each other. Fostering studio cooperation and competition, Bungie holds events such as the "Bungie Pentathlon", in which staff square off in teams playing games such as Halo, Pictionary, Dance Dance Revolution, and Rock Band. Bungie also faced off against professional eSports teams and other game studios in Halo during "Humpdays", with the results of the multiplayer matches being posted on Bungie.net.
1267_30
Bungie's staff and fans, known as the "Seventh Column", have banded together for charity and other causes. After Hurricane Katrina, Bungie was one of several game companies to announce its intention to help those affected by the hurricane, with Bungie donating the proceeds of special T-shirts to the American Red Cross; after the 2010 Haiti earthquake, Bungie sold "Be a Hero" T-shirts and donated money to the Red Cross for every Halo 3 or ODST player on Xbox Live who wore a special heart-shaped emblem. Other charity work Bungie has done included auctioning off a painting of "Mister Chief" by O'Connor, a Halo 2 soda machine from Bungie's offices, and collaborating with Child's Play auctions. In 2011, Bungie formed a nonprofit organization, named Bungie Foundation.
1267_31
In December 2021, IGN reported from interviews with 26 former and current employees that there had been past and some current issues with a male-dominated work culture and crunch time that was discriminatory towards female employees since around 2011, but the company more recently had been working to improve these issues, previously parting ways with the majority of people mentioned in the article. Parsons wrote a response about Bungie's commitment to improve the workplace culture, which had aligned with statements from more recent employees that had spoken to IGN. Parsons apologized to any employee who "ever experienced anything less than a safe, fair, and professional working environment at Bungie", and stated of several efforts that the company was making to eliminate any type of "rockstar" attitude that may exist at studio. Games developed
1267_32
Related companies
1267_33
Many of Bungie's employees have left the company to form their own studios. Double Aught was a short-lived company composed of several former Bungie team members, founded by Greg Kirkpatrick. Seropian left to form Wideload Games, developer of Stubbs the Zombie in Rebel Without a Pulse, and later co-founded Industrial Toys. Other companies include Giant Bite, founded by Hamilton Chu (producer on Halo and Oni) and Michael Evans (project lead on Oni), and Certain Affinity, founded by Max Hoberman (the multiplayer design lead for Halo 2 and Halo 3). Certain Affinity's team included former Bungie employees David Bowman and Chad Armstrong (who later returned to Bungie). The studio collaborated with Bungie in releasing the last two downloadable maps for Halo 2 and the downloadable Defiant Map Pack for Halo: Reach. 343 Industries, a game studio formed by Microsoft to manage the Halo series following the launch of Halo: Reach, also includes a few former Bungie employees, including Frank
1267_34
O'Connor. In 2015, long-time Bungie employee Martin O'Donnell started a new game studio known as Highwire Games. In 2016, former Bungie CEO and studio head Harold Ryan founded a new game studio knowns as ProbablyMonsters.
1267_35
References External links 1991 establishments in Illinois 2000 mergers and acquisitions Companies based in Bellevue, Washington American companies established in 1991 Video game companies established in 1991 Video game companies of the United States Video game development companies Former Microsoft subsidiaries Independent video game developers Privately held companies based in Washington (state) Announced mergers and acquisitions
1268_0
There have been women in Antarctica and exploring the regions around Antarctica for many centuries. Oral tradition of Māori explorers reaching Antarctic waters as early as 650 CE, put women on the Antarctic map. The most celebrated "first" for women was in 1935 when Caroline Mikkelsen became the first woman to set foot on one of Antarctica's islands. Early male explorers, such as Richard Byrd, named areas of Antarctica after wives and female heads of state. As Antarctica moved from a place of exploration and conquest to a scientific frontier, women worked to be included in the sciences. The first countries to have female scientists working in Antarctica were the Soviet Union, South Africa and Argentina.
1268_1
Besides exploring and working as scientists, women have also played supportive roles as wives, fund-raisers, publicists, historians, curators and administrators of organizations and services that support Antarctic operations. Many early women on Antarctica were the wives of explorers. Some women worked with Antarctica from afar, crafting policies for a place they had never seen. Women who wished to have larger roles in Antarctica and on the continent itself had to "overcome gendered assumptions about the ice and surmount bureaucratic inertia. As women began to break into fields in Antarctica, they found that it could be difficult to compete against men who already had the "expeditioner experience" needed for permanent science positions. Women who were qualified for expeditions or jobs in Antarctica were less likely to be selected than men, even after a 1995 study by Jane Mocellin showed that women cope better than men with the Antarctic environment.
1268_2
Historic barriers against inclusion Most early policies and practices, including the construction and creation of Antarctic organizations, were created initially by men. Women were originally excluded from early exploration in Antarctica based on the opinion that women could not handle the extremes in temperature or crisis situations. Vivian Fuchs, who was in charge of the British Antarctic Survey in the 1960s, believed that women could not carry heavy equipment and that Antarctic facilities were unsuitable for women. The United States believed for many years that the climate of Antarctic was too harsh for women.
1268_3
Antarctica was seen by many men as a place where men could imagine themselves heroic conquerors. In Western culture, frontier territories are often associated with masculinity. Antarctica itself was envisioned by many male explorers as a "virginal woman" or "monstrous feminine body" to be conquered by men. Women were often "invoked in terms of place naming and territorial conquest and later even encouraged to have babies in Antarctica." Using women as territorial conquest is probably at its most literal in the way that Argentina and Chile have flown pregnant women to Antarctica to give birth and stake a national claim to the area. Silvia Morella de Palma was the first woman to give birth in Antarctica, delivering 3.4 kg (7 lb 8 oz) Emilio Palma at the Argentine Esperanza base 7 January 1978.
1268_4
Men enjoyed having a space that was free of women and which in the late 1940s "allowed them to continue the kind of male companionship and adventure they had enjoyed during the Second World War." In one news article about Antarctica written in 1958, the writer describes the use of dazzlement: "On the womanless continent, the purpose of the dazzlement is not to catch the eye of a flirtatious blonde, but to attract spotters in the event that the explorers become lost in the frozen waste." Men's spaces in Antarctica resisted change. In the 1980s, there was an attempt by men to memorialize the "Sistine ceiling" of the Weddell hut in Antarctica as an Australian national heritage site of "high significance." The "Sistine ceiline" was covered in 92 different simply pinups of women from the 1970s and 1980s. This represented a "male's only club" in which participants believed women would spoil the "purity of a homosocial work—and play—environment." In 1983, the San Bernardino County Sun
1268_5
newspaper published an article about Antarctica stating that it "is still one of the last macho redoubts, where men are men and women are superfluous." One scientist, Lyle McGinnis, who had been going to Antarctica since 1957 resented women in the field, saying that "men never grouse," but he believed that women complained and needed "comfort." Not all men felt that way. Other men felt that women's presence made life in Antarctica better and one male engineer stated that without women around, "men are pigs." Sociologist Charles Moskos stated that as more women are introduced to a group, there is less aggression and a "more civil culture develops."
1268_6
Many of the careers in Antarctica are in the sciences, and women faced barriers there as well. As women attempted to work in science, arguments using biological determinism, evolutionary psychology and popular notions of neurobiology were used as excuses as to why there were fewer women in the sciences. These arguments described how "women are ill-adapted on evolutionary grounds for science and the competitive environment of the laboratory." Some women described feeling that they were "a bit of a joke" working in Antarctica, and felt that men regarded them as incapable.
1268_7
Antarctic exploration and science research was often facilitated by national navies, who often did not want women on their ships. The United States Navy used the excuse that "sanitation facilities were too primitive" on Antarctica as an excuse to bar women. The U.S. Navy also considered Antarctica a "male-only bastion." Admiral George Dufek said in 1956 that "women would join American Teams in the Antarctic over his dead body." He also believed that women's presence on Antarctica "would wreck men's illusions of being heroes and frontiersmen." Military groups also were worried about "sexual misconduct."
1268_8
As women began to try to become part of Antarctic exploration and research, change was slow. An article run in The Daily Herald newspaper of Chicago in 1974 described women finally coming to Antarctica as integrating the "land with a definite feminine touch." The article describes women's perfumed smells, ways of entertaining guests on Antarctica and the "dainty feet" of Caroline Mikkelsen. Eventually, however, both the "presence and impact of female Antarctic researchers has increased rapidly." Early women involved in Antarctica Oral records from Oceania indicate that women explorers may have traveled to the Antarctic regions like male explorers Ui-te-Rangiora around 650 CE and Te Ara-tanga-nuku in 1000 CE, but this is unconfirmed. The first Western woman to visit the Antarctic region was Louise Séguin, who sailed on the Roland with Yves Joseph de Kerguelen in 1773.
1268_9
The oldest known human remains in Antarctica was a skull that belonged to a young Yaghan woman on Yamana Beach at the South Shetland Islands, which dates back to 1819 to 1825. Her remains were found by the Chilean Antarctic Institute in 1985.
1268_10
In the early twentieth century, women were interested in going to Antarctica. When Ernest Shackleton advertised his 1914 Antarctic expedition, three women wrote to him, requesting to join, though the women never became part of the journey. In 1919, newspapers reported that women wanted to go to Antarctica, writing that "several women were anxious to join, but their applications were refused." Later, in 1929, twenty-five women applied to the British, Australian and New Zealand Antarctic Research Expedition (BANZARE), and were also rejected. When a privately funded British Antarctic Expedition was proposed in 1937, 1,300 women applied to join. None of those 1,300 were accepted, and in fact, after 3 years of attempted funding the expedition was cancelled with the onset of World War Two. Women who were wives of explorers who were left behind "endured years of loneliness and anxiety." Women like Kathleen Scott raised money for their husbands' journeys.
1268_11
The first women involved in exploration of Antarctica were wives and companions of male travelers and explorers. Women accompanied men as "whaling wives" to Antarctic waters. The first women to see the continent of Antarctica was Norwegian Ingrid Christensen and her companion, Mathilde Wegger, both of whom were traveling with Christensen's husband. The first woman to step onto the land of Antarctica, an island, was Caroline Mikkelsen in 1935. Mikkelsen only briefly went ashore, and was also there with her husband. Later, after her husband died, Mikkelsen remarried and didn't talk about her experience in Antarctica in order "to spare his feelings." Christensen went back to Antarctica three times after she first glimpsed the land. She eventually landed at Scullin monolith, becoming the first woman to set foot on the Antarctic mainland, followed by her daughter, Augusta Sofie Christensen, and two other women: Lillemor Rachlew, and Solveig Widerøe. Because the women believed the landing
1268_12
wasn't an actual "first," they didn't make much of their accomplishment.
1268_13
In the years of 1946 and 1947, Jackie Ronne and Jennie Darlington were the first women to spend the year in Antarctica. When Ronne and Darlington decided to accompany their husbands in 1946 to Antarctica, men on the expedition "signed a petition trying to stop it happening." Ronne worked as the mission's "recorder." Ronne and Darlington both wrote about their experiences on the ice, and in the case of Darlington's book, about how conflict between team members also "strained relations between the two women." One of the ways that Darlington tried to fit in with the men of the group was to make herself as "inconspicuous within the group as possible." One man, first seeing Darlington arrive at the Antarctic base, "fled in fright, thinking that he'd gone mad." Both women, upon returning from Antarctica downplayed their own roles, letting "their husbands take most of the honour."
1268_14
In 1948, the British diplomat, Margaret Anstee, was involved in the Falkland Islands Dependency Survey (FIDS) and helped make policy for the program. Further exploration and science Women scientists first began researching Antarctica from ships. The first woman scientist, Maria V. Klenova of the Soviet Union, worked on the ships Ob and Lena just off the Antarctic coastline in 1955 to 1956. Klenova's work helped create the first Antarctic atlas. Women served on Soviet Union ships going to Antarctica after 1963. The first women to visit a US station and the first to fly to Antarctica were Pat Hepinstall and Ruth Kelley, Pan Am flight attendants, who spent four hours on the ground at the McMurdo Station on 15 October 1957.
1268_15
Often women going to Antarctica had to be approved in both official and unofficial ways. An early candidate for becoming one of the first women scientists to go to Antarctica was geologist Dawn Rodley, who had been approved of not only by the expedition sponsor, Colin Bull, but also by the wives of the male team-members. Rodley was set to go in 1958, but the United States Navy, who were in charge of Operation Deep Freeze, refused to take her to Antarctica.
1268_16
The Navy decided that sending a four-woman team would be acceptable, and Bull began to build a team including Lois Jones, Kay Lindsay, Eileen McSaveney and Terry Tickhill. These four women were part of the group who became the first women to visit the South Pole. Jones's team worked mainly in Wright Valley. After their return, Bull found that several of his male friends resented the addition of women and even called him a "traitor".
1268_17
The first United States all-female team was led by Jones in 1969. Her team, which included the first women to set foot on the South Pole, were used by the navy as a publicity stunt, "paraded around" and called "Powderpuff explorers". The first United States woman to step into in the Antarctic interior in 1970 was engineer Irene C Peden, who also faced various barriers to her working on the continent. Peden describes how a "mythology had been created about the women who'd gone to the coast – that they had been a problem," and that since they had not published their work within the year, they were "heavily criticized." Men in the Navy in charge of approving her trip to Antarctica were "dragging their feet", citing that there were not women's bathrooms available and that without another female companion, she would not be allowed to go. The admiral in charge of transportation to Antarctica suggested that Peden was trying to go there for adventure, or to find a husband, rather than for her
1268_18
research. Despite her setbacks, including not receiving critical equipment in Antarctica, Peden's research on the continent was successful.
1268_19
The first U.S. woman to run an Antarctic research station was Mary Alice McWhinnie, who led the McMurdo Station in 1974 and was accompanied by a nun and biologist, Mary Odile Cahoon. United States women in 1978 were still using equipment and arctic clothing designed for men, although "officials said that problem is being quickly remedied." American Ann Peoples became the manager of the Berg Field Center in 1986, becoming the first woman to serve in a "significant leadership role".
1268_20
British women had similar problems to the Americans. The director of the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) from 1959 to 1973 was Vivian Fuchs, who "firmly believed that the inclusion of women would disrupt the harmony and scientific productivity of Antarctic stations." British women scientists started working on curating collections as part of the BAS prior to being allowed to visit Antarctica. Women who applied to the BAS were discouraged. A letter from BAS personnel sent to a woman who applied in the 1960s read, "Women wouldn't like it in Antarctica as there are no shops and no hairdresser." The first BAS woman to go to Antarctica was Janet Thomson in 1983 who described the ban on women as a "rather improper segregation." Women were still effectively barred from using UK bases and logistics in 1987. Women didn't winter-over at the Halley Research Station until 1996, forty years after the British station was established.
1268_21
Argentina sent four women scientists – biologist Irene Bernasconi, bacteriologist Maria Adela Caria, biologist Elena Martinez Fontes and algae expert Carmen Pujals – to Antarctica in 1969. Later, in 1978, Argentina sent a pregnant woman, Silvia Morello de Palma, to the Esperanza Base to give birth and to "use the baby to stake [their] territorial claims" to Antarctica. Once Australia opened up travel to Antarctica to women, Elizabeth Chipman, who first worked as a typist at Casey Station in 1976, chronicled all of the women to travel there up to 1984. Chipman worked to find the names of all women who had ever been to or even near Antarctica and eventually donated 19 folio boxes of her research to the National Library of Australia. Women gain ground
1268_22
The National Science Foundation (NSF) started long-range planning in 1978, looking towards facilities that could accommodate a population made up of 25% women. In the 1979–1980 season, there were only 43 women on the continent. By 1981, there were nearly one woman for every ten men in Antarctica. In 1983, the ratio was back to 20 men for every woman. In the 1980s, Susan Solomon's research in Antarctica on the ozone layer and the "ozone hole" causes her to gain "fame and acclaim." In Spain, Josefina Castellví, helped coordinate and also participated in her country's expedition to Antarctica in 1984. Later, after a Spanish base was constructed in 1988, Castellví was put in charge after the leader, Antoni Ballester had a stroke.
1268_23
The first female station leader on Antarctica was Australian, Diana Patterson, head of Mawson Station in 1989. The first all-female over-wintering group is from Germany and spends the 1990–1991 winter at Georg von Neumayer, with the first German female station leader and medical doctor Monika Puskeppeleit. In 1991 In-Young Ahn is the first female leader of an Asian research station (King Sejong Station), and the first South Korean woman to step onto Antarctica. There were approximately 180 women in Antarctica in the 1990–1991 season. Women from several different countries were regularly members of over-wintering teams by 1992. The first all-women expedition reached the South Pole in 1993. Diana Patterson, the first female station leader on Antarctica, saw a change happening in 1995. She felt that many of the sexist views of the past had given way so that women were judged not by the fact that they were women, but "by how well you did your job."
1268_24
Social scientist, Robin Burns, studied the social structures of Antarctica in the 1995–1996 season. She found that while many earlier women struggled, in 1995, there was more acceptance of women in Antarctica. Also by the mid 1990s, one of the station managers, Ann Peoples, felt that a tipping point had been reached and women on Antarctica became more normalized. There were still men in Antarctica who were not afraid to voice their opinion that women should not "be on the ice," but many others enjoyed having "women as colleagues and friends." Women around this time began to feel like it was "taken for granted now that women go to the Antarctic." Studies done in the early 2000s showed that women's inclusion in Antarctic groups were beneficial overall. In the early 2000s, Robin Burns has found that female scientists who enjoyed their experience in Antarctica were ones who were able to finish their scientific work, to see through the project into completion. Recent history
1268_25
American Lynne Cox swam a mile in Antarctic water in 2003. In 2005, writer Gretchen Legler describes how there were many more women in Antarctica that year and that some were lesbians. International Women's Day in 2012 saw more than fifty women celebrating in Antarctica and who made up 70% of the International Antarctic Expedition. In 2013, when the Netherlands opened their first Antarctic Lab, Corina Brussaard was there to help set it up.
1268_26
Homeward Bound, is a 10-year program designed to encourage women's participation in science that planned to send the first large (78 member) all-women expedition to Antarctica in 2016. The first group consisted of 76 women and arrived in Antarctica for three weeks in December 2016. Fabian Dattner and Jess Melbourne-Thomas founded the project and the Dattner Grant is providing funding, with each participant contributing $15,000 to the project. Homeward bound includes businesswomen and scientists who look at climate change and women's leadership. The plan is to create a network of 1,000 women who will become leaders in the sciences. The first voyage departed South America in December 2016
1268_27
An all-woman team of United Kingdom Army soldiers, called Exercise Ice Maiden, started recruiting members in 2015 to cross the continent under their own power in 2017. It intended to study women's performance in the extreme antarctic summer environment. A team of six women completed the journey in 62 days after starting on 20 November 2017. Currently, women make up 55% of membership in the Association of Polar Early Career Scientists (APECS). In 2016, nearly a third of all researchers at the South Pole were women. The Australian Antarctic Program (AAP) makes a "conscious effort to recruit women." A social media network has recently been created "Women in Polar Science" it aims to connect women working in Arctic and Antarctic science and provides them with a platform to share an exchange knowledge, experiences and opportunities.
1268_28
Sexual harassment and sexism When heavy equipment operator, Julia Uberuaga, first went to Antarctica in the late 70s, early 80s, she recalled that "the men stared at her, or leered at her, or otherwise let her know she was unwelcome on the job." Rita Matthews, who went to Antarctica during the same period as Uberuaga said that the "men were all over the place. There were some that would never stop going after you." In 1983, Marilyn Woody described living at McMurdo station and said, "It makes your head spin, all this attention from all these men." Then she said, "You realize you can put a bag over your head and they'll still fall in love with you."
1268_29
Another scientist, Cynthia McFee, had been completely shut out of the "male camaraderie" at her location and had to deal with loneliness for long periods of time. Martha Kane, the second woman to overwinter at the South Pole, experienced "negative pressure" from men with "some viewing her as an interloper who had insinuated herself into a male domain." In the 1990s, some women experienced stigma in Antarctica. These women were labeled "whores" for interacting with men and those who did not interact with men were called "dykes." In the late 1990s and early 2000s, women felt that Antarctic operations were "not at all sympathetic to the needs of mothers, and there is a deep concern lest a pregnant woman give birth in Antarctica." Sexual harassment is still a problem for women working in Antarctica, with many women scientists fielding unwanted sexual advances over and over again. Women continue to be outnumbered in many careers in Antarctica, including fleet operations and trades.
1268_30
Some organizations, such as the Australian Antarctic Division, have created and adopted policies to combat sexual harassment and discrimination based on gender. The United States Antarctic Program (USAP) encourages women and minorities to apply. Women record-breakers Silvia Morella de Palma was the first woman to give birth in Antarctica, delivering 3.4 kg (7 lb 8 oz) Emilio Palma at the Argentine Esperanza base 7 January 1978. In 1988 American Lisa Densmore became the first woman to reach the summit Mount Vinson. In 1993, American Ann Bancroft led the first all woman expedition to the South Pole. Bancroft, and Norwegian Liv Arnesen, were the first women to ski across Antarctica in 2001. In 2010, the first female chaplain to serve on the continent of Antarctica was Chaplain, Lt Col Laura Adelia of the U.S. Air Force, where she served the people at McMurdo Station.
1268_31
Maria Leijerstam became the first person to cycle to the South Pole from the edge of the continent in 2013; she cycled on a recumbent tricycle. Anja Blacha set the record for the longest solo, unsupported, unassisted polar expedition by a woman in 2020. Honors and awards In 1975, Eleanor Honnywill became the first woman to be awarded the Fuchs Medal from the British Antarctic Survey (BAS). The first woman to receive a Polar Medal was Virginia Fiennes in 1986; she was honored for her work in the Transglobe Expedition. She was also the first woman to "winter in both polar regions." Denise Allen was the first woman awarded the Australian Antarctic Medal, in 1989. See also Arctic exploration European and American voyages of scientific exploration Farthest South First women to fly to Antarctica History of Antarctica List of Antarctic women List of polar explorers Timeline of women in Antarctica Women in science References Citations Sources
1268_32
External links Women in Antarctica Guide to the Papers of Elizabeth Chipman Women in Antarctic science editathons Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research Women in Red Women scientists People of Antarctica
1269_0
Lady for a Day is a 1933 American pre-Code comedy-drama film directed by Frank Capra. The screenplay by Robert Riskin is based on the 1929 short story "Madame La Gimp" by Damon Runyon. It was the first film for which Capra received an Academy Award nomination for Best Director and the first Columbia Pictures release to be nominated for Best Picture. Capra also directed its 1961 remake, Pocketful of Miracles. Plot The story focuses on Apple Annie (May Robson), an aging and wretched fruit seller in New York City, whose daughter Louise (Jean Parker) has been raised in a Spanish convent since she was an infant. Louise has been led to believe her mother is a society matron named Mrs. E. Worthington Manville who lives at the Hotel Marberry. Annie discovers her charade is in danger of being uncovered when she learns Louise is sailing to New York with her fiancé Carlos (Barry Norton) and his father, Count Romero (Walter Connolly).
1269_1
Among Annie's patrons are Dave the Dude (Warren William), a gambling gangster who believes her apples bring him good luck, and his henchman Happy McGuire (Ned Sparks). Annie's friends from the street ask Dave to rent her an apartment at the Marberry and, although he initially declines, he has a change of heart and arranges for her to live in the lap of luxury in a palatial residence belonging to a friend. His girlfriend, nightclub owner Missouri Martin (Glenda Farrell), helps transform Annie from a dowdy street peddler to an elegant dowager. Dave arranges for erudite pool hustler Henry D. Blake (Guy Kibbee) to pose as Annie's second husband, the dignified Judge Manville.
1269_2
At the pier, an elegantly dressed Annie tearfully reunites with Louise. A group of Annie's friends from the streets are watching from a distance. One of the street people says that she can remember when Annie “always looked like that.” (We never know the details of Annie's history, but her upper-crust origins are clear.) When three society reporters become suspicious about Mrs. E. Worthington Manville, of whom they can find no public records, they are kidnapped by members of Dave's gang, and their prolonged disappearance leads the local newspapers to accuse the police department of incompetence.
1269_3
A few days later, Blake – in the role of Judge Manville – announces he is planning a gala reception for Louise, Carlos, and Count Romero before they return to Spain, and he enlists Dave's guys and Missouri's dolls to pose as Annie's society friends. On the night of the reception, the police – certain Dave is responsible for the missing reporters – surround Missouri's club, where the gang has assembled for a final rehearsal. Dave calls Blake to advise him of their predicament, and Annie decides to confess everything to Count Romero. But fate – in the form of a sympathetic mayor and governor and their entourages – unexpectedly steps in and allows Annie to maintain her charade and keep Louise from learning the truth before she sails back to Spain with her husband-to-be. Cast
1269_4
May Robson as Apple Annie Warren William as Dave the Dude Guy Kibbee as Henry D. Blake Glenda Farrell as Missouri Martin Ned Sparks as Happy McGuire Jean Parker as Louise - Annie's daughter Barry Norton as Carlos Walter Connolly as Count Romero Nat Pendleton as Shakespeare Halliwell Hobbes as Rodney Kent's Butler Hobart Bosworth as Governor Robert Emmett O'Connor as Inspector Samuel S. Hinds as Mayor [uncredited] Wallis Clark as Police Commissioner [uncredited]
1269_5
Production
1269_6
Damon Runyon's short story Madame La Gimp was published in the October 1929 issue of Cosmopolitan. Columbia Pictures purchased the screen rights in September 1932, and the studio scheduled the production to begin the following May, although director Frank Capra had misgivings about the project. He reminded studio head Harry Cohn he was "spending three hundred thousand dollars on a picture in which the heroine is seventy years old," to which Cohn responded, "All I know is the thing's got a wallop. Go ahead." Robert Riskin was assigned to develop the story for the screen and wrote four drafts, submitting the last on May 6, 1933, three days before principal photography began. Aside from some minor revisions made during production, this final script was filmed intact. Riskin's version deviated from the original Runyon story primarily in that it linked its central character and a number of plot developments to the millions of Americans who were suffering as a result of the Great
1269_7
Depression. Runyon was pleased with the changes and later said, "Lady for a Day was no more my picture than Little Miss Marker, which, like the former picture, was almost entirely the result of the genius of the scenario writers and the director who worked on it."
1269_8
Riskin had written his screenplay specifically for Robert Montgomery, but MGM refused to loan him to Columbia. He was among several performers Capra wanted but failed to secure for roles in the film. With Montgomery unavailable, Capra approached James Cagney and William Powell, but neither of their respective studios was willing to allow them to work on the project. Capra's first choices for Apple Annie and Henry D. Blake, Marie Dressler and W.C. Fields, could not be cast for the same reason. The director finally cast his film with an assortment of character actors under contract to Columbia. He also went to the Downtown Los Angeles neighborhood where he had sold newspapers as a boy and hired some of the street people who congregated there as extras who would add color to the film. One week before filming began, Capra offered the role of Apple Annie to 75-year-old May Robson, most of whose career had been spent performing on stage. In later years, Capra thought the fact she and most
1269_9
of the supporting players were unfamiliar to movie audiences helped the public accept them as the down-on-their-luck characters they were meant to be.
1269_10
Just prior to the first preview in Hollywood in early July 1933, the film's title was changed from Madame La Gimp to Beggars' Holiday, then changed again before the film premiered at Radio City Music Hall on September 7. It went into general release on September 13 and within a very short time earned $600,000, twice its budget and a substantial sum for the period. According to the contract he had negotiated prior to making the film, Capra received 10% of the net profits. The film's success prompted the making of the 1934 film Lady by Choice, directed by David Burton and starring Carole Lombard. The only thing the two films have in common is Robson playing an alcoholic panhandler who has seen better days.
1269_11
In the early 1950s, the original negative was lost while being transferred from one film lab to another for preservation work. For a period of time the only existing copy was a 35mm print owned by Capra, until he made a duplicate negative from it and donated a newly minted print to the Library of Congress. Columbia later sold the rights to the story to United Artists for $200,000, and Capra remade the film as Pocketful of Miracles with Bette Davis and Glenn Ford in 1961. The director claimed to prefer the remake to the original, although most critics and, in later years film historians and movie buffs, disagreed with his assessment. The "Apple Annie" story transformed into Capra's Lady For A Day (and Pocketful of Miracles) has long been considered a natural source for a stage musical and a number of prominent writers, including Jerry Herman, David Shire and Richard Maltby Jr; the team of John Kander and Fred Ebb have all worked on unfinished and unrealized adaptations.
1269_12
Critical reception Mordaunt Hall of The New York Times called it "a merry tale with touches of sentiment, a picture which evoked laughter and tears from an audience at the first showing." He added, "Its plausibility may be open to argument, but its entertainment value is not to be denied. It has aspects of Barrie's The Old Lady Shows Her Medals and also more than a mere suggestion of Shaw's Pygmalion, set forth, as might be anticipated, in a more popular vein." Variety said the film "asks the spectator to believe in the improbable. It's Hans Christian Andersen stuff written by a hard-boiled journalist and transferred to the screen by trick-wise Hollywoodites. While not stinting a full measure of credit to director Frank Capra, it seems as if the spotlight of recognition ought to play rather strongly on scriptwriter Robert Riskin." Channel 4 calls it "wonderfully improbable and charming" and, although "not a bona fide Capra classic," it is "cracking fun all the same."
1269_13
Awards and nominations Lady for a Day was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture but lost to Cavalcade. May Robson was nominated Best Actress but lost to Katharine Hepburn in Morning Glory, and Robert Riskin lost the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay to Sarah Y. Mason and Victor Heerman for Little Women. Will Rogers presented the Academy Award for Best Director, and when he opened the envelope he simply announced, "Come up and get it, Frank!" Capra, certain he was the winner, ran to the podium to collect his Oscar, only to discover Rogers had meant Frank Lloyd, who won for Cavalcade, instead. Possibly to downplay Capra's gaffe, Rogers then called third nominee George Cukor to join the two Franks on stage.
1269_14
Home media Image Entertainment released the film on Region 1 DVD on October 23, 2001, and on Blu-ray on March 20, 2012. Both editions include commentary by Frank Capra Jr., as well as his brief introduction to the 2001 restoration work. The Blu-ray edition additionally incorporates about four and a half minutes of lost footage, including a key scene where Dave, Blake and McGuire are planning the reception. References External links Lady for a Day on Lux Radio Theater: May 1, 1939 1933 films 1933 comedy-drama films American films American comedy-drama films American black-and-white films Columbia Pictures films English-language films Films based on short fiction Films directed by Frank Capra Films set in New York City Films with screenplays by Robert Riskin
1270_0
The Island of Stroma or Stroma, is an island off the northern coast of the mainland of Scotland. It is the most southerly of the islands in the Pentland Firth between the Orkney islands and the traditional county of Caithness and therein the civil parish of Canisbay, the northeasternmost part of the mainland. Stroma is part of the county of Caithness. The name is from the Old Norse Straumr-øy meaning "island in the [tidal] stream". Ancient stone structures testify to the presence of Stroma's earliest residents, while a Norse presence around 900–1,000 years ago is recorded in the Orkneyinga Saga. It has been politically united with Caithness since at least the 15th century. Although Stroma lies only a few miles off the Scottish coast, the savage weather and ferociously strong tides of the Pentland Firth meant that the island's inhabitants were very isolated, causing them to be largely self-sufficient, trading agricultural produce and fish with the mainlanders.
1270_1
Most of the islanders were fishermen and crofters; some also worked as maritime pilots to guide vessels through the treacherous waters of the Pentland Firth. The tides and currents meant that shipwrecks were frequent—the most recent occurring in 1993—and salvage provided an additional though often illegal supplement to the islanders' incomes. A lighthouse was built on Stroma in 1890 and still operates under automation.
1270_2
Stroma is now abandoned, with the houses of its former inhabitants unoccupied and falling into ruin. Its population fell gradually through the first half of the 20th century as inhabitants drifted away to seek opportunities elsewhere, as economic problems and Stroma's isolation made life on the island increasingly unsupportable. From an all-time peak of 375 people in 1901, the population fell to just 12 by 1961 and the last islanders left at the end of the following year. Stroma's final abandonment came in 1997 when the lighthouse keepers and their families departed. The island is now owned by one of its former inhabitants, who uses it to graze sheep. Geography, geology, flora and fauna
1270_3
Stroma is located in the Pentland Firth about northwest of John o' Groats on the mainland. The island divides the firth into two channels, the Inner Sound to the south and the Outer Sound to the north. It is mostly low-lying and flat, covering an area of around and rising to a height of at Cairn Hill in the southeast. It is oriented in a north-south direction, measuring about long by wide.
1270_4
The island is ringed by cliffs that vary in height from around on the west coast to low cliffs with a narrow rocky foreshore elsewhere. The eastern side of the island slopes downward in an easterly or southeasterly direction, with the angle of the slope increasing from around 3 degrees in the centre of the island to about 30 degrees on the east coast. The bedrock of the island consists of flat layers of weathered Middle Old Red Sandstone, known as Rousay flags. A six-foot band of the fine-grained stone used to be quarried on a small scale for use on the mainland as roofing material. It is similar in composition to the Mey Beds on the mainland, though in some places on Stroma it is replaced by beds of angular and rounded masses of sandstone in a nodular matrix, similar to the Ackergill Beds in Caithness. Only fragmentary fossil remains have been found; these include specimens of the extinct Devonian fish Dipterus and Coccosteus.
1270_5
Stroma is bisected by a fault which runs in a north-south direction through its centre, intersected by another fault running in an east-northeast direction across the north of the island. The soil on either side of the fault line is significantly different; the eastern and southern parts of Stroma are covered by fertile clay fed by bedrock minerals, while less fertile boggy ground predominates on the west side.
1270_6
The heavily indented coastline has a circumference of about , punctuated by numerous geos or inlets created by the waves eroding the sea cliffs along fault lines. A partially collapsed sea cave called The Gloup is located in the northwest of the island. This feature is a deep rocky pit, filled with sea water. It is located at the junction of the two fault lines and is connected to the sea by a subterranean passage long, created by erosion along the east-northeast fault. The passage is said to have been used for smuggling; the islanders reportedly concealed illegal distilling from HM Customs and Excise by hiding the stills and alcohol in a cave within The Gloup, called "the Malt Barn", which was only accessible at low tide.
1270_7
The flora and fauna of Stroma are similar to those of the mainland. The island is treeless; its vegetation consists primarily of grasses, heather and small flowers. Seals are plentiful along its shores and are sometimes found inland during the breeding season. Both grey seals and harbour seals are present, with around 650 grey seal pups being born each year. Otters may also be present, as in other parts of mainland Caithness. The western cliffs are the site of colonies of terns, guillemots, fulmars and eider ducks. The cliffs are designated as a Site of Special Scientific Interest within the North Caithness Cliffs Special Protection Area. The waters off Stroma support a number of cetacean species including minke whale, white-beaked dolphin and harbour porpoise.
1270_8
Demographics Two settlements existed on Stroma: Nethertown, in the north of the island, and Uppertown or Overtown, in the south. They originally belonged to the Freswick estate, which owned Nethertown, and the Mey estate, which owned Uppertown. Between the two was Mains of Stroma, the island's principal farm. A track runs the entire length of the island, connecting the lighthouse at the north tip with the two settlements and the harbour on the south coast. The island is now uninhabited; the last resident islanders left in 1962 and the very last inhabitants, the keepers of the island lighthouse and their families, left in 1997 when the lighthouse was automated. The population reached a peak of 375 in 1901 but censuses conducted between 1841 and 1961 tell the story of the collapse of Stroma's population during the 20th century: History
1270_9
Prehistoric settlement and remains Stroma was inhabited in prehistoric times, as demonstrated by the presence of a number of ancient stone structures around the island. A ruined chambered cairn is situated at the far north end of the island near the lighthouse. It has been partially excavated and measures some in diameter by high. The 18th century inhabitants of the island collected the prehistoric stone arrowheads that they found on the western side of the island, believing them to be "elf-shot", and regarded them as having been made by fairies. They believed that if they possessed an "elf-shot" they would be granted protection for themselves and their cattle from any harm caused by the fairies.
1270_10
Structures similar to cists, which the islanders called "Picts' Beds", are also found on the island. Notable examples can be seen in the north near Nethertown. They are usually located near middens, out of which animal bones and shells are eroding. Little appears to be known about the purpose and origins of these structures. Although the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland attributes them to prehistory, it is also possible that they are Norse in origin. A kidney-shaped burnt mound located near Castle Geo in the south-east of Stroma can be more confidently ascribed to prehistory. It consists of an accumulation of cracked and scorched stones that were used to heat water in a communal cooking trough. Although the example on Stroma has not been dated, burnt mounds found elsewhere on Orkney and Shetland have been dated to the Bronze Age and the early Iron Age.
1270_11
The remains of an earth-and-stone fort are situated on the promontory of Bught o' Camm on the west coast of Stroma, near the north end of the island, though its origins are unknown. A rampart standing with an average spread of encloses an area of some and blocks off access to the promontory. There is no evidence of structures inside the fort's perimeter. It may possibly have been entered from the east end of the rampart, where a gap exists, but this may alternatively have been produced by natural processes. Medieval period
1270_12
The first historical record of the island is found in the 12th century Orkneyinga Saga. It records that a man named Valthiof, the son of Olaf Rolfson, lived and farmed on Stroma. One Yule Eve, he set off in a ten-oar boat to Orphir on Mainland, Orkney at the invitation of the Earl of Orkney, Paul Haakonsson. However, the boat was lost with all hands, as the Saga puts it: "sad news as Valthiof was a most accomplished man". The Earl later granted Valthiof's farm to Thorkel Flettir. Later, a rowdy Viking named Sweyn Asleifsson fled to Stroma, pursued by Earl Harald Haakonsson. The two men were trapped on the island due to bad weather but were persuaded to make peace by a mutual friend named Asmundi, who insisted that Sweyn and Harald should share the same bed.
1270_13
The Norse are also believed to have built a fortification, now called Castle Mestag, at Mell Head in the far south-west of Stroma. The structure (also known as "the Robber's Castle") is situated on the top of an isolated rock stack some from the cliffs of the main island. The islanders believed that it had once been connected by a drawbridge or some other kind of artificial span, or alternatively it may once have been accessible via a rock arch that has since collapsed. Due to its proximity to the Scottish mainland, Stroma has long been politically united with Caithness. An old story tells that possession of the island was once disputed between the Earls of Orkney and Caithness. To resolve the dispute, they relied on a legend that venomous animals would thrive in Caithness but die in Orkney. Some venomous snakes were duly imported to Stroma and survived there, "proving" that the island did belong to Caithness and not Orkney.
1270_14
It is more reliably recorded that in 1455 the Bishop of Caithness, William Mudy, granted Stroma and other lands and castles to his brother Gilbert. It eventually passed into the hands of the Sinclair family, who have held the title of Earl of Caithness since 1455. In 1659 George Sinclair, the 6th Earl of Caithness, granted the wadset of Stroma to John Kennedy of Kermuck, who had fled to the far north after being outlawed following the fatal wounding of John Forbes of Watertown. 115 years later, the Rev. George Low recorded in his account of a tour of the island that he had seen "the remains of a pretty large house and gardens, once possessed by a gentleman, the proprietor of the island, who being forced to fly his native home on account of a duel, chose this for his retreat". The gardens were said to have been furnished with "plants that cured every disease". Nothing is now left of the house, but the gardens may have been located within a walled enclosure near the Nethertown pier.
1270_15
Life on Stroma: 17th and 18th centuries
1270_16
Life on the island was very isolated due to its inaccessibility. Until as late as 1894 it had no landing place, which meant that boats had to be landed directly on the beach and pulled up above the waterline. Particularly in winter, when storms raged through the Pentland Firth, Stroma could be cut off for weeks at a time. Such episodes posed serious risks to the islanders, as they had no doctor. The winter of 1937 illustrated the problems that the weather could pose; during January and February that year, the island was cut off for three weeks by violent gales which demolished houses along the seafront and washed boats 100 yards (90 m) inland. Stroma's isolation came at an especially bad time, as most of the population had caught influenza and supplies of food dwindled to the point that some items had to be rationed. Eventually two boats were able to reach the island, carrying supplies and a doctor from Caithness, along with three weeks' worth of mail.
1270_17
Two chapels were established on Stroma at some point prior to the 17th century; they were known as the Kirk of Stara (from the Norse name for "big church") and the Kirk of Old Skoil (from Skali, possibly a name given to a farm). Their locations are now unknown, but the Kirk of Old Skoil may have been located in the far south-east of Stroma where the island's graveyard is now. They both fell into disuse by the mid-17th century and, lacking a church of their own, it was perhaps not surprising that the islanders were felt by mainlanders to be somewhat lacking in religious commitment. An inquiry by the Canisbay Kirk in the 17th century rebuked them for visiting "Popish" chapels on the mainland, profaning the Lord's Day, being "ale sellers and drinkers" and playing football and dancing on the Sabbath. The Presbytery decided that the inhabitants were spiritually neglected "by reason of the dangerous passage to that place, especially in winter." The minister of Canisbay was supposed to
1270_18
preach four times a year on Stroma but was reprimanded for only doing so twice yearly. The islanders were instructed to attend church at Canisbay and a kirk session ordained in 1654 that they should be given free passage and that any Stroma person with a boat who stayed away should be fined.