In 1903 Dr
William S. Bruce's
Scottish National Antarctic Expedition established
Omond House, a meteorological station on Laurie Island. During the expedition, however, the crew became stuck in the ice and, unable to sail off, were trapped in the station for the winter. Bruce left the station in December of that year for
Buenos Aires to fix the ship and obtain supplies, leaving meteorologist
Robert C. Mossman in charge of the base to continue the observations. Bruce offered to the Government of President
Julio Argentino Roca the transfer of the station and instruments for the sum of 5.000
pesos, on the condition that the government committed itself to the continuation of the scientific mission. He also offered to transport in his ship the appointed personnel back to the station. Bruce had informed the British officer William Haggard of his intentions in December 1903. On 29 December, Haggard sent a note to the Argentine Foreign Minister, José Terry, ratifying the terms of Bruce's proposition. The
Scotia sailed back for Laurie Island on 14 January 1904 carrying on board Luciano H. Valette, from the Office of Zoology of the Ministry of Agriculture, Edgard C. Szmula, employee of the National Meteorological Office, and Hugo Acuña, from the Ministry of Livestock, who was also designated Postal Chief of the Orkney Islands by the Director General of the National Postal and Telegraphs Office, Manuel García Fernández. Mossman was left in charge of the expedition, along with William Smith as cook. In 1906, Argentina communicated to the international community the establishment of a permanent base on the South Orkney Islands. On August 26, Haggard sent a letter to Foreign Minister Manuel Montes de Oca reminding him that South Orkneys Islands were British. The British position was that Argentine personnel was granted permission only for the period of one year. Argentine government ignored the note, "considering it out of time". On March 30, 1927, naval
non-commissioned officer Emilio Baldoni established the first
radio telegraph link with Ushuaia. Up to that point, the Orcadas Base had remained isolated from the rest of the world until the yearly relief arrived. The radio station (coded LRT in Argentina) allowed for a permanent communication link. The station depended on the Ministry of Agriculture until
Argentine Navy relieved the crew with navy personnel on March 3, 1951. Formal transfer occurred on December 23, 1952, when by presidential decree the base was put under the Service of Maritime Hydrography as
Destacamento Naval Orcadas ("Orcadas naval Detachment"). == Climate==