Gino Watkins

Who was Gino Watkins?

Henry George "Gino" Watkins FRGS was a British Arctic explorer.

Born in London, he was educated at Lancing College and acquired a love of mountaineering and the outdoors from his father through holidays in the Alps, the Tyrol and the English Lake District. He became interested in polar exploration while studying at the University of Cambridge under the tutelage of James Wordie and organised his first expedition, to Edgeøya, in the summer of 1927.

Watkins also learnt to fly, as one of the first members of the Cambridge University Air Squadron.

In 1928-9, Watkins made an expedition to Labrador, where he established a base at North West River and explored much previously unmapped territory, including Snegamook Lake. However, his most important expedition was the British Arctic Air Route Expedition of 1930–31. Watkins led a team of fourteen men to survey the east coast of Greenland and monitor weather conditions there, the information being needed for a planned air route from England to Winnipeg. In addition to meeting these aims, the expedition discovered the Skaergaard intrusion, and Watkins and two companions made a 600 mile open boat journey around the south coast of Greenland.