Note: Elizabeth Angela Marguerite Bowes-Lyon (04 August 1900 – 30 March 2002) was the wife of King George VI and the mother of Queen Elizabeth II. She was queen consort of the United Kingdom from her husband's accession in 1936 until his death in 1952, after which she was known as Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother, to avoid confusion with her daughter.

Note: In April 1916, Ernest Shackleton's Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition became stranded on Elephant Island, some 800 miles (1,300 km) southwest of South Georgia. Shackleton and five companions set out in a small boat to summon help, and on 10 May, after an epic voyage, they landed at King Haakon Bay on South Georgia's south coast. While three stayed at the coast, Shackleton and the two others, Tom Crean and Frank Worsley, went on to cover 22 miles (35 km) overland to reach help at Stromness whaling station. The remaining 22 members of the expedition, who had stayed on Elephant Island, were subsequently rescued. In January 1922, during a later expedition, Shackleton died on board ship while moored in King Edward Cove, South Georgia. He is buried at Grytviken.

KM#09 2 Pounds. Year: 2001. Weight: 28.35g. Metal: Copper-Nickel. Edge: Reeded. Diameter: 38.60 mm. Alignment: Medal. Mint: Pobjoy Mint. Obverse: Queen Elizabeth II's portrait facing right in the center and "SOUTH GEORGIA & SOUTH SANDWICH ISLANDS 2001" around her. Reverse: "SIR JOSEPH BANKS" written on the top. Ship and Sir Joseph Banks face within circle in the center. Value "TWO POUNDS" at the bottom. Mintage: N/A. Minted Years: One year type.

Note: Sir Joseph Banks, 1st Baronet, GCB, PRS (24 February [O.S. 13 February] 1743 – 19 June 1820) was an English naturalist, botanist and patron of the natural sciences. Banks is credited with the introduction to the Western world of eucalyptus, acacia, mimosa and the genus named after him, Banksia. Approximately 80 species of plants bear Banks's name. Banks was also the leading founder of the African Association, a British organization dedicated to the exploration of Africa, and a member of the Society of Dilettanti, which helped to establish the Royal Academy. Banks was promptly appointed to a joint Royal Navy/Royal Society scientific expedition to the south Pacific Ocean on HM Bark Endeavour, 1768–1771. He took part in Captain James Cook's first great voyage (1768–1771). This was the first of James Cook's voyages of discovery in that region. This voyage went to Brazil, where Banks made the first scientific description of a now common garden plant, bougainvillea (named after Cook's French counterpart, Louis Antoine de Bougainville), and to other parts of South America. The voyage then progressed to Tahiti (where the transit of Venus was observed, the overt purpose of the mission), to New Zealand and to the east coast of Australia, where Cook mapped the coastline and made landfall at Botany Bay and at Endeavour River (near modern Cooktown) in Queensland, where they spent almost seven weeks ashore while the ship was repaired after becoming holed on the Great Barrier Reef. While they were in Australia Banks, the Swedish botanist Daniel Solander and the Finnish botanist Dr. Herman Spöring Jr. made the first major collection of Australian flora, describing many species new to science. Almost 800 specimens were illustrated by the artist Sydney Parkinson and appear in Banks' Florilegium, finally published in 35 volumes between 1980 and 1990. Banks arrived back in England on 12 July 1771 and immediately became famous. He intended to go with Cook on his second voyage, which began on 13 May 1772, but difficulties arose about Bank`s scientific requirements on board Cook`s new ship the Resolution.

Note: Lord Sandwich was a great supporter of Captain James Cook. As First Lord of the Admiralty, Sandwich approved Admiralty funds for the purchase and fit-out of the Resolution, Adventure and Discovery for Cook’s second and third expeditions of exploration in the Pacific Ocean. In honour of Sandwich, Captain Cook named the Sandwich Islands (now Hawaii) after him, as well as Montague Island off the south east coast of Australia, the South Sandwich Islands in the Southern Atlantic Ocean and Montague Island in the Gulf of Alaska.

Note: At 30 metres (98 feet) in length and weighing 180 metric tons, the Blue Whales were plentiful in nearly all the oceans in the world until the beginning of the 20th Century. For over a century they were almost hunted to extinction by whalers until they were protected worldwide by the International Whaling Commission and no hunting currently occurs. Due to its large size, several organs of this amazing mammal are the largest in the animal kingdom. A blue whale’s tongue weighs approximately 2.7 metric tons and when fully expanded, its mouth is large enough to hold up to 90 metric tons of food and water although it cannot swallow anything larger than a beach ball. The largest blue whale ever measured was female and was found near Grytviken in South Georgia in 1909. She was 33.85 metres (111 feet) long. This stunning new coin from South Georgia & South Sandwich Islands is being issued as an amazing Blue Titanium coin in honour of this wondrous animal. The coin is also being produced in Cupro Nickel and Proof Sterling Silver. The obverse of the coin carries a fine effigy of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II by Ian Rank-Broadley FRBS with the obverse struck in reverse proof (with the effigy in Proof and the background frosted) to really show the colour of the blue Titanium.

Note: Sir Ernest Shackleton departed South Georgia on December 05, 1914 aboard the ship Endurance in an attempt to be the first to traverse Antarctica. The expedition, formally known as The Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition, quickly turned into an epic feat of endurance. The ship soon became trapped in pack ice, was crushed and sunk. After camping on the ice, the 28 man crew took lifeboats to inhospitable and uninhabited Elephant Island. From there Shackelton and five companions took a lifeboat some 800 miles (1300km.) across open sea to reach South Georgia. They then had to cross the rugged terrain on foot to get to civilization on the other side of the island arriving in May 1916. It took four attempts for Shackelton to rescue the crew members stranded in Elephant Island, but he finally reached them in August 1916. Remarkably the entire expedition returned from the long ordeal without a loss of life.