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Discovery at Dundee today
After a long and adventurous life, Discovery was offered a new home in 1985 by the Dundee Heritage Trust at Discovery Point where the ship remains as the centrepiece of an educational centre.
Captain Scott, convinced that only a wooden vessel would be both sufficiently strong and elastic to survive the constant battering of the pack ice, decided that he would need a specially-built ship.
The expedition organisers accepted a tender from a traditional Dundee shipyard to construct a vessel from frames of solid wood, eleven inches thick, lined inside by solid four-inch planking and outside by one six-inch and a second five-inch layer of planking. Discovery was the last traditional wooden three-masted ship to be built in Britain
Captain Scott, convinced that only a wooden vessel would be both sufficiently strong and elastic to survive the constant battering of the pack ice, decided that he would need a specially-built ship.
The expedition organisers accepted a tender from a traditional Dundee shipyard to construct a vessel from frames of solid wood, eleven inches thick, lined inside by solid four-inch planking and outside by one six-inch and a second five-inch layer of planking. Discovery was the last traditional wooden three-masted ship to be built in Britain
As a result, the expedition set sail in a vessel with sides which were 26 inches of solid wood (compared to the half-inch steel plates then used in the new ships William was used to working in) and a bow and stern which were even stronger and designed to rise and fall in such a way that the ice was cracked by the weight of the ship.
The Discovery was also sufficiently strong to over-winter locked in the Antarctic ice should this become necessary. There was electricity available by courtesy of a dynamo that ran off the main steam engine. An innovation for over-wintering was a windmill to replace the steam-driven dynamo once the main engine had been shut down for the winter. William had a key role in constructing this on their arrival in the Antarctic.
The Discovery was also sufficiently strong to over-winter locked in the Antarctic ice should this become necessary. There was electricity available by courtesy of a dynamo that ran off the main steam engine. An innovation for over-wintering was a windmill to replace the steam-driven dynamo once the main engine had been shut down for the winter. William had a key role in constructing this on their arrival in the Antarctic.
Forty-four men sailed on the final leg of Discovery’s journey to the Antarctic. William, at the age of 34, was one of the older members of what was a young and relatively inexperienced crew, their average age being only 25. William shared his work with five other stokers: William Hubert and William Page who returned after the first winter, Frank Plumley (who joined at Cape Town), Arthur Lester Quartley and Thomas Whitfield.
The crew’s quarters were above the provision rooms and holds, which even in the coldest weather maintained some warmth. A stove which, according to William, frequently smoked, provided the only source of heat. Officers and men generally ate the same food but separately and at different times.
The crew’s quarters were above the provision rooms and holds, which even in the coldest weather maintained some warmth. A stove which, according to William, frequently smoked, provided the only source of heat. Officers and men generally ate the same food but separately and at different times.
'The Discovery' from the Godfrey Phillips Ships that have Made History collectors cards.
A romanticised image of “The Antarctic ship Discovery pressing southbound towards the Pole” drawn for The Boys Own Paper in 1902 by Charles J. de Lacy.
The Return of the Discovery: Welcome at Portsmouth. (The Graphic, September 7th 1904).
The Discovery was eventually sold to the Hudson Bay Company and later used on missions during World War 1. In 1923 the Crown Agents for the Colonies purchased her for further research work in the Antarctic and re-registered her to Port Stanley in the Falkland Islands. In 1937 the Discovery was presented to the Boy Scouts' Association and for many years was usedfor training recruits and Sea Scouts until 1979 when she was handed over to the Maritime Trust for restoration work and then to the Dundee Heritage Trust.
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