A FAMOUS SHIP

Dominion, Volume 24, Issue 182, 1 May 1931, Page 10

A FAMOUS SHIP

Discovery Arrives To-day THIRTY YEARS’ CAREER Antarctic Associations An interesting visitor to the port of Wellington to-day will, be the famous ship Discovery, whose name will always be linked with that of her first commander; the late Captain Robert Falco® Scott, R.N. The ship is expected to arrive from Melbourne about 3 o’clock this afternoon, and, fittingly enough, since she flew the White Ensign on her first voyage, she will berth at Clyde Quay in company with H.M. ships Diomede, Laburnum, and Veronica. It is now some 30 years since the late Captain Scott, commanding the National Antarctic Expedition, organised under the auspices of the Royal Geographical Society and the Royal Society for the Advancement of Scientific Knowledge, set out from Lyttelton in the Discovery on his first great voyage of exploration in the Antarctic. The Discovery was frozen in at her winter quarters in MacMurdo Sound on the south-west side of Ross Island, where she remained until released from the ice by the Admiralty'relief ship Terra Nova, which had gone south with the expedition’s ship Moring. The expedition returned to Lyttelton on Good Friday, April 1, 1904. Sixth of Her Name. The Discovery was the first ship ever built iu Britain purely for scientific - exploration. The art of building sizeable wooden ships had been almost lost to the United Kingdom when, in October, 1899, tenders for the new ship were invited. There were few replies, and ouly one from a firm which had recent experience of such a task. This was the Dundee Shipbuilding Company, the owners of a small yard on the Tay which had been better known in the flourishing days of the old whalers as Stevens’s Yard. Au order was given to this company to build the sFTp, and she was launched in 1901.

She is the sixth ship to bear the name Discovery. The first made six Arctic voyages from 1602 to 1616, to the regions of Hudson’s Bay and Baffin Bay. The second also voyaged there in 1719. The third took part in Captain Cook’s third voyage in 1776. Discovery No. 4 was Vancouver’s ship when he discovered the insularity of the land which is named after him; and the fifth of the name took part in the 1875 expeditio nto the Arctie A Stout Ship. The principal dimensions of the present Discovery are: Gross tonnage, 751 tons; net, 421 tons; length (b.p.), 179 feet; breadth, 33J feet; depth, 184 feet. She is rigged as a barquentine and is fitted with auxiliary steam power with two boilers aud a set of triple-expansion engines of 450 indicated horse-power,. built by Gourlay Bros., of Dundee (builders of the well-known Huddart-Parker steamer Ulimaroa). The Discovery was fitted with a well aft, into which the propeller could be lifted when not required for steaming and to prevent damage by ice. The hull of the Discover}’ is immensely strong. Her frames, closely spaced, are 11 inches thick and of solid English oak. Inside the frames is a lining of solid planking, four inches thick, and outside are two layers of planking of English elm or greenheart, respectively, five and six inches thick. The hull is stiffened and strengthened by three tiers of transverse beams, those in the lower tiers being 11 inches square in section and spaced at intervals of three, feet. The bow of the ship is practically a solid mass of oak, some of the strengthening bolts being 8J feet long. Almost equally strong is the stern of the Discovery. The rudder-post is an enormous piece of timber, 1 and the stern is very ' fully rounded out, with a big overhang. Probably there is’ no stouter ship afloat to-day. Although she is now over 30 years old the Discovery is splendidly preserved, and in most respects is as good as new. much money having been spent on her during the last fire or six years. A Hudson’s Bay Trader. After her return to England in 1904 the Discovery was purchased by the Hudson’s Bay Company, who employed her in the trade between England and Hudson’s Bay, making an annual voyage out with stores for the trading posts and ' homeward with valuable cargoes of furs. When the Great. War; started the Discovery, with others of the company's ships, was employed in carrying munitions of war to Archangel. The Discovery had made a voyage to the White Sea late in 1915, carrying munitions for Russia, and returning with alcohol for the manufacture of explosives. About that time a relief expedition ap- t peared to be necessary to succour the members of Sir Ernest Shackleton’s Antarctic Expedition, who were marooned on Elephant Island after the loss of the Endurance. (The British Government asked for the loan pf the Discovery, which was a particularly suitable vessel, and which, after being fitted out in"the dockyard at Devonport, sailed for Montevideo. There it was learned that the explorers had been rescued, so the Discovery was ’ employed to carry a cargo of grain to France, where, with several .other vessels, she took part in the extensive coasting service which had been '• organised by the company for transporting grain from incoming steamers to the smaller ports of France. Whale Fisheries Research.

After the war the Discovery resumed trading to Hudson’s Bay, but in Marcfi, 1923, she was purchased by the Crown Agent for the Colonies, on behalf of the Government of the Falkland Islands, and fitted out at great cost for an expedition organised to carry on research into the habits of whales in the far South Atlantic and the Antarctic Ocean. The Colonial Office, the Admiralty, the Ministry of Fisheries, the British Museum and the Royal Geographical Society were represented on the executive committee The Discovery made a lengthy cruise during 1924-25. much useful oceanographical work lieing done and valuable information regarding the whalo fisheries being collected. The Mawson Expedition. In 1929 th? Discovery was chartered by Sir Douglas Mawson, and after leaving Cape Town made an extensive cruise across the Southern Ocean, and in that part of the Antarctic Ocean to the southward of Australia, where she carried out much oceanographical and other re search work. Leaving Australia again last November, the Discovery made a second Antarctic voyage under Sir Douglas Mawson. Beginning at the 180th meridian and ranging west to the 6th degree of east longitude, the Discovery’s cruise extended through one-third of the circuit of the Antarctic regions, resulting in the collection of sufficient _ additional data to establish the continuity of the Antarctic continental coastline from Cape Adare to Enderby Laud. After coaling and taking in other supplies at Wellington the Discovery will sail for the Falkland Islands aud England via Cape Horn.

The English Speaking Union will tender a reception and dance to a party from the Discovery in the Dominion Farmers’ Institute to-morrow evening. Also present will be Mr. H. J. Ferran. of Wellington, who was on the Discovery during Scott's 1901 expedition.