page_title: RRS Discovery
section_title: British National Antarctic Expedition
hierarchical_section_title: RRS Discovery / History / British National Antarctic Expedition
caption_attribution_description: English: Ship Discovery, and the two relief ships, Morning and Terra Nova, in Antarctica during the British National Antarctic Expedition (a.k.a. Discovery-Expedition)
context_page_description: RRS Discovery is a barque-rigged auxiliary steamship built for Antarctic research, and launched in 1901. She was the last traditional wooden three-masted ship to be built in the United Kingdom. Her first mission was the British National Antarctic Expedition, carrying Robert Falcon Scott and Ernest Shackleton on their first, and highly successful, journey to the Antarctic, known as the Discovery Expedition.
  After service as a merchant ship before and during the First World War, Discovery was taken into the service of the British government in 1923 to carry out scientific research in the Southern Ocean, becoming the first Royal Research Ship. The ship undertook a two-year expedition – the Discovery Investigations – recording valuable information on the oceans, marine life and being the first scientific investigation into whale populations. From 1929 to 1931 Discovery served as the base for the British Australian and New Zealand Antarctic Research Expedition under Douglas Mawson, a major scientific and territorial quest in what is now the Australian Antarctic Territory.
context_section_description: The British National Antarctic Expedition departed the UK less than five months after the Discovery was launched and only a week after the ship left Dundee. With limited time between the ship's launch and her departure for Antarctica there was limited time for sea trials. Her speed under steam was tested and proved better than expected – her averaged maximum speed during trials was 9 knots instead of the planned 8 knots. Without a full crew available and short of time neither her builders nor Scott were able to test her performance or handling under sail. 
  Much of her equipment was also untested, so the long voyage to New Zealand, made via Madeira and Cape Town, would also be the new vessel's shakedown cruise. Before reaching London from Dundee a leak was found from her stern around the rudder post. There was no time to dry dock the ship for a full repair, with Skelton having to make do with applying extra caulking.
  The ship was berthed in London loading supplies and equipment until July 1901, when she sailed to Cowes on the Isle of Wight where she anchored during August. In this time she served as the yacht of the RGS during Cowes Week and was toured by several dignitaries, culminating in a visit by King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra on 5 August. The expedition left from Cowes the next day, 6 August 1901.
  Scott's first impression of the ship was poor, considering her slow and unresponsive while the shallow hull, built with no protuberances to work well in ice, provided minimal stability. Discovery rolled heavily once in the open sea (she was recorded rolling through 94 degrees – 47 degrees either side of vertical- in the Southern Ocean) and tended to 'gripe' (wander to and fro along her course). Shackleton described the ship as a bad sailer, carrying too much sail aft and not enough forward while Scott also worried that the design of the ship's hull was unsuitable for work in pack ice. 
  But once the expedition reached the Roaring Forties the ship proved to have excellent seakeeping and, because she was heavy and carried relatively little sail area for her size, she could make good progress in high winds and heavy seas without having to reef. The Discovery's unusual rounded, overhanging stern (one of the main changes from the original Bloodhound design) not only provided more protection for the rudder but also prevented all but the largest following seas breaking over the back of the ship and kept the decks dry, although the stern was prone to 'slamming' into waves, making the officers' accommodation and wardroom noisy.
  The expedition travelled to New Zealand via Madeira and Cape Town for resupplying. The ship was put in dry dock for the first time at Lyttelton and the carpenter, Frederick Dailey, prepared a lengthy report detailing the numerous empty bolt holes and slack hull fittings he found. Six feet (1.8 metres) depth of water had seeped into the ship's bilges and lower hold through badly-sealed joints in the planking. While these were repaired there was considerable dispute between the RGS and Dundee Shipbuilders as to who was responsible for the defects, but the Discovery left for the Antarctic on December 21, 1901, after three weeks in New Zealand.
  The Antarctic coastline was sighted on 8 January 1902. During the first month Scott began charting the coastline. Then, in preparation for the winter, he anchored in McMurdo Sound in a bay sheltered from the prevailing west wind by the Hut Point Peninsula. The Discovery was moored directly to the ice shelf by anchors and Scott used explosives to blow away part of the shelf so the ship could be protected on three sides. 
  On February 8 Discovery was surrounded by pack ice on all sides. The expedition divided itself between the ship and the shore, with Discovery being used for accommodation and the prefabricated hut, intended to be the expedition's winter living quarters, was used as a laboratory. Although surrounded by ice the ship was not yet frozen in. In increasingly strong gales the ship would bump, slam and grind against the ice shelf but her strong multi-layered w
caption: Discovery (centre) trapped by the ice in McMurdo Sound, accompanied by Morning (left) and Terra Nova (right) in February 1904.
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