Edward Evans , 1st Baron Mountevans Admiral Edward Ratcliffe Garth Russell Evans , 1st Baron Mountevans , KCB , DSO SGM ( 28 October 1881 – 20 August 1957 ) , known as " Teddy " Evans , was a British naval officer and Antarctic explorer . He was seconded by the Navy to the Discovery Expedition to the Antarctic in 1901 - 04 , when he was on the crew of the relief ship , and afterwards began planning his own Antarctic expedition . However , he suspended this plan when offered the post of second - in - command on Robert Falcon Scott ' s ill - fated expedition to the South Pole in 1910 – 1913 , as captain of the expedition ship " Terra Nova " . He accompanied Scott to within 150 miles of the Pole , but later became seriously ill with scurvy and only narrowly survived the return journey . After the expedition he toured the country giving lectures , and was promoted to Commander on his return to naval duties in the summer of 1914 . He spent the First World War as a destroyer captain , becoming famous as " Evans of the " Broke " " after the Battle of Dover Strait in 1917 . He commanded a cruiser at Hong Kong in 1921 - 22 , where he was awarded a medal for his role in rescuing passengers from the wrecked " Hong Moh " , and then spent several years commanding the home fisheries protection squadron before being given command of the modern battlecruiser " Repulse " . He later commanded the Australian Squadron and the Africa Station before becoming Commander - in - Chief , The Nore , one of the Navy ' s major home commands ; during this time , unusually for a serving officer , he was also Rector of the University of Aberdeen . After four years at the Nore he handed over command in early 1939 and was appointed a civil defence commissioner for London during the preparations for the Second World War ; after the German invasion of Norway he travelled there to liaise with King Haakon VII , a personal acquaintance . He remained in a civil defence role through the war , though he had officially retired from the Navy in 1941 , and was made a peer in 1945 . Early life . Edward Ratcliffe Garth Evans , known to his family and friends as " Teddy " , was born in London in 28 October 1880 , in a mews near Berkeley Square . He was the second of three sons born to Frank Evans and his wife Eliza Evans . Frank Evans was a young barrister from a large Lancashire family of Welsh descent ; his father had been a provision merchant in Oldham . Eliza , born McNulty , came from an Irish family in Deptford . The family were respectably middle - class , but the three children did not behave as respectably as might be expected ; when Edward was nine , he and his brothers frequently roamed far into the East End , on one occasion being detained by the police after a theft . Edward and his older brother Joe were admitted to the Merchant Taylors ' School in 1890 , when he was ten , and were expelled for fighting and truancy a year later . He was then sent to a relatively modern school in the countryside near Croydon , which aimed to educate " troublesome boys " ; despite being the youngest boy and often victimised and homesick , he enjoyed the rural environment and responded well to the teaching . He later attended a school in Maida Vale where he obtained high marks but slipped back into his old misbehaviour ; the headmaster responded by making him a prefect , which shocked Evans into self - discipline . He became one of the school ' s star performers , with a string of prizes , before leaving at 14 . Evans sought a career at sea , and while at school had tried , but failed , to get a cadetship to the Royal Navy training ship HMS " Britannia " . The alternatives open to him were to be " crammed " by an expensive tutor and resit the " Britannia " examination , or to attend the cheaper privately run training ship " Worcester " , which mainly trained officers for the Merchant Navy . His father chose the latter , and Evans joined the " Worcester " in January 1895 . He was heavily bullied , but by the middle of his second year had found his place , and gained a reputation as an able and diligent - if still troublesome - cadet . He won several prizes , culminating in a coveted Navy cadetship in his final year . The newly commissioned Midshipman Evans was posted to the cruiser " Hawke " in the Mediterranean in 1897 , a ship noted for her immaculate presentation and strict conduct , which was not entirely to Evans ' taste . In August he became seriously ill with brucellosis , after drinking contaminated milk , and was sent home to recover for three months . During this time , he gained a lasting fanaticism for physical fitness , walking forty or fifty miles in a day and swimming for hours in the sea ; he would maintain this state of fitness for decades to come . After returning to duty , he was posted to the battleship " Repulse " and then the sloop " Dolphin " , following which he was examined and passed as a sub - lieutenant . He then studied at the Royal Naval College , Greenwich , interrupted with a posting to , where he first encountered then - Lieutenant Robert Falcon Scott . First Antarctic expedition , 1902 - 04 . In July 1901 , the British National Antarctic Expedition - the " " Discovery " Expedition " - sailed from London aboard RRS " Discovery " , with Scott in command . Part of the planning for the expedition had provided for a relief ship to follow a year later , in case " Discovery " was lost in the Antarctic ; on reading a newspaper article about this some months later , Evans saw an opportunity for adventure and wrote to Sir Clements Markham , the organising force behind the expedition . He met Markham twice in the following weeks , and made a strong impression . In early 1902 , Evans was seconded from the Navy to be second officer aboard the relief ship , the " Morning " , an aging ex - whaler . The " Morning " sailed from London in July 1902 , and after a severe storm and a refit in Christchurch , New Zealand , headed for the Antarctic on 6 December to search for the expedition in their winter quarters , somewhere in the Ross Sea . After working steadily south - east from Cape Adare and along the ice - front to Cape Crozier , the limit of their search range , they found a message from the expedition , directing them back towards McMurdo Sound . Here the two crews met - the two ships were separated by fifteen miles of ice , requiring long sledge journeys - with Evans among the first party to greet the " Discovery " s crew . A week later , Scott , Shackleton , and Wilson returned from their journey inland , sick with scurvy and snow - blindness , but triumphant at having reached 82°17 ′ S , a new " Farthest South " . Evans privately recorded that having known the three was " a great thing in my life " . At the end of March 1903 the " Morning " was ordered to return , leaving supplies with the " Discovery " , still sealed in the ice . Several crew were exchanged , including Shackleton , who was considered not healthy enough to remain for the winter , though personal conflicts with Scott may have played a part in the decision . Once back in New Zealand , Evans applied for a temporary posting to HMS " Phoebe " , stationed in the country , while the " Morning " was refitted for another relief voyage , this time organised by the Admiralty rather than the Royal Geographical Society . She sailed south again in November , in company with a second relief ship , " Terra Nova " , and met the " Discovery " in January 1904 . Evans was given charge of a party of men laying explosives to blast a channel through eight miles of ice , which they achieved in eleven days , bringing the " Discovery " out just before a heavy gale struck . In recognition of his work with the expedition , Scott named a mountain overlooking the sound as Mount Evans . Shortly before sailing south for the second time , Evans ' engagement to a New Zealand woman , Hilda Russell , had been announced . Hilda was the daughter of T . G . Russell , a prominent local solicitor , and the niece of G . W . Russell , one of the Members of Parliament for the Christchurch area . Evans arrived back in Christchurch on 1 April 1904 , and the couple were married on 13 April . They arrived back in England in October , where Evans was awarded the bronze Polar Medal and rejoined the Navy , specialising as a navigation officer . In 1907 he briefly considered applying to join Shackleton ' s Antarctic expedition , but decided instead that it was important to spend more time in his naval career , to avoid limiting his future prospects . Second Antarctic expedition , 1910 - 13 . In 1909 , Evans finally succumbed to the lure of the Antarctic , and announced - with Markham ' s blessing - that he would organise an expedition to explore King Edward VII Land . He planned an expedition to the Pole , but as a secondary objective ; " the circum - navigation of the great Antarctic continent appealed to me far more " . Around the same time , Scott began planning a new expedition in response to Shackleton ' s recently completed Nimrod Expedition - the two were by this time rivals - and on hearing of this Evans abandoned his own project , transferring his funding and support to Scott . In return , Scott appointed him second - in - command , as well as captain of the " Terra Nova " . Despite this partnership , the two were never close , with the clash between Scott ' s reserve and Evans ' openness accentuated by the difference in rank and age . Scott later described Evans in his diary as carried by " boyish enthusiasms " and " well - meaning , but terribly slow to learn " , deeming that he was much more capable as a sailor than an explorer on land , and probably would never be suited to command his own expedition . The expedition landed on the west side of Ross Island on 4 January 1911 , at a site Scott named Cape Evans in Evans ' honour . Evans joined the main shore party , leaving the " Terra Nova " in the hands of Lieutenant Harry Pennell , and worked to establish a series of depots along the Great Ice Barrier for the use of the Polar expedition later in the year . After wintering in the Cape Evans hut , the party began to prepare for the main journey in August and September . Evans was given command of the Motor Party , which was to leave first , taking four men and two tracked motor sledges south onto the Barrier with supplies for the main expedition , which would follow with dogs and ponies . In the event , the motor sledges failed to work as planned ; the engines proved unreliable , frequently refusing to start until heated , or stopping after a short distance . The first broke down permanently on 30 October , five days after starting , and the second followed a day later . The four men reorganised their loads and pushed south pulling a single sledge with of equipment and supplies . They managed about the same speed as before the breakdown , and made the rendezvous six days ahead of the main party , who caught up with them on 21 November . Two of Evans ' party ( the motor mechanic and an assistant ) returned south , and the Motor Party was reorganised as the " Man - hauling Party " . with Evans leading Chief Stoker Lashly , Lieutenant Atkinson , a naval surgeon , and C . S . Wright , a Canadian physicist . The group pushed onwards until December 5 , when they were halted by a blizzard for four days , working through their supplies but unable to press south . The remaining ponies from the main expedition had to be shot before moving on . On arriving at the Beardmore Glacier on 10 December , their route off the Barrier , the dog parties were also sent back , leaving the entire expedition to be man - hauled . At this point , the expedition was made up of three groups of four men , all man - hauling their sledges . However , two of the groups were relatively rested , whilst Evans and Lashly had been pulling a sledge since 1 November . This began to tell , with the group dropping behind and causing tensions with Scott , who grew frustrated and impatient with Evans ' perceived carelessness and disorganisation . On 20 December , the first supporting party turned back , leaving eight men to press onwards ; Evans ' team was reorganised to consist of himself , Lieutenant Bowers , Lashly , and Petty Officer Crean . On 3 January , Scott announced that Evans would not continue to the Pole , but would take his team , the Last Supporting Party , back south . Evans privately attributed this to his physical exhaustion - he and Lashly had pulled a loaded sledge for six hundred miles by this stage - and recorded his reactions stoically , though Bowers described him as " frightfully cut up " . The groups parted emotionally on 4 January , and Evans , Lashly and Crean turned to head back , only from the Pole - Bowers had remained with the main party . The journey back was difficult , as until this point the sledges had been handled by four - man teams , and the reduction to three slowed them considerably . In an attempt to save several days , the party descended from the plateau by sledging several hundred feet down the deeply crevassed Shackleton Icefalls onto the Beardmore Glacier , rather than take the slower and safer climb down the mountainside . The three emerged battered but without major injury , despite having reached speeds that Evans estimated at close to sixty miles an hour . Once on the glacier , however , Evans began to suffer severe physical problems . He was initially afflicted with snow - blindness , making him unable to see clearly , and later began to develop the early signs of scurvy . These signs rapidly multiplied , leaving him weakened and constantly in severe pain , and within a couple of weeks he had deteriorated to the point that he was being pulled on the sledge by Lashly and Crean . Evans was the only one to develop scurvy to this degree , and a number of arguments have been put forward as to the reason . However , it seems likely that the root cause was that unlike the other explorers , Evans had apparently tried to avoid eating seal ( in particular seal liver ) during the winter , which he disliked but which was a rich source of Vitamin C . As his companion Frank Debenham put it many years later , " Teddy really was a very naughty boy and wouldn ' t eat his seal meat " . On 13 February , Evans attempted to order them to abandon him , but they refused , in what Evans later called " the first and last time my orders as a naval officer were disobeyed " . They were finally forced to halt by a blizzard on 17 February , thirty - five miles from the base camp at Hut Point , when it became clear that the two men would no longer be able to pull the sledge . Lashly remained to look after Evans while Crean headed north ; after walking for eighteen hours , he arrived at the hut where he met Atkinson with an assistant and a dog team . They headed south as soon as the weather cleared , finding Evans near to death , and carefully brought him back to the camp . He arrived there a few days before the " Terra Nova " returned , and he was returned to the ship to be nursed back to health . He remained bedridden until April , when he arrived in New Zealand . After meeting Amundsen , recently returned from the Pole , and being reunited with his wife , Evans headed back to England , where he spent the northern summer of 1912 recuperating and raising funds for the Expedition . Here , he met King George V , who promoted him to the rank of Commander . Returning south later in the year , Evans commanded the " Terra Nova " on its relief journey ; it arrived at McMurdo Sound on 18 January , the anniversary of Scott ' s arrival at the Pole , to be greeted by the news of the polar party ' s death . Recording his " overwhelming sorrow " at the news , Evans assumed formal command of the expedition in lieu of Scott , and organised the final departure of the expedition from the continent . Evan ' s wife , Hilda , became ill with peritonitis on board the " Oranto " on 14 April 1913 whilst on her way to England with her husband after his return from Scott ' s second and fateful expedition . She was operated on by the ship ' s doctor on 15 April . Conscious when the ship reached Naples on the 17th she stayed on board but after setting back to sea , she died at midnight of the 18th April . Hilda was buried in Toulon , France . A memorial to Hilda Evans is to be found in Linwood Cemetery , Bromley , Christchurch , New Zealand at Block 46 Plot 205 - the Russell family grave . First World War . Following his Antarctic service , Evans had a successful naval career . At the outbreak of the First World War in 1914 he was promoted to Commander . On 20 April 1917 , while on night patrol of the Dover Barrage near Goodwin Sands , he commanded the destroyer HMS " Broke " in an action against six German destroyers of the Kaiserliche Marine that had started to bombard Dover . Along with , Evans engaged the German destroyers in what became known as the Battle of Dover Strait . A torpedo from HMS " Swift " sank one of the enemy destroyers , " G - 85 " . Then the " Broke " deliberately rammed another , " G - 42 " , almost breaking it in two . The two ships became locked together and for a while there was close - quarters fighting on " Broke ' s " deck until the " Broke " managed to break free . The German destroyer sank while the remaining German warships escaped . The badly damaged " Broke " was towed home , while the equally damaged " Swift " made her own way back . The action gained him immediate promotion to the rank of Captain and his DSO and made Evans a popular hero , feted in the British press as " Evans of the " Broke " " . Evans wrote an account of his activities on the Dover Patrol in his book " Keeping the Seas " ( 1920 ) . Evans married Norwegian Elsa Andvord in 1916 . Inter - war service . While in command of HMS " Carlisle " on the China Station , Evans rescued 200 survivors from the SS " Hong Moh " . His actions , including swimming to give direction on the sinking ship , gained several awards for life - saving . In February 1928 he was promoted to Rear - Admiral commanding the Royal Australian Navy Fleet ( formal title was " Rear Admiral Commanding HM Australian Squadron " ) . In November 1932 he was made Vice - Admiral . He was commander - in - chief of the Africa Station and Deputy High Commissioner of the British Protectorates from 1933 to 1935 . He was made a Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath ( KCB ) in 1935 . He was Commander - in - Chief , The Nore from 1935 to 1939 and was promoted to Admiral in July 1936 . Second World War . Recalled in 1939 , the following year he participated in the Norwegian Campaign , after which he retired from the Royal Navy on 9 January 1941 . During the remainder of the Second World War he served as London Regional Commissioner for Civil Defence . In December 1945 , he was created a baron , Lord Mountevans of the " Broke " . He was Rector of the University of Aberdeen from 1936 to 1942 . Retirement . In 1947 he chaired a committee to formalise the rules of professional wrestling in the UK . These rules became known as the Admiral - Lord Mountevans rules . Honours and awards . Orders and Decorations were awarded to Edward Evans for his efforts in the Antarctic , for military service and for life saving ( given with London Gazette entries , where available ) : Companion of the Order of the Bath ( LG 16 May 1913 , p . 3507 ) Distinguished Service Order ( LG 10 May 1917 , p . 4481 ) Polar Medal " Antarctic , 1910 - 1913 " Silver Medal ( LG 25 Jul 1913 , p . 5322 ) . Commander of the Order of the Crown - Belgium ( LG 8 Apr 1921 , p . 2797 ) . Officer of the Legion of Honour - France ( LG 20 Jul 1917 , p . 7427 ) Officer of the Order of Leopold ( Belgium ) ( LG 1 Jan 1917 , p . 11 ) Order of the Tower and Sword 2nd Class - Portugal ( LG 17 Jan 1919 , p . 887 ) Navy Cross - United States ( LG 16 Sep 1919 , p . 11583 ) Croix de Guerre - France ( LG 22 Jun 1917 , p . 6257 ) Medaille Civique - Belgium ( LG 12 Dec 1919 , p . 15432 ) Evans was made Freeman of various communities : Calgary , Canada ( 1914 ) ; Dover ( 1938 ) ; Chatham ( 1939 ) ; Kingston upon Thames ( 1945 ) ; the City of London ( 1945 ) ; and Chelsea ( 1945 ) . Various awards in recognition of his part in the Hong Moh disaster in the South China Sea : Médaille Civique of Belgium , 1st Class for saving life at sea ( 1919 ) ; Board of Trade Silver Medal for Saving Life at Sea ( 1921 ) ; special gold medal by Lloyd ' s for saving life ( 1921 ) . For his part in expeditions : King Edward VII and King George V medal for Antarctic Exploration ; Silver Polar Medal ( 24 Jul 1913 ) ; Gold Medallist of Royal Hungarian and Royal Belgian Geographical Societies ; Livingstone Gold Medal list , Royal Scottish Geographical Society ; gold medals from the cities of Paris and Rouen , and from the Geographical Societies of Marseilles , Rouen , and Newcastle ; Honorary Member of many Geographical Societies . Works . He wrote several books about Antarctica :