RRS Discovery

RRS Discovery

RRS Discovery in Antarctica c. 1923
History
UK
Owner:	Dundee Heritage Trust since 1985
Builder:	Dundee Shipbuilders Company, Dundee
Laid down:	1900
Launched:	21 March 1901
Sponsored by:	Lady Markham
Christened:	Lady Markham
Status:	Museum ship in Dundee, Scotland
General characteristics
Class and type:	Wooden Barque; 1 funnel, 3 masts
Tonnage:	736 GRT
Displacement:	1,570 tonnes
Length:	172 ft (52 m)
Beam:	33 ft (10 m)
Propulsion:	Coal-fired 450hp steam engine and sail
Speed:	8 knots (15 km/h; 9.2 mph)
Crew:	11 officers and 36 men

RRS Discovery was the last traditional wooden three-masted ship to be built in Britain. Designed for Antarctic research, it was launched as a Royal Research Ship (RRS) in 1901. Its first mission was the British National Antarctic Expedition, carrying Robert Falcon Scott and Ernest Shackleton on their first, successful journey to the Antarctic, known as the Discovery Expedition. It is now the centrepiece of visitor attraction in its home, Dundee.

Early discussions on building a dedicated polar exploration ship for the British government had considered replicating Fridtjof Nansen's purpose-built ship Fram but that vessel was designed specifically for working through the pack ice of the Arctic, while the British ship would have to cross thousands of miles of open ocean before reaching the Antarctic so a more conventional design was chosen. In charge of her overall design was W.E. Smith, one of the senior naval architects at The Admiralty, while the ship's engine, boilers and other machinery were designed by Commander Phillip Marrack of the Royal Naval Engineers.

The ship borrowed many aspects of her design (as well as her name) from the Bloodhound, a Dundee-built whaling ship taken into Royal Navy service as HMS Discovery in 1874 for the British Arctic Expedition to the North Pole. By 1900 few yards in the United Kingdom had the capability to build wooden ships of the size needed - only two shipbuilders submitted bids for the contract - but it was deemed essential that the ship be made from wood, both for strength and ease of repair and to reduce the magnetic interference from a steel hull that would allow the most accurate navigation and surveying. The main compass was mounted perfectly amidships and there were to be no steel or iron fittings within 30 feet (9.1 metres) of this point. For the same reason the boiler and engines were mounted towards the stern of the ship, a feature which also provided maximum space for equipment and provisions.