SS Terra Nova was most famous for being the vessel to carry the ill-fated 1910 polar expedition led by Robert Falcon Scott, but the story of this memorable ship, built in wood to enable flexibility in the ice, continued until 1943, when she sank off Greenland. This newly designed and updated edition presents the definitive illustrated account of one of the classic polar exploration ships of the 'heroic age'. Put together from accounts recorded by the men who sailed in her, it tells the sixty-year history of a ship built by a famous Scottish shipbuilding yard, in the nineteenth-century days of whaling and sealing before coal gas and electricity replaced animal oils.
Tells the story of one of Britain's most famous expedition ships put together from accounts recorded by men who sailed in her. This work covers a sixty year history of the ship built at Dundee by a famous Scottish shipbuilding company for the late 19th century days of whaling and sealing.
* Updated to include video footage of the discovery of the wreck of the Terra Nova *On the 15th June, 1910 the Terra Nova left Cardiff Docks to the cheers of a huge crowd, sailing into maritime history and carrying the hopes of a nation. The old whaler had been cleaned, painted and fitted out for the voyage of a lifetime to the coldest place on earth, the frozen sea ice of the Antarctic. Robert Falcon Scott's expedition to the South Pole was under way, after many months of planning, fund raising and preparation. The men of the Terra Nova Expedition risked their lives in the pursuit of scientific knowledge and exploration, sailing through the most dangerous waters on Earth. In 1910 there were still many unanswered questions about Antarctica, so Captain Scott recruited the largest team of scientists ever to visit the continent and they returned with over forty thousand zoological and geological specimens which are held in the British Natural History Museum collection.This illustrated book tells the story of the Terra Nova from her launch in 1884 to her sinking off the coast of Greenland in 1943, through many first-hand accounts, including the letters and journals of many who sailed on her. Also included are the seven recently discovered letters from Wilfred Bruce, member of the 1910 expedition and brother of Scott's wife Kathleen.In the foreword to the book, Captain Scott's granddaughter Dafila Scott writes: A hundred years after my grandfather Captain Scott's last expedition to the Antarctic, it is now possible to assess not only the tragedy of the deaths of the polar party but also the scientific legacy of the expedition, which was considerable. In this book, Tony Riches gives an account of the expedition and its scientific legacy but focuses first on the interesting history of the Terra Nova, the expedition ship, which proved suitable if leaky for its purpose in the Southern Ocean. He also draws attention to letters written by one of the crew members, Captain Scott's brother-in-law, Wilfred Bruce, which give a first hand account of life on the Terra Nova and include vivid descriptions of different periods during the expedition. These help one to imagine what it was like to be there.
February 1912: Harry Pennell and his Terra Nova shipmates brave storms and ice to bring supplies to Antarctica. They hope to celebrate Captain Scott’s conquest of the South Pole, but are forced by ice to return north before Scott’s party returns. In New Zealand a reporter tells them that Roald Amundsen reached the Pole first. Returning to Antarctica in early 1913, they learn that Scott’s party reached the Pole but died on the ice shelf.Back in Britain memorial services, medal ceremonies, weddings and resumed careers are abruptly interrupted by the First World War. Fit and able men, Scott’s ‘Antarctics’ trade one adventure for another.By 1919 Scott’s ‘Antarctics’ have fought at Antwerp, the Western Front, Gallipoli, in the Channel, at Jutland and in Arctic Russia. They serve on horseback, in trenches, on battleships and hospital ships, in armoured cars and flimsy aircraft; their brothers-in-arms include a prime minister’s son and poet Rupert Brooke. As in Antarctica, life is challenging and dangerous. As on the ice, not all survive.
The demand for oil to light and lubricate the industrial world changed the face of much of the planet. Newfoundland was part of this widespread transformation as migratory cod fishermen settled here in the early 1800s in order to hunt seals in late winter and early spring. The seal fishery brought prosperity and growth and shaped this new society, but seal hunters and their families paid a heavy human cost in lives lost and suffering experienced. The traditional oil industries were doomed with the discovery of mineral oils and the ha essing of electricity, and Newfoundland-along with other societies-faced painful adjustments while searching for alte ative industries. However while its place in the economy declined, the seal fishery left an indelible imprint on Newfoundland's culture and identity. This study, with its tables, maps and illustrations, examines the history of the Newfoundland seal fishery from its origins up to 1914, ranging in scope from the life of the hunter on the ice flows to the demands of the consumer in the market place. Shannon Ryan was bo in riverhead, Harbor Grace, Newfoundland, and educated at Memorial University of Newfoundland (BA Ed, BA, and MA) and the University of London (PH). He worked for nine years as a schoolteacher and principal and in 1971 he was appointed to the faculty of History. His publications and presentations are in the fields of Newfoundland, Maritime, fisheries and oral history. He served as president of the Newfoundland Historical society during 1984-1988, as Newfoundland's representative on the Social sciences and humanities research council of Canada during 1989-1993 and was elected a fellow of the Royal society in 1988.
