Discovery

Builder	Stevens Yard, Dundee Shipbuilders Co. Dundee, Scotland
Launched	1901
Type	Barque 3 masts
Length	52.1m
Beam	10.3m
Expedition	British National Antarctic Expedition 1901-1904
Led by	Robert Falcon Scott

Discovery Ship. © Canterbury Museum

British National Antarctic Expedition 1901-1904

Led by Robert Falcon Scott

At the beginning of the 20th century, Britain launched the first major Antarctic expedition in over 60 years. Led by Commander Robert Falcon Scott aboard the specially built ship Discovery, the British National Antarctic Expedition marked the beginning of what would become known as the heroic era of Antarctic Exploration.

Discovery was a wooden sailing ship with auxiliary steam power, deliberately constructed in a traditional style to withstand the crushing pressures of Antarctic ice. Her triple-layered wooden hull was strengthened with internal bracing, designed to flex under pressure rather than break. Launched in 1901, Discovery was the first ship purpose-built for Antarctic scientific research and continued a proud Royal Navy tradition of exploration vessels bearing the same name.

The expedition left London in August 1901. While docked at Cowes, on the Isle of Wight, Discovery was visited by King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra, who came aboard and spoke with every crew member, an encounter recalled with pride by those present.

From England, Discovery made her way through the Atlantic to New Zealand, calling at several ports before arriving in Lyttelton in December 1901. While in port, the team took on final stores, including prefabricated buildings for shore use and 45 live sheep donated by local farmers.

On 21 December, they left for the ice. Sadly, just a few days later, a sailor named Charles Bonner fell from the rigging and was killed. He was buried at sea during a brief stop in Port Chalmers, near Dunedin, New Zealand.

S.Y. Discovery, departs from No 2 wharf for the Antarctic. © Lyttelton Museum

Discovery Hut, with Discovery at anchor behind, 1902. ©Skelton Collection, Canterbury Museum

When Discovery reached McMurdo Sound on 8 February 1902, Scott initially planned to leave a small shore party in the prefabricated hut while the ship returned north, but as the Antarctic summer waned and sea ice thickened rapidly, he made the bold decision to overwinter, keeping the ship locked in at what would become Winter Quarters Bay, on the southern tip of Ross Island.

About 200 metres from the ship, the team erected a square timber hut, now known as Discovery hut. It was built using prefabricated Douglas fir and Scots pine panels, with a design common in Australia, featuring a verandah on three sides. While intended to serve as the main living quarters for the shore party, the hut proved difficult to heat and was instead used for scientific work, storage, and as a communal meeting space.

The expedition’s 47 men including naval personnel, scientists and civilians, continued to live aboard Discovery while using the hut as a base for important research in zoology, geology, magnetism, meteorology, and more.

Today, Discovery hut remains one of the most significant structures from the heroic era of Antarctic exploration and is cared for by the Antarctic Heritage Trust.

Despite the harsh conditions, the team made incredible discoveries. They found the emperor penguin colony at Cape Crozier and launched a hydrogen balloon to take some of the first aerial photographs of Antarctica.

They also made history when Scott, Dr Edward Wilson, and Ernest Shackleton made a journey further south than anyone had ever gone before, reaching 82°16′ S. It was a major feat of endurance and navigation.

A relief ship, Morning, arrived in 1903 to bring supplies, and returned in 1904, this time accompanied by another ship, Terra Nova. The British Government had grown concerned about the cost of annual relief efforts and gave orders that the expedition be brought home, whether or not Discovery could be freed.

At the time, there was still 20 miles of ice between the ship and open water. With explosives, favourable winds, and relentless effort, including ice-breaking by the two relief ships, Discovery was finally freed.

She returned to Lyttelton, New Zealand on 1 April 1904, and then to Portsmouth on 10 September, where she was welcomed as a hero.

Learn more about the History of Scott’s ‘Discovery’ Expedition

Learn more about our work to conserve Scott‘s ’Discovery’ hut

Sir Ernest Shackleton, Robert Falcon Scott and Edward Wilson on their return from Furthest South, February 1903. ©Canterbury Museum

Fate of the Discovery

The expedition laid the groundwork for all future Antarctic exploration, delivering major scientific and geographical discoveries. Scott had hoped to use Discovery again for his next expedition in 1910, but the Admiralty had sold her to the Hudson Bay Company in 1905. Instead, Scott turned to Terra Nova.

Over the following decades, Discovery led a long and varied life. She was:

Chartered for trade in European and Russian waters during World War I
Briefly considered for the rescue of Shackleton’s Endurance crew in 1916
Refitted for scientific research in the 1920s, conducting Antarctic and oceanographic work
Employed during the British, Australian and New Zealand Antarctic Research Expedition (BANZARE) from 1929 to 1931 under Sir Douglas Mawson
Laid up and later repurposed as a Sea Scout training ship and Royal Naval Reserve base
Restored to her 1920s configuration in the 1980s

Since 1986, Discovery has been preserved as a museum ship at Discovery Point in Dundee, Scotland, the very city where she was built. Visitors today can step aboard this iconic vessel and explore the story of the men who ventured to Antarctica in an age of wooden ships and iron will.

Find out more about visiting RSS Discovery

Scott’s Discovery Hut Virtual Reality Experience

Developed by the Antarctic Heritage Trust in partnership with StaplesVR, this dynamic and immersive virtual reality experience transports you to the very heart of Antarctic exploration, allowing you to step inside Discovery hut on Ross Island, Antarctica, just as Robert Falcon Scott, and Ernest Shackleton did over a century ago. Offering exciting interactions, including a ride in the hydrogen balloon the expedition launched, feeding huskies, helping a sledging party, and getting up close to the Discovery ship, this experience shares the stories behind this unique shelter’s place in polar history and the explorers that inhabited it.

The Trust’s Inspiring Explorers Education™ team travel around New Zealand to bring our virtual reality experiences to schools, community groups, public venues, and festivals.

Click here to learn more about this experience and how to book

Discovery

British National Antarctic Expedition 1901-1904

Led by Robert Falcon Scott

Fate of the Discovery

Scott’s Discovery Hut Virtual Reality Experience

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