Voyages of the Discovery

Attractive book with integrated colour for the popular market. A story bound up with the legendary Captain Scott. Particular relevance now that Polar climate change is in the news. This is the enthralling story of Captain Scott's remarkable ship, the Discovery, during the heroic age of Antarctic exploration. She was built at Dundee for Scott's first expedition of 1901-04 but was to have many roles before her final voyage back to Dundee in 1986, and this book tells the story of that long career. At the end of the 19th century the Royal Geographical Society proposed a National Antarctic Expedition, for which the Discovery was specially designed. Based on a whaleship, she was massively built to withstand ice. She set sail from Cowes on 6 August 1901, under the command of Captain Scott, and entered the Ross Sea in January. A sledging expedition - of Scott, Shackleton and Wilson - reached within 500 miles of the South Pole. In 1905, a year after her return to Europe, she was purchased by the Hudson Bay Company; she traded under charter throughout the First World War; was later sent to rescue Shackleton, marooned on Elephant Island; in 1925 she became a Royal Research Ship, and then during 1929-31 she was used by Sir Edward Mawson to survey Australian Antarctic territory. She survived WWII and after restoration to her 1925 state returned to Dundee in 1986 where she is now a museum ship. This new and abridged edition of Ann Savours earlier bestselling book portrays vividly the epic voyages, and with its many illustrations conjures up the lost world of wooden ships and Antarctic exploration. ANN SAVOURS is one of Britain's leading experts on Polar exploration and history and was on the staff of the Scott Polar Research Institute and the National Maritime Museum. Two previous books, Scott's Last Voyage and The Search for the North West Passage, have been highly acclaimed.