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Discovery 2 - image taken by Chief Engineer J Birnie RFA - donated by Leith Birnie
Previous name:
Subsequent name:
Official Number: 161322
Class: Royal Research Ship
Pennant No:
Laid down:
Builder: Ferguson Brothers, Port Glasgow
Launched: 2 November 1928
Into Service:
Out of service: 7 September 1962
Fate: Broken up
Items of historic interest involving this ship: -
Background Data: At some stage during their lives, 3 of the Royal Research Ships saw service as RFA’s
2 November 1929 Launched by Ferguson Bros (Port Glasgow) Ltd, Newark Works, Port Glasgow as Yard Nr 295 named DISCOVERY 11 for the Natural Oceanographic Council. Captain Scott’s ship of the same name was still afloat, serving with the Falkland Islands Government, hence the ‘11’ suffix to this one’s name
November 1929 completed at a cost of £70,000
3 October 1931 sailed London for research in Antarctic Waters
12 April 1933 the Captain W. M. Carey suffered a complete nervous breakdown and was confined to bed on the Discovery II.
2 May 1933 Commander W. M. Carey RN (retired) Captain of the Discovery II lost overboard off Ushant this day.
5 May 1933 returned to London
20 October 1933 sailed London arrived Tristan da Cunha 16 November 1933 off loaded mail and 3 tons of stores for the islanders
5 December 1935 The American explorer and aviator Lincoln Ellsworth and his English co-pilot Herbert Hollick - Kenyon ditched their plane named POLAR STAR near the Bay of Whales in the Ross Sea after it had run out of fuel and were forced to shelter in a tent
2 January 1936 Ship sailed Dunedin, New Zealand to Head for the Bay of Whales to search for the two missing men
15 January 1936 entered Bay of Whales and found the missing men’s tent
16 January 1936 Ellsworth arrived onboard and had medical treatment for his frost-bitten foot
20 January 1936 expedition ship WYATT EARP arrived Bay of Whales
22 January 1936 Sailed Bay of Whales with Ellsworth aboard. Hollick-Kenyon remained behind to assist in the salvage of POLAR STAR
27 January 1936 WYATT EARP sailed Bay of Whales with POLAR STAR and Hollick-Kenyon aboard
14 February 1936 Captain Leonard Charles Hill (Lieutenant RNR) appointed an Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (OBE) for services in searching for Lincoln Ellsworth and Herbert Hollick - Kenyon
16 February 1936 ship arrived at Melbourne
19 April 1936 WYATT EARP arrived New York and was welcomed by Ellsworth
6 January 1937 landed survey party on the north shore of Esther Harbour, King George Island in the South Shetland Islands with the intention of returning to pick them up on 13 January.
16 January 1937 returned to pick up the survey party having been delayed by bad weather. The survey party could not be found. HMS Ajax despatched to assist in searching for the party. The party were found and only required very limited medical assistance.
November 1939 Commander Penrose Owen Davis RNR appointed as Commanding Officer
14 January 1940 sailed London for Gravesend and then to Scapa Flow
1 February 1940 at Kirkwall Harbour
2 February 1940 sailed Kirkwall Harbour to Scapa Flow
6 February 1940 alongside RFA Broomdale to refuel and for an overnight mooring
7 February 1940 sailed from RFA Broomdale to Kirkwall Habour
22 February 1940 berthed alongside RFA Broomdale to refuel and for an overnight mooring
23 February 1940 sailed from RFA Broomdale to Kirkwall Harbour
21 March 1940 Danish SS Christiansborg (carrying 4107 tons of maize from USA) was torpedoed by U-38 and broke in two. The forepart sank at 60°15N/02°40W the after part did not sink (1 dead) and so was shelled and sunk by the armed boarding vessel HMS Discovery II . 24 survivors are rescued and taken to Kirkwall, Orkney
5 September 1940 at Hartlepool for repairs
27 June 1941 at London for repairs which were completed on 10 July 1941
31 July 1941 sailed Harwich to Loch Ewe arriving 4 August 1941
8 August 1941 sailed Loch Ewe to Reykiavik, Iceland arriving on 13 August 1941
1 September 1941 sailed Reykiavik, Iceland to Loch Ewe arriving 5 September 1941
7 September 1941 sailed Loch Ewe to Harwich arriving 10 September 1941
7 September 1941 the following members of the crew or former members of the crew awarded the Polar Medal for service on the ship between 1925 to 1939 and reported in AFO 4830 of this date
Clasp to the Polar Medal (Posthumous)
Engineer Lieutenant-Coimmander Ault Horton, Royal Navy (retired)
Clasp to the Polar Medal
James William Slessor Mar Esq., MA., B.Sc. (now Temporary Lieutenant RNVR)
George Ayres, Able Seaman (the netman)
John Matheson, Boatswain (the Boatswain's Mate)
The Polar Medal (Bronze, Posthumous)
Commander Willaim Melvin Carey, Royal Navy (Retired)
Debnnis Noble Daley, Fireman
The Polar Medal (Bronze)
Lieutenant-Commander Richard Walker RNR
Lieutenant Henry Lirkwood, Royal Navy
Lieutenant Richard Arthur Blyth Ardley RNR (Retired)
Lieutenant Leonard Charles Hill OBE, RNR
Lientenant Archibald Frederick Macfie OBE, RNR
Lieutenant Andrew Laidlaw Nelson RNR (Retired)
Lieutenant Thomas Herbert Beveridge Oates Royal Navy
Paymaster Sub-Lieutenant Sydney Austin Bainbridge RNR
Edward Hillis Marshall Esq., DSO, MRCS, LRCP
John Colman Cook, Leading Fireman
Archibald John Clowes Esq., MSc, ARCS (now Sub-Lieutenant RNVR)
George Edward Raven Deacon Esq., DSc
Francis Charles Fraser Esq., DSc
Walter Frederick Fry Esq.,
Thomas John Hart Esq., DSc
Henry Franceys Porter Herdman Esq MSc
David Dilwyn John Esq., MSc
Stanley Wells Kemp Esq., ScD., FRS
Alex Hibburd Laurie Esq., MA (now Temporary Lieutenant RNVR)
Neil Alison Mackintosh Esq., DSc ARCS
Francis Downes Ommanney Esq., PhD (now Temporary Lieutenant RNVR)
George WIlliam Rayner Esq BSc (now Temporary Lieutenant RNVR)
Alfred Saunders Esq., FRPS
Robert George Gourlay Esq
Andrew Nichol Porteous Esq (Second Engineer Officer RFA)
Frank Douglas Swan Esq., (now Engineer Sub-Lieutenant RNVR)
Alfred Thomas Berry, Chief Steward
Heinrich Bockel, Fireman
Albert Thomas Braillard, Able Seaman
Cecil Douglas Buchanan Esq (Forth Engineer Officer RFA)
John Cargill, Able Seaman (the Boastwain)
Norman Frank Cobbett, Able Seaman
John Richard Connolly, Third Officer (the Ordinary Seaman)
John Edward Dobson, Ordinary Seaman
Charles Gobart, Assistant Steward
James Grant, Carpenter
Walter J Hewitt, Fireman
James Charles Jameson, Able Seaman
Harold Alfred Johns, Albert Seaman
Herbert Lloyd Jones, Fireman
William Rhodes Clarke Kebbell, Chief Cook
Duncan Kennedy, Boatswain (the Netman)
Charles Edward Jack Lashmar, Able Seaman
John Livermore, Mess Boy
Robert Wood Mackay, Scientific Assistant
John Donald MacKenzie, Able Seaman
James Russell Matheson, Fireman
Daniel Milford, Sailor
Leslie John Miller, Assistant Steward
Arthur Moore, Boatswain's Mate
Harold Vale Moreton, Able Seaman (the Boatswain's Mate)
Albert Edward Morris, Telegraphist
Allan Arthur Osgood, Able Seaman
Arthur Parry, Able Seaman
George McKay Patience, Able Seaman
Willaim Arthur Peachey, Fireman
James Purvis, Able Seaman
Joseph Reid, Able Seaman
Jerry Ryan, Greaser
Edward WIlliam Saddler, Second Steward
Horace William Sandford, Fireman
Frank Albert Smedley, Chief Cook
D. Stegmann, Able Seaman
Albert Edward Stevens, Assistant Purser (then Writer)
William Suffield, Boatswain
Leonard Henry Thomas, Greaser (the Fireman)
Victor Vidulich, Fireman
Albert Edward Wyatt, Assistant Steward
26 September 1941 arrived Great Yarmouth
13 February 1942 arrived Southend
7 July 1942 sailed Harwich to Southend
11 July 1942 sailed Southend to Dover
23 November 1942 arrived at Blyth
18 December 1942 undergoing repairs on the Tyne. The repairs were completed by 21 December 1942
22 December 1942 sailed Blyth
18 March 1943 sailed Southend to Harwich
9 June 1943 sailed Southend to Harwich
5 July 1943 sailed Harwich
3 July 1944 sailed from Southend in convoy ETM25 arrived Seine Bay 4 July 1944
24 January 1945 arrived at Southend
7 February 1945 at Southend
31 July 1945 at Seine East
8 October 1945 at Gravesend
22 November 1945 at Le Harve
18 June 1946 Chief Engineer Officer Alfred George Bramhall appointed as an additional Member of the Civil Division of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (MBE)
20 April 1950 RFA manning and maintenance
1951 the ships crew included two cats 'Ginger' (a tom) and 'Seaboots' .
22 September 1951 berthed at Perth, Western Australia after visits to Heard Island and an attempted visit to Antarctica which was prevent by pack ice
7 September 1962 arrived Plymouth to be decommissioned
December 1962 replaced by the new DISCOVERY and was sold for scrap
25 March 1963 arrived for breaking up at Passage West
Notes:
1. She was designed by Messrs Flannery, Baggallay and Johnson Ltd.
2. WYATT EARP was a former 400t herring vessel which was refitted as an expedition lead ship
Ships of the same name
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Discovery. A 20 guns hip purchased in 1651 and lost when she burned out at Jamaica on the 25 May 1655.
Battle Honours for this Vessel: PORTLAND 1653
Discovery. A ketch of 75 bm, 64 x 16 feet armed with 6 guns, launched at Woolwich Dockyard on the 9 May 1692. Broken up at Portsmouth in 1705.
Discovery. A discovery sloop that was lost in the Arctic in 1719.
Discovery. A store ship of 154 bm, 74.5 x 22.5 feet, armed with 6 guns. Purchased in April 1741. Sold on the 6 May 1750.
Discovery. (ex Diligence) A discovery vessel of 299 bm, 91.5 x 27.5 feet, purchased in 1775. Reduced to a dockyard transport in May 1781. Broken up at Chatham in October 1797.
Discovery. A sloop of 10 guns, 337 bm, 96 x 27 feet launched by Randall of Rotherhithe in 1789 and purchased in November 1789. Became a bomb in 1799, a convict ship in 1818. Broken up at Deptford in February 1834.
Battle Honours for this Vessel: COPENHAGEN 1801.
Discovery. A survey vessel in Indian service 1800. Sold in May 1828.
Discovery. A wood screw gun vessel of 425 bm, 145 x 25 feet, ordered in 1861 and cancelled on the 12 December 1863.
Discovery. (ex Bloodhound) A wood screw store ship of 1,247 tons, 160 x 29 feet purchased on the 5 December 1874. Sold out of service to Mr Murray in February 1902.
Discovery. An inshore minesweeper in the Royal Australian Navy, 178 tons, 101.7 x 29.5 feet. This ship was projected in the 1987 estimates, but never completed.
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