The famous Discovery lying at Falmouth

Captain Scott's first Antarctic flagship Discovery was designed as a purpose-built research vessel and launched from the Stevens' Yard of the Dundee Shipbuilders Company in 1901. Ordered and paid for by the National Antarctic Expedition led by Scott, she displaced 1,570 tons and measured 171 feet in length with a 43 foot beam. Rigged as an auxiliary barque, she was fitted with a triple expansion engine capable of 8 knots and equipped with a hoisting propeller and rudder so as to avoid damage if imprisoned in ice. Leaving Cowes in August 1901, she entered the Ross Sea to discover Edward VII Land in January 1902 and then lay offshore whilst Scott established his winter quarters near Mount Erebus on Ross Island for the duration of the expedition. Although remaining icebound throughout 1902-03, Discovery finally broke free in January 1904 and arrived back in Portsmouth that September. In old age she was acquired by the Boy Scouts' Association as a training ship and is now preserved at Dundee where she was built.