HMS Discovery

“ He was at once appointed to the command of the Resolution, and Captain Clerke, who had been with him on each of his previous voyages, received orders to commission the Discovery, a vessel of three hundred tons, fitted out as the Adventure had been. The ships were ready early in July, 1776. Everything that could tend to preserve the health of the crews was put on board,—warm clothing, as well as numerous animals, garden seeds of all sorts, and iron tools to traffic with the natives, while many things, purely for the benefit of the people, were to be supplied. ”

“ Having taken on board all the stores that the Valorous carried, as well as a full supply of coal, the Alert and the Discovery started in company for the North. The advantages of steam navigation were made even more apparent as they proceeded, for the ships were able to steam through ice-encumbered water which would have been quite impassable for sailing vessels. Depending so much upon the wind, a sailing vessel is only able to make headway amongst heavy drifting floes by means of long hawsers, run out and made fast to a mass of ice and then slowly hauled in at the capstan. ”

“ The class of vessels best adapted for discovery in the Polar seas, seems to be that of one hundred to two hundred tons’ burden. They are stronger, more easily managed, in less danger of being stoved or crushed by ice, and not so expensive as those of larger dimensions. An increase of size is a diminution of [Pg 19] comparative strength; and hence it is evident, that a vessel intended for discovery should be just large enough for conveying the requisite stores and provisions, and for affording comfortable accommodation to the navigators, but no larger. ”

“ Upon the whole, I am firmly of opinion, that no ships are so proper for discoveries in distant unknown parts, as those constructed as was the Endeavour, in which I performed my former voyage. For no ships of any other kind can contain stores and provisions sufficient (in proportion to the necessary number of men,) considering the length of time it will be necessary they should last. And, even if another kind of ships could stow a sufficiency, yet on arriving at the parts for discovery, they would still, from the nature of their construction and size, be less fit for the purpose. ”

“ Having laid before my Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty your letter of the 28th of May last, reporting the repair of the Erebus, and your intention with regard to your future proceedings, I am commanded by their lordships to acquaint you, that if it should appear to you that any further prosecution of discovery in the southern ocean should be advisable, and afford a prospect of any important and successful extension of geographical and physical knowledge, their lordships are willing to leave the prosecution of it entirely to your discretion ”

“ After this exposition of the errors produced in the Investigator's compasses by the attraction of the iron, and of the method employed to obviate their effects on the survey, it will be asked whether any thing similar has been found in other ships, especially in those sent on discovery; and if so, whether their observed variations and survey bearings were submitted to any regular system of correction? It does appear that similar errors have been noticed in ships employed on discovery, as also in others, and that they probably exist in all ships, in a greater or less degree ”

“ It will be necessary to devote some attention to the French expedition of discovery, commanded by Nicolas Baudin, which sailed from Havre on October 19th, 1800, nearly two months before the British Admiralty authorised the despatch of the Investigator, and nine months all but two days before Flinders was permitted to leave England. ”

“ They found the entrance to Smith’s Sound perfectly clear of ice, none drifting southward, although there was a fresh northerly breeze. The scene of the wreck of the Polaris was visited, and either the log, or a copy, of the ill-fated vessel discovered. The next point touched at was Cape Isabella, on the 29th of July. Here a cairn with a small depot of provisions was erected, at an elevation of 700 feet from the water, by the crew of the Alert, while the Discovery pushed forward. On the 30th of July the Discovery was beset off Cape Sabine, by a close pack five or six miles broad. ”

“ Boys are entered as naval apprentices, to the number of one hundred each, at Devonport, Portsmouth, Sheerness, and Cork. They remain for one year on board the flag-ship, under a systematic course of education, and are then drafted into sea-going ships. The happy effects produced by mental cultivation were felt in an especial degree, when the Discovery ships, under Captain, now Sir Edward Parry, were blocked up with ice, and had to pass so many dismal days and nights in the Polar Sea. A school was established both in the Hecla and Fury, under able superintendence ”

“ The two vessels employed, the Resolution and Discovery, are now historically famous from the extensive voyages made in them, in the Pacific more particularly. The first was commanded by Cook, and the latter by Captain Clerke. By an Act of Parliament then outstanding a reward of £20,000 was held out to ships belonging to any of His Majesty’s subjects which should make the passage, but it excluded the vessels of the Royal Navy. This was now amended to include His Majesty’s ships, and a further reward of £5,000 offered to any vessel which should approach within one degree of the North Pole. ”

“ Two years earlier the French Government had taken up the work the British Government had neglected from the time of Captain Cook's condemnation, and had despatched two ships, the Astrolabe and the Zelée, to try and get into higher latitudes than those reached by Weddell. The Government of the United States also sent out vessels to continue the work already so successfully done by American whaling skippers. The voyages did not add materially to the discovery of land, although some valuable scientific facts were observed and recorded. ”

“ The discussions went on daily with the greatest harmony, until the close of the conference on September 8. The results were the adoption of an abstract log for the use of the men-of-war of all nations and also one for all merchantmen to use in the system of coöperative observations. Full explanatory notes for the keeping of these logs in such a way as to cover all the phenomena of the ocean were agreed upon, and the hope was expressed that these abstract logs might enjoy in time of war the same immunity that was accorded to vessels engaged in discovery or other scientific research. ”

“ Neither of the two attempts by sea from the Atlantic or from the Pacific base, in 1848, having succeeded in gaining any news, the Enterprise and the Investigator, which had previously attempted to reach Franklin from the east, were despatched in 1850, under Captain R. Collinson and Captain M'Clure, to attempt the search from the west through Bering Strait. M'Clure in the Investigator, did not wait for Collinson, as he had been directed, but pushed on and discovered Banks Land, and became beset in the ice in Prince of Wales Strait. ”

“ The period of the Renaissance is one, which by reason of splendid achievements in literature, in art, in science, and in discovery, can hardly be duplicated. We are here especially concerned with the discoverers. A mingling of motives impelled those dauntless spirits onward, and among the most potent was the greed for gold. ”

“ V GREAT TELESCOPES AND THEIR WORK One hardly knows where, in the history of science, to look for an important movement that had its effective start in so pure and simple an accident as that which led to the building of the great Washington telescope, and went on to the discovery of the satellites of Mars. ”

“ As soon as the news of the Cabot voyages reached the King of Portugal he arranged to send an expedition of discovery to the far north-west, perhaps to find a northern sea route to Eastern Asia. ”

“ One might almost say that the history of geographical discovery, properly so called, begins with Captain Cook, the motive of whose voyages was purely scientific curiosity. ”

“ Slowly and with infinite labour this first submarine navigator worked his way through the water in the first successful under-water boat, the crank-handle of the propelling screw in front of him, the helm at his side, and the crank-handle of the screw that raised or lowered the craft just above and in front. No other man had made a like voyage; he had little experience to guide him, and he lacked the confidence that a well-tried device assures; he was alone in a tiny vessel with but half an hour's supply of air, a great box of gunpowder over him, and a hostile fleet all around. ”

“ From the founding of the Naval Observatory to the development of the most advanced electronics, the U.S. Navy has been a leader in developing devices and techniques designed to make the navigator’s job safer and easier.
The development of almost every device known to navigation science has been deeply influenced by Naval policy. Some systems are direct outgrowths of specific Naval needs; some are the result of technological improvements shared with other services and with commercial maritime industry. ”

“ I had in this year a great deal of troublesome and on the whole unpleasant correspondence with the Admiralty about the correction of the compass in iron ships. I naturally expected some acknowledgment of an important service rendered to Navigation: but the Admiralty peremptorily refused it. My account of the Experiments &c. for the Royal Society is dated April 9th. The general success of the undertaking soon became notorious, and (as I understood) led immediately to extensive building of iron ships: and it led also to applications to me for correction of compasses. ”

“ We therefore feel fully authorized to assert that we have frequently made voyages from America without the above articles, and we are fully persuaded that every seaman with common nautical knowledge can do the same.”
No doubt many valuable data lie hidden in old log-books and sea journals, early newspaper files, shipping records of old business houses and elsewhere. To anyone with time and the inclination for research a fascinating field is open where material of historical and scientific value may be found. ”

“ Science was still in its veriest infancy. The progress of ship design was still by the tentative and costly method of full-scale experience; not till the beginning of the nineteenth century, when new forces and materials had been discovered which in the end spelt the decline and supersession of the sailing ship, did science sufficiently direct the lines on which large sailing ships should be built.
By his bold deviation from established usage, says Fincham, Mr. Pett established his fame and advanced the interest and power of the British navy. ”

“ Although by adding to the length and displacement of torpedo boats better seagoing qualities have been secured, they have thereby become more conspicuous objects by night or day, whereas formerly, being small, they were not easily seen or hit. The difficulty of getting within range without detection has once more led people to seek a solution in submarine navigation. The idea of travelling under water in an hermetically sealed boat has engaged the attention of many enthusiasts, but hitherto without much practical success. ”

“ Modern marine architecture is making steamships almost unsinkable, more quickly responsive to their helms, more seaworthy in every way. Perhaps with the perfection of the submarine boat, ships, instead of being tossed on the boisterous surface of the waves, may go straight to their destination through the placid depths of ocean. But whatever the future may bring, the history of the American sailor will always bear evidence that he did not wait for the perfection of safety devices to wrest from the ocean all that there was of value in the conquest ”

“ These under-water craft are only a part of the equipment that Bernard Meeker, a young Englishman, has provided to help him in his search for the lost city. There are divers' uniforms specially strengthened to resist the great pressure under which the men must work. Huge electric lamps like searchlights to be lowered into the ocean depths and give light to the workers are stacked close beside powerful generators in the ship's hold. In the chart room there are rolls of strange maps plotting out the ocean floor, and on a shelf by itself rests the tangible evidence that this search means gold. ”

“ The exploring expedition of Lieutenant Charles Wilkes, with the sloops Vincennes and Peacock, the brig Porpoise, the store-ship Relief, and the tenders Sea-gull and Flying Fish, was the most pretentious. It was authorized in 1836, and was directed chiefly to the extreme South, but some work was done among the islands of the Pacific. A number of thick quarto volumes give the reports of officers and specialists, but only people engaged in a scientific study of nature ever fully appreciated the great value of the work done. ”

“ The prevailing impression that any new invention could control the submarine in time to be effective was deprecated. The American press was at that time constantly calling upon Edison and other great American inventors to solve this problem, and, in fact, inventors in every part of two hemispheres were turning out devices by the thousands. A regular department of the Admiralty which was headed by Admiral Fisher had charge of investigating their proposals ”