Images(2)

SY MORNING near Dundee Wharf

Date1914

Object number00055227

NamePhotograph

MediumBlack and white photographic print on paper

DimensionsOverall: 81 × 106 mm

ClassificationsPhotographs

Credit LineANMM Collection Gift from Charlotte Fairweather

Terms

DescriptionThe auxiliary barque MORNING, built in 1871 for the Arctic whaling industry, was notably associated with the supply and rescue voyages for Robert Falcon Scott's 1901-1904 British National Antarctic Expedition (BNAE), after Scott's ship DISCOVERY was beset in the ice in McMurdo Sound. The vessel was recommissioned in 1914 under the command of retired whaling Captain James Fairweather to investigate the prospect of renewing the Hudson Bay whaling industry. In this photograph, taken on 10 June 1914, MORNING is flying the Blue Peter flag, signalling its departure from Dundee for Baffin Bay. The vessel was wrecked in the North Sea the following year. HistoryThe MORNING was built as the Morgenen in 1871 in Tonsberg Norway by Sven Foynfor the Norwegian whaling industry. It was a wooden auxiliary screw steamer three masted barque, 140 foot long. (Registered number 114847. One deck. Official tonnage 437 Call sign is THRF. Lloyds Register) In 1901 it was purchased as a relief ship for Robert Falcon Scott's British National Antarctic Expedition for £3,880 by the Royal Geographical Society (at the urging of Clements Markham). Scott's ship Discovery was stuck in the ice. Funds for the purchase, fitout and supply of the vessel were raised from public subscription. Morning arrived at Lyttleton New Zealand in November 2 1902, and after docking and resupply master William Colbeck sailed south on 6 December 1902. On 23 January 1903 Colbeck located Discovery in McMurdo Sound (further south than planned) and ferried ice and supplies across the ice. On 2 March 1903 Morning left McMurdo Sound, Antartica, with nine members of the BNAE on board including expeditioner and future Antarctic pioneer Ernest Shackleton, to be repatriated to the UK due to ill health from scurvy on a sledging trip with Scott. Returning to Lyttelton and then to Hobart, Colbeck in the Morning joined the Terra Nova and again sailed south for the second relief expedition with Discovery still beset.Discovery was eventually freed from the ice and left as did Morning and Terra Nova, for the Auckland Islands and Lyttelton NZ before the next winter. Morning sailed back to the UK. In 1914 new owners commissioned MORNING with SY ACTIVE to investigate the possibility of reviving the whaling/sealing industry at Baffin Island and Hudson's Bay and also to make arrangements to trade with the local settlements. MORNING set sail from Dundee June 10, returning September 26, 1914 under the command of experienced whaling master and polar sailor Captain James Fairweather who came out of retirement to captain the MORNING. World War I started in August so nothing came of the investigations. MORNING re-entered government service carrying munitions to northern Russian ports. On 24 December 1915 it was wrecked in a heavy gale in the north sea with only two survivors. Its companion ship ACTIVE was lost with all hands. Technical details: In 1904-5 Lloyds Register of Steamers, The Morning, a wooden auxilliary screw steamer three masted barque, was built in 1871 in Tonsberg, Norway, owned by Sir C R Markham KCB. The ship was 140.0 foot long, 31.4 foot high and 16.5 foot high. Regstered number 114847. One deck. Originally named Morgenen, ex sail and ex steamer, now a sailing barque. Official tonnage 437. Call sign is THRF. Registered in London England In the 1904-5 Lloyds Register of Sailing Vessels, the Morning is described as a wooden barque fitted with auxilliary steam power. One deck. It's registered number has been crossed out. (entry is 902).. Official tonnage 444. Now owned by the Admiralty, registered in Dundee. SY Morning was a steam yacht, known for its role as a relief vessel to Scott's British National Antarctic Expedition (1901–1904) when it made two voyages to the Antarctic to resupply the expedition. The following text is taken from Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SY_Morning#Acquisition_for_the_British_National_Antarctic_Expedition 'Morgenen was a Norwegian whaling ship, built in 1871 by Svend Foyn of Tønsberg, Norway. In 1901 she was purchased as a relief ship for the British National Antarctic Expedition for £3,880. In September 1901, she sailed from Norway to England where she was refitted and renamed MORNING, the same name translated into English.[1] Ships' company The officers that set sail from London in 1902 were: Captain William Colbeck RNR; Rupert G. England, First Officer; Lieutenant E.R.G.R. Evans RN, Second Officer; Gerald Doorly RNR, Third Officer; Sub-Lieutenant G.F.A. Mulock RN, fourth officer; Doctor G.A. Davidson; J.D. Morrison, Chief Engineer; and F. L. Maitland-Somerville and Neville Pepper, both midshipmen. The crew consisted of eight petty officers, nine seamen, and three firemen. During the voyages, the people filling these posts sometimes changed. London to New Zealand Morning sailed from London to Lyttelton, New Zealand via Madeira. She left London on 2 July 1902 and arrived in Lyttleton on 16 November. Voyage of the Morning Although making two voyages to restock the expedition, it is the first that is known as the voyage of the Morning. She sailed from Lyttelton for the Antarctic on 6 December 1902. On Christmas Day, the crew sighted two uncharted islands, now known as Scott Island and Haggitt's Pillar. A landing was made and the islands were claimed for the British Empire. Morning became stuck on a rock for 20 minutes here. The crew also collected scientific specimens as she voyaged south. Morning called at several pre-arranged mail depositories in an attempt to locate Discovery, the expedition's main ship. At Cape Crozier, they found a message giving the location of her winter quarters. Discovery's masts were sighted just before midnight on 23 January 1903. Supplies were sledged across the ice to the Discovery when it became apparent that the ice would not break up. Ernest Shackleton joined the crew of Morning as he was suffering from scurvy, and Mulock took his place on the Discovery. Several other seamen joined the Morning for the voyage back to New Zealand. She left McMurdo Sound on 2 March 1903 and arrived in New Zealand on 25 March. A log of the voyage compiled by Leonard Burgess, a seaman, is held in the Macmillan Brown Library, University of Canterbury.[2] Second voyage Morning returned to the Antarctic a second time in the company of the Terra Nova later in 1903. They were sighted at Hut Point on 5 January 1904.[1] The two ships were to evacuate the Discovery if she could not be freed from the ice. The ice broke, however, and all three ships returned together. A log of the voyage, compiled by Leonard Burgess, a seaman, is also held in the Macmillan Brown Library, University of Canterbury.[2] The Songs of the Morning Doorly dictated The Songs of the Morning,, a compilation of songs written during the voyages. In most cases, the words were written by the Chief Engineer, John Donald Morrison, and were put to music by Doorly. It was published by the Melbourne Bread and Cheese Club in 1943.[4] Two linking narratives are extant. In 2002, a recording entitled The Songs of the Morning: a Musical Sketch was published. This is a mixture of songs, poems and narrative, mostly related to the voyage from London to Lyttelton and the first voyage to the Antarctic. Royalties from the recording are split between the Dundee Heritage Trust's Antarctica 100 Discovery Restoration Fund and the New Zealand Antarctic Heritage Trust.' References 1."Robert Falcon Scott". Retrieved 2007-07-23. 2. "NRAM Record View: 'MORNING' (Ship) (A153)". Retrieved 2007-07-23. 3.http://digital.slv.vic.gov.au/view/action/singleViewer.do?dvs=1495768024215~823 SignificanceThis photograph is a rare view of the polar vessel SY MORNING in Dundee, its home port in 1914, at the time of its expedition to investigate the whaling grounds at Baffin Bay. SY Morning was an Arctic whaler and the relief vessel for Scott's 1901-04 Expedition to the South Pole . As such it plays a role in the history of exploration of Antarctica and the story of some of its protagonists. It is the vessel on which Shackleton was evacuated from Scott’s expedition after he suffered scurvy on a sledging expedition.