Discovery Expedition returned to the Barrier several times, hoping to penetrate it, but was unable to do so, achieving his Farthest South in a small Barrier inlet at 78°10', in February 1842.
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17 Facts About Discovery Expedition
2.
Discovery Expedition was planned during a surge of international interest in the Antarctic regions at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries.
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3.
Discovery Expedition had first observed Midshipman Robert Falcon Scott in 1887, while the latter was serving with HMS Rover in St Kitts, and had remembered him.
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4.
Discovery Expedition's ship was built by the Dundee Shipbuilders Company as a specialist research vessel designed for work in Antarctic waters, and was one of the last three-masted wooden sailing ships built in Britain.
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5.
Discovery Expedition eventually sailed under the Merchant Shipping Act, flying the RGS house flag and the Blue Ensign and burgee of the Royal Harwich Yacht Club.
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6.
Discovery Expedition left Isle of Wight on 6 August 1901, and arrived in New Zealand via Cape Town on 29 November after a detour below 40°S for a magnetic survey.
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7.
Discovery Expedition then sailed south, arriving at Cape Adare on 9 January 1902.
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8.
At McMurdo Sound Discovery turned eastward, touching land again at Cape Crozier where a pre-arranged message point was set up so that relief ships would be able to locate the expedition.
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9.
Scott had decided that the expedition should continue to live and work aboard ship, and he allowed Discovery to be frozen into the sea ice, leaving the main hut to be used as a storeroom and shelter.
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10.
Discovery Expedition's body was never recovered; a cross with a simple inscription, erected in his memory, still stands at the summit of the Hut Point promontory.
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11.
The expedition's organisers had assumed that the Discovery would be free from the ice in early 1903, enabling Scott to carry out further seaborne exploration and survey work before winter set in.
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12.
Markham was present to meet the ship in Portsmouth when Discovery Expedition docked there on 10 September 1904, but no dignitaries greeted the party when it arrived in London a few days later.
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13.
Discovery Expedition received a cluster of medals and awards from overseas, including the French Legion d'honneur.
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14.
Discovery Expedition succeeded in combating incipient scurvy through a fresh seal meat diet, and Scott recommended it for future polar expeditions.
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15.
Discovery Expedition had by this time become a national hero, despite his aversion to the limelight, and the expedition was being presented to the public as a triumph.
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16.
Discovery Expedition launched the Antarctic careers of several who became stalwarts or leaders of expeditions in the following fifteen years.
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17.
Discovery Expedition appointed Edward Wilson as his chief scientist, and Wilson selected an experienced team.
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