Francis Davies - With Scott Before The Mast

Often called Chippy by his shipmates his many skills were always in demand and constantly put to the test both on the voyage and ashore. Beginning with his work in the refit of Terra Nova from a blubber laden whaler, in a very poor state, to an expedition ship. He was meticulous in his most principal task, this being his planning and building of the huts, both the living quarters at Cape Evans for the Southern Party, about which Captain Scott wrote ‘we are simply overwhelmed by it's comfort’ and eventually at Cape Adare for the now Northern Party. The latter having to be rapidly constructed due to the urgency for Terra Nova to leave for New Zealand. Notably, he played a significant part in the emergency work in the engine room during the storm in the Southern Ocean at the very start of the expedition, when all was threatened and disaster narrowly averted. Along the way he was witness to the extraordinary meeting of Terra Nova with Amundsen's ship Fram in the Bay of Whales. To his final Antarctic task, the construction of the Memorial Cross to commemorate Captain Scott and the South Pole Party who perished on their return journey from the Pole. He chose to use the extremely hard Australian jarra wood. The Cross stands to this day on the top of Observation Hill overlooking McMurdo Sound.

Scott's hut at Cape Evans also still stands, both structures are designated Antarctic Historic Monuments. Davies' name is commemorated by Davies Bay, situated between Drake Head and Cape Kinsey, which was discovered in February 1911.

After the expedition Francis Davies served in the First World War and in 1920 took early voluntary retirement from the Royal Navy. He also served on Royal Research Ships Discovery ll and William Scorseby which were engaged in scientific work in the Southern Ocean regions. He later volunteered and served in the Second World War. All his career he sailed on long voyages often lasting years but always returned to the Plymouth area, Drake's country as he so fondly called it. He married Ethel Stephens and then lived at Nicholls Farm, Plympton with their children, Beatrice and Peter. Francis Davies died in Plymouth in 1952, his ashes being scattered on the sea in sight of the National Memorial to Captain Scott and the Polar Party at Mount Wise, Devonport.

My sincere thanks to all who have supported me with this publication. To... David Wilson for his initial encouragement and forward. Robert Headland of the Scott Polar Research Institute for kindly agreeing to proof read. Paul Davies, President of the Devon and Cornwall Polar Society, for his help and advice, and to fellow members of the society including, Michael Tarver and Julie Ellis for their enthusiasm. It was sometime ago when David first introduced me to my patient publisher, Nicholas Reardon, together, 'With Scott: Before the Mast' has at long last been printed.

I dedicate this narrative of adventure to the memory of my cousin Maidie, who first introduced me to the wonders of the heroic age of polar exploration, and those who dared.

I hope you enjoy Chippy's tale.

Joy Watts.

A sketch by Francis Davies of his home Nicholls Farm, Plympton.

Prologue

Exploration !

The magic word that dominated my early life and filled my mind with visions of the first primitive, rough-hewn boats, then galleys, followed by boats with coarse sails, graceful sailing-ships with wind-filled canvas, steamships throbbing with speed, and grim, grey warships relentless in their messiness of unsinkable armoury.

It was not, however, the ships that captured my youthful imagination. It was the distant lands they were bound for.

I wanted to see immeasurable stretches of ocean swirling in unsounded deeps. I yearned to peer into limitless gulfs of space, to gaze across thousands of miles of silent, frozen vastness constituting the Unknown – desolate immensity shrouded in eternal night.

I wanted to contact the Antarctic.

Francis Davies

Francis Davies Leading Shipwright RN

the Journals of Francis Davies

Francis Davies with his wife Ethel

The Royal Yacht Squadron White burgee from Terra Nova was mounted in a purpose built oak frame and presented to the Plympton St Maurice Masonic Lodge by Francis Davies. It was auctioned at Christie's in 1999. It is now in the National Maritime Museum at Greenwich.

Chapter I. Signing on

For over nine years from first to last, I served in expedition ships engaged in exploration and scientific research in the Antarctic.

My first ship was Terra Nova of the British Antarctic Expedition 1910 – Scott’s Last Expedition, and it is of my experiences, generally, in this expedition that I am writing. Looking back, I now see it was the end of an era in Antarctica or more correctly perhaps, of Polar exploration when the work was carried on in wooden sailing ships of great strength, especially constructed to withstand ice pressure, and with auxiliary steam power for working through the heavy ice-floes. The vessels were built for whaling and sealing in the Polar Regions, and were the pride of the Dundee shipbuilders during the latter half of the last century.

My association with exploration started in the spring of 1910 when I was serving as a shipwright in HMS Vanguard , Super-Dreadnought, recently commissioned for the first time. One day, whilst my mate and I were in the dockyard at Devonport scrounging material for a particular job we had in hand, he met one of his old shipmates who during a ‘quack’ about old times, mentioned he had heard that three shipwrights were required as volunteers for an expedition to the Antarctic, to be led by Captain Scott. I immediately cocked up my ears and from a few apparently disinterested remarks, I gathered that the carpenter who had served with Captain Scott on his previous expedition, and was now a Shipwright Officer RN, was on the look out for suitable volunteers.

As I pondered on this casual information, memory of my boyhood’s favourite book Nansen’s Farthest North came vividly back. I remembered how I had longed for similar adventure. I lost no time getting in touch with the officer mentioned, who was then holding an appointment in the Shipwright Officer’s drawing office, nearby.

Within the hour I had had an interview and started the ball rolling. As he didn’t know me personally he said he would contact the Shipwright Officers under whom I had served and, if everything was satisfactory he would let me know in a day or two. I was not bothered about my professional qualifications, I did not see any difficulty in that direction, but I doubted whether my ten stone four pounds measured up to what I imagined an Antarctic explorer should be.