Francis Davies - With Scott Before The Mast

Published by

Reardon Publishing

PO Box 919, Cheltenham, UK, GL50 9AN

www.reardon.biz

ISBN 9781901037555 (Hardback Edition)

ISBN 9781901037692 (Special Limited Edition)

Written by Francis Davies

Copyright 2020

Edited by Joy Watts

With thanks to everyone who has helped in this enjoyable endeavour to bring Chippy's journal to life.

Book Design by Nicholas Reardon

Endpaper Front:

Seamen crew of the Terra Nova 1910

Back rows : Horton, Brissenden, Parsons, Heald, Neale, Balson, McCarthy

Centre rows: A.McDonald, W.McDonald, Burton, McGillon, McKenzie, Omenchelco, Clissold, Mather, Davies

Front rows: Skelton, McLoed, Bailey, Forde, Leese

Endpaper Back:

Meares and Oates at the blubber stove in the stables.

Contents

Foreword by David Wilson

Preface by Joy Watts great niece of Francis Davies

Prologue

Chapter I. Signing on

Chapter II. Getting Ready to Leave

Chapter III. Setting Sail

Chapter IV. Heading South

Chapter V. Crossing the Line

Chapter VI. Hospitality at Simonstown

Chapter VII. The Roaring Forties

Chapter VIII. Disaster Narrowly Averted

Chapter IX. Christmas Day in the Pack-Ice

Chapter X. New Land Sighted

Chapter XI. Surveying the Three Kings

Chapter XII. Preparing for the Second Voyage South

Chapter XIII. The Polar Party Sets Off

Chapter XIV. Horse Racing at Christchurch

Chapter XV. Hydrographic Survey of Admiralty Bay

Chapter XVI. Last Voyage South

Chapter XVII. Return to Cardiff

Foreword by David Wilson

The geographic and scientific accomplishments of Captain Scott’s two Antarctic expeditions changed the face of the Twentieth Century in ways that are still not widely appreciated over a hundred years later. The fact of accomplishment has tended to be lost in speculative argument as to how Scott should have done this instead of that, supposedly to achieve the extra few yards per day to save the lives of the South Pole Party in 1912. Also lost to a generation overwhelmed with information, however, is the sublime sense of adventure into the unknown, which Scott’s expeditions represented to his generation. We have forgotten what it is to take the awesome life-gambling risk of sailing beyond the edge of the map into nothingness and rendering it known. We send robot explorers instead. As a result, after two millennia of maritime and exploration history, we have become detached from the sea which surrounds our island and the tradition of exploration which it represents.

With Scott: Before the Mast is a unique account that serves as an antidote to this disconectedness. It is no fictional ‘Hornblower’, although it may seem so at times. This is a true story. It presents one man’s account of his part in a great act of derring-do, the assault on the South Pole in 1912. Most records of Captain Scott’s British Antarctic Expedition aboard Terra Nova (1910-1913) are the accounts of officers. With Scott: Before the Mast is the story of Francis Davies, Shipwright RN and Carpenter. The title says it all but may be lost on landlubbers. Before the Mast means ‘to serve as an ordinary seaman in a sailing ship’. This makes it a rare and hugely important account, presenting a viewpoint from the lower ranks. Such insight is rarely available and the long overdue publication of this account is greatly to be welcomed.

When I first read this manuscript some years ago, I was hugely excited by the refreshing perspective that it gave to a well-aired story. Although an autobiographical period piece, written with an eye to publication many years after the events that it recalls, it is still of great interest. It tells the often forgotten story of the vast majority of Scott’s men, the sailors of Terra Nova ; the supporting cast, if you like, to the Shore Parties of officers and scientists. Through a kaleidoscope of memories, this book gets to the heart of the huge logistic effort that was the British Antarctic Expedition. Through the eyes of the sailors who were its backbone, the heroism of derring-do seems to become all the more human, humdrum and every-day. To me, this makes the accomplishments all the more real and remarkable.

I commend this book to collectors, enthusiasts, historians and to those looking for a casual read on Captain Scott, in equal measure.

David M. Wilson

Polar Historian and Gt. Nephew, Edward Wilson of the Antarctic

Preface by Joy Watts great niece of Francis Davies

When I was a child, my mother often spoke of Great Uncle Frank's Antarctic adventures. His daughter, my cousin Beatrice, always known to the family as Maidie was custodian of her father's trunk holding artefacts and souvenirs from his polar travels. I refer to Francis Davies, Leading Shipwright RN, and Carpenter on the Terra Nova British Antarctic Expedition 1910 -1913.

Occasionally, Maidie would open the trunk and we would peer at the objects before us. A diverse collection, among it penguins’ eggs, lava from Mt. Erebus, charts and photographs, diaorami, tools and items used on Terra Nova and most intriguing to me at the time, a jar containing a seal embryo preserved in spirit. Also in the trunk and most treasured by Maidie was her father's account of his expedition experiences which he named ‘With Scott: Before The Mast’ written under the pseudonym Rudolph.

Francis Davies was born in Plymouth in 1885, where he was brought up in the Lower Crab Tree and Laira Green area of the city, attending Laira Green School. On leaving school and prior to his entry into the Royal Navy, he attained a shipwright's apprenticeship at the Royal Naval Dockyard, Devonport. It was as Shipwright on HMS Vanguard and when working in Devonport, he first heard mention of Captain Scott's plans for an expedition to the Antarctic and that shipwrights were required. Such was his longing for adventure into the unknown, he immediately knew he wanted to be a part of it. He applied, was accepted and duly appointed Leading Shipwright. He joined the British Antarctic Expedition on 30 May 1910 and signed on at Poplar, London.

Mustard Pot used on Terra Nova.