The Royal Research Ship Discovery

Robert Falcon Scott's RSS Discovery photographed in the Lyttelton Graving Dock in December 1901. Arriving at the port on the 29th November, she was initially berthed at Gladstone Pier, later moving to the No. 2 (Ferry) Wharf.

With bands playing and crowds lining the wharves she departed for Antarctica on the 21st of December. Charles Bonner, a high spirited young seaman climbed the main mast above the crow's nest where he sat on the masthead waving to the crowds. Attempting to stand, he slipped and fell to his death. Bonner was buried when Discovery called at Port Chalmers.

107 years later the last wooden three-masted ship to be built in the British Isles is now on display at Dundee, Scotland, where she was built.


First in a series about surviving ships of signficance to Canterbury history.