George Percy Abbott (10 March 1880 – 22 November 1923) was a

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...

petty officer,

Royal Naval Air Service The Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS) was the air arm of the Royal Navy, under the direction of the Admiralty's Air Department, and existed formally from 1 July 1914 to 1 April 1918, when it was merged with the British Army's Royal Flying Corps t ...

pilot officer, and Antarctic explorer. Abbott was a survivor of Robert Falcon Scott's Antarctic ''Terra Nova'' expedition, and was one of six arctic explorers that were part of its Northern Party.

Biography

Abbott was born in London in 1880 and joined the Navy three days after this 15th birthday. At the age of 18 he was one of the young naval ratings to be selected to pull the gun-carriage bearing

Queen Victoria Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until Death and state funeral of Queen Victoria, her death in 1901. Her reign of 63 years and 21 ...

's coffin during her funeral procession. The original intention had been to have the coffin pulled by horses but the sailors were selected after the horses broke their tracers. George was awarded the Royal Victorian Medal for his gallantry during the procession where he had recaptured and calmed a horse carrying a senior army officer that got excited and broke away from the parade. In 1910 he was recruited to join Captain Robert Scott's Terra Nova Expedition to

Antarctica Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean, it contains the geographic South Pole. Antarctica is the fifth-largest contine ...

, at the time he was Petty Officer but he signed on as an able seaman (AB) at £6/month. Called 'Tiny' by his friends he was one of the tallest men on the ship. He was a well-built man, champion wrestler, and a qualified physical instructor in 1st class. As part of the Terra Nova Expedition, Abbot was one of six arctic explorers that were included in the

Northern Expedition The Northern Expedition was a military campaign launched by the National Revolutionary Army (NRA) of the Kuomintang (KMT), also known as the "Chinese Nationalist Party", against the Beiyang government and other regional warlords in 1926. The ...

. This expedition ended up stranded for nine extra months and survived the winter in an ice cave before completing a very difficult trek across

to rejoin the rest of the Terra Nova Expedition. On the return to

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

Abbot had a breakdown and was invalided out of the service for a time.

Legacy

Mount Abbott, a 1,020m-high mountain on the coast of Victoria Land, and Abbott Peak, a foothill of

Mount Erebus Mount Erebus () is the second-highest volcano in Antarctica (after Mount Sidley), the highest active volcano in Antarctica, and the southernmost active volcano on Earth. It is the sixth-highest ultra mountain on the continent. With a summ ...

on Ross Island, are named in honour of Petty Officer George P. Abbott.

References

Sources

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Abbott, George P. Terra Nova expedition 1910 in Antarctica 1911 in Antarctica 1912 in Antarctica 1913 in Antarctica United Kingdom and the Antarctic Recipients of the Royal Victorian Medal 1880 births 1923 deaths