Michael Barne (15 October 1877 – 31 May 1961) was an officer of the 1901-04 Discovery Expedition and was the last survivor of the expedition.

Early life

Barne was born at Sotterley Park, Suffolk, the son of

Frederick Barne Frederick Barne (8 November 1805 – 9 March 1886) was an English landowner and politician who sat in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons from 1830 to 1832. Barne was the only son of Lieutenant-Colonel Michael Barne a ...

and his wife, Lady Constance Adelaide Seymour, daughter of

Francis Seymour, 5th Marquess of Hertford Francis George Hugh Seymour, 5th Marquess of Hertford (11 February 1812 – 25 January 1884), known as Francis Seymour until 1870, was a British army officer, courtier and Conservative politician. He served as Lord Chamberlain of the House ...

. His father was

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

for East Suffolk.Description of his love of country pursuits, Obituary, ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fou ...

'', Monday, 5 Jun 1961; pg. 24; Issue 55099; col D He entered the

Navy A navy, naval force, or maritime force is the branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval warfare, naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral zone, littoral, or ocean-borne combat operations and ...

as a

Midshipman A midshipman is an officer of the lowest rank, in the Royal Navy, United States Navy, and many Commonwealth navies. Commonwealth countries which use the rank include Canada (Naval Cadet), Australia, Bangladesh, Namibia, New Zealand, South Afr ...

in 1893. In 1898 he was commissioned to serve aboard HMS ''Porcupine''.

Selected for "Discovery"

In 1901 he was appointed by Scott as Second Lieutenant to the Polar Expedition. Despite suffering frostbiteAntarctic history on-line
/ref> Barne made copious notes throughout his three years with the expedition,
both about general conditions and his specialist fields( magnetronemy and Soundings). Scott rated his ability to calm possible tensions highly.

Barne Inlet Barne Inlet () is a reentrant (an inlet formed by two spurs of land) on the west side of the Ross Ice Shelf, on the coast of Antarctica. It lies between Cape Kerr and Cape Selborne. It is about wide, and is occupied by the lower part of Byrd G ...

, a feature on the western side of the

Ross Ice Shelf The Ross Ice Shelf is the largest ice shelf of Antarctica (, an area of roughly and about across: about the size of France). It is several hundred metres thick. The nearly vertical ice front to the open sea is more than long, and between hi ...

that he discovered, is named after him. He was awarded the Polar Medal for his contribution to the expedition.

Post-Antarctic career

Marrying on his return from the Antarctic, Barne returned to active service with command of the ''Coquette'', but still corresponded with Scott about modes of transport for future expeditions. During the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, he was awarded the DSO while commanding Monitor M27,History of Class(inc M27’s fate)
finally retiring in 1919 with the rank of

Captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

. During the

next Next may refer to: Arts and entertainment Film * ''Next'' (1990 film), an animated short about William Shakespeare * ''Next'' (2007 film), a sci-fi film starring Nicolas Cage * '' Next: A Primer on Urban Painting'', a 2005 documentary film Lit ...

war Barne came out of retirement to command an anti-submarine patrol ship.

References

Bibliography

*Barne, M. Need for Continuity in the Conduct of Antarctic Discovery The Geographical Journal, Vol. 27, No. 2 (Feb., 1906), p. 206 *Barne, M The National Antarctic Expedition The Geographical Journal, Vol. 18, No. 3 (Sep., 1901), pp. 275–279 *Barne, M MS 366 1902-03: Papers relating to Discovery Expedition GB/NNAF/P160000 (Former ISAAR ref: GB/NNAF/P1579) 1982 Cambridge University: Scott Polar Research Institute *Fiennes, R Scott (Coronet, London,2003) *Headland R.K.Journal of Polar Studies (1985) volume 2 part 1 p357-359 SPRI Antarctic Chronology, unpublished corrected revision of Chronological list of Antarctic expeditions and related historical events, (1 December 2001) Cambridge University Press (1989) *Holland, C. Manuscripts in the Scott Polar Research Institute, Cambridge, England - a catalogue. (Garland Publishing New York and London 1982) . *Stonehouse, B (Ed) Encyclopaedia of Antarctica and the Southern Oceans, John Wiley & Sons, Chichester (2002) {{DEFAULTSORT:Barne, Michael 1877 births People from Beccles Recipients of the Polar Medal 1961 deaths

Michael Michael may refer to: People * Michael (given name), a given name * Michael (surname), including a list of people with the surname Michael Given name "Michael" * Michael (archangel), ''first'' of God's archangels in the Jewish, Christian an ...

Explorers of Antarctica