RRS ''William Scoresby'' was British

Royal Research Ship A Royal Research Ship (RRS) is a merchant navy vessel of the United Kingdom that conducts scientific research for His Majesty's Government. Organisations operating such ships include; the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC), the British ...

built for operations in Antarctic waters. Specially built for the

Discovery Committee The Discovery Committee was a popular name for the Interdepartmental Committee for the Dependencies of the Falkland Islands established by the British Government to carry out scientific investigations (which became known as ‘Discovery Investigati ...

Cook, Welton & Gemmell Cook, Welton & Gemmell was a shipbuilder based in Hull and Beverley, East Riding of Yorkshire. England. They built trawlers and other small ships. History Founding and move to Beverley The firm was founded in 1883 on South Bridge Road, Hu ...

Beverley Beverley is a market town, market and minster (church), minster town and a civil parishes in England, civil parish in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England, of which it is the county town. The town centre is located south-east of York's centre ...

, the ship was launched on 31 December 1925, and named after the noted 19th-century Arctic explorer, scientist and clergyman. Over the next 12 years the ship made seven voyages into Antarctic waters as part of the

Discovery Investigations The Discovery Investigations were a series of scientific cruises and shore-based investigations into the biology of whales in the Southern Ocean. They were funded by the British Colonial Office and organised by the Discovery Committee in London, wh ...

, accompanied by the ship until 1929, and then by ''Discovery II''. During this time she marked about 3,000 whales and completed biological, hydrographical and oceanographic studies. She also took part in the 2nd Wilkins- Hearst Antarctic Expedition in 1929-1930, launching a

Lockheed Vega The Lockheed Vega is an American five- to seven-seat high-wing monoplane airliner built by the Lockheed Corporation starting in 1927. It became famous for its use by a number of record-breaking pilots who were attracted to the rugged and very l ...

floatplane for flights over Antarctica. Laid up in

St Katharine Docks St Katharine Docks is a former dock and now a mixed-used district in Central London, in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets and within the East End. It lies on the north bank of the River Thames, immediately downstream of the Tower of London an ...

in 1938, she was the requisitioned by the

Admiralty Admiralty most often refers to: *Admiralty, Hong Kong *Admiralty (United Kingdom), military department in command of the Royal Navy from 1707 to 1964 *The rank of admiral *Admiralty law Admiralty can also refer to: Buildings * Admiralty, Traf ...

in October 1939 and converted into a minesweeper. Commissioned as HMS ''William Scoresby'' (J122) in June 1940 she was stationed in the

Falkland Islands The Falkland Islands (; es, Islas Malvinas, link=no ) is an archipelago in the South Atlantic Ocean on the Patagonian Shelf. The principal islands are about east of South America's southern Patagonian coast and about from Cape Dubouzet ...

. In early 1944 she took part in

Operation Tabarin Operation Tabarin was the code name for a secret British expedition to the Antarctic during World War Two, operational 1943–46. Conducted by the Admiralty on behalf of the Colonial Office, its primary objective was to strengthen British claims t ...

, establishing British bases in Antarctica. The vessel was decommissioned in September 1946, and transferred to the newly formed National Institute of Oceanography in February 1951. She made one last voyage, surveying the Benguela Current off the west coast of Africa, before finally being sold for scrapping by the British Iron & Steel Corporation in 1954.

References

External links

* * *
British Antarctic Oral History Project
– Includes interviews with expedition members Marchesi (captain of ''William Scoresby'' during Tabarin), George James (wireless operator ''William Scoresby'' during Tabarin).
British Antarctic Survey
– British scientific organisation that developed from Operation Tabarin. The Archives holds official expedition records, photographs and moving film of ''William Scoresby''. {{DEFAULTSORT:William Scoresby 1925 ships Ships built on the Humber Exploration ships of the United Kingdom World War II minesweepers of the United Kingdom Military history of the Falkland Islands in World War II

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Further reading

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