''Scotia'' was a

barque A barque, barc, or bark is a type of sailing vessel with three or more masts having the fore- and mainmasts rigged square and only the mizzen (the aftmost mast) rigged fore and aft. Sometimes, the mizzen is only partly fore-and-aft rigged, b ...

that was built in 1872 as the Norwegian

whaler A whaler or whaling ship is a specialized vessel, designed or adapted for whaling: the catching or processing of whales. Terminology The term ''whaler'' is mostly historic. A handful of nations continue with industrial whaling, and one, Jap ...

''Hekla''. She was purchased in 1902 by

William Speirs Bruce William Speirs Bruce (1 August 1867 – 28 October 1921) was a British naturalist, polar scientist and oceanographer who organized and led the Scottish National Antarctic Expedition (SNAE, 1902–04) to the South Orkney Islands and the Weddel ...

and refitted as a research vessel for use by the

Scottish National Antarctic Expedition The Scottish National Antarctic Expedition (SNAE), 1902–1904, was organised and led by William Speirs Bruce, a natural scientist and former medical student from the University of Edinburgh. Although overshadowed in terms of prestige by Ro ...

. After the expedition, she served as a sealer,

patrol vessel A patrol boat (also referred to as a patrol craft, patrol ship, or patrol vessel) is a relatively small naval vessel generally designed for coastal defence, border security, or law enforcement. There are many designs for patrol boats, and th ...

and collier. She was destroyed by fire in January 1916.

Description

The ship was , with a beam of . She had a draught of . The ship was assessed at .

History

''Hekla'' was built as a

in 1872 by Jørgensen & Knudsen,

Drammen Drammen () is a city and municipality in Viken, Norway. The port and river city of Drammen is centrally located in the south-eastern and most populated part of Norway. Drammen municipality also includes smaller towns and villages such as Konner ...

for S. S. Svendsen of

Sandefjord Sandefjord () is a city and the most populous municipality in Vestfold og Telemark county, Norway. The municipality of Sandefjord was established on 1 January 1838. The municipality of Sandar was merged into Sandefjord on 1 January 1969. On 1 ...

. She was used as a sealer, making voyages to the east coast of Greenland from 1872 to 1882 and to

Scoresby Sound Scoresby Sound (Danish: ''Scoresby Sund'', Greenlandic language, Greenlandic: ''Kangertittivaq'') is a large fjord system of the Greenland Sea on the eastern coast of Greenland. It has a tree-like structure, with a main body approximately

in 1892. In 1896, she was sold to N. Bugge,

Tønsberg Tønsberg , historically Tunsberg, is a city and municipality in Vestfold og Telemark county, eastern Norway, located around south-southwest of Oslo on the western coast of the Oslofjord near its mouth onto the Skagerrak. The administrative c ...

. She was sold in 1898 to A/S Sæl- og Hvalfangerskib Hekla, Christiania and was placed under the management of M. C. Tvethe. ''Hekla'' was sold in 1900 to A/S Hecla, Sandefjord, operated under the management of Anders Marcussen. In 1902, she was purchased by

for kr 45,000 ( £2,650). She was renamed ''Scotia'' and was rebuilt by the

Ailsa Shipbuilding Company Ailsa Shipbuilding Company was a Scottish shipbuilding company based in Troon and Ayr, Ayrshire. History The company was founded in 1885 by the 3rd Marquess of Ailsa along with Peter James Wallace and Alexander McCredie. In 1902 the Ailsa yard ...

for use as a research vessel by the

. The ship was strengthened internally, with beams thick added to resist the pressure of ice whilst in the Antarctic. A new

steam engine A steam engine is a heat engine that performs mechanical work using steam as its working fluid. The steam engine uses the force produced by steam pressure to push a piston back and forth inside a cylinder. This pushing force can be ...

was fitted, which drove a single screw propeller. It could propel the vessel at . The work was supervised by

Fridtjof Nansen Fridtjof Wedel-Jarlsberg Nansen (; 10 October 186113 May 1930) was a Norwegian polymath and Nobel Peace Prize laureate. He gained prominence at various points in his life as an explorer, scientist, diplomat, and humanitarian. He led the team t ...

. When the conversion of the ship was complete, she was inspected by Colin Archer, who had prepared '' Fram'' for Nansen's 1893 expedition to the Arctic. Thomas Robertson was appointed captain of ''Scotia''. He had twenty years' experience of sailing in the

Arctic The Arctic ( or ) is a polar region located at the northernmost part of Earth. The Arctic consists of the Arctic Ocean, adjacent seas, and parts of Canada ( Yukon, Northwest Territories, Nunavut), Danish Realm ( Greenland), Finland, Iceland ...

and

Antarctic The Antarctic ( or , American English also or ; commonly ) is a polar region around Earth's South Pole, opposite the Arctic region around the North Pole. The Antarctic comprises the continent of Antarctica, the Kerguelen Plateau and o ...

on board the

s ''Active'' and ''Balaena''. Sea trials of the rebuilt ship were conducted in August 1902. ''Scotia'' sailed on 2 November 1902 for the Antarctic. She arrived at 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 Dubou ...

on 6 January 1903, She then sailed to

Laurie Island Laurie Island is the second largest of the South Orkney Islands. The island is claimed by both Argentina as part of Argentine Antarctica, and the United Kingdom as part of the British Antarctic Territory. However, under the Antarctic Treaty S ...

South Orkney Islands The South Orkney Islands are a group of islands in the Southern Ocean, about north-east of the tip of the Antarctic PeninsulaScotia Bay, where she was frozen in for eight months. She departed for the Falkland Islands on 27 November, en route for

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the Capital city, capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata ...

, Argentina where she underwent a refit. ''Scotia'' returned to Laurie Island on 14 February 1904, sailing eight days later for the

Weddell Sea The Weddell Sea is part of the Southern Ocean and contains the Weddell Gyre. Its land boundaries are defined by the bay formed from the coasts of Coats Land and the Antarctic Peninsula. The easternmost point is Cape Norvegia at Princess Mar ...

. She departed from the Antarctic on 21 March. Calling at

Saint Helena Saint Helena () is a British overseas territory located in the South Atlantic Ocean. It is a remote volcanic tropical island west of the coast of south-western Africa, and east of Rio de Janeiro in South America. It is one of three consti ...

in June, she arrived at

Millport, Cumbrae Millport ( Scottish Gaelic: Port a' Mhuilinn) is the only town on the island of Great Cumbrae in the Firth of Clyde off the coast of mainland Britain, in the council area of North Ayrshire. The town is south of the ferry terminal that links the ...

Ayrshire Ayrshire ( gd, Siorrachd Inbhir Àir, ) is a Counties of Scotland, historic county and registration county in south-west Scotland, located on the shores of the Firth of Clyde. Its principal towns include Ayr, Kilmarnock and Irvine, North Ayrshi ...

on 21 July, and was escorted by a number of ships to her final destination of

Gourock Gourock ( ; gd, Guireag ) is a town in the Inverclyde council area and formerly a burgh of the County of Renfrew in the west of Scotland. It was a seaside resort on the East shore of the upper Firth of Clyde. Its main function today is ...

Renfrewshire Renfrewshire () ( sco, Renfrewshire; gd, Siorrachd Rinn Friù) is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland. Located in the west central Lowlands, it is one of three council areas contained within the boundaries of the historic county of Re ...

. Following the expedition, it was planned that ''Scotia'' would see further use by the universities of Scotland as a research vessel. However, she was sold by

auction An auction is usually a process of buying and selling goods or services by offering them up for bids, taking bids, and then selling the item to the highest bidder or buying the item from the lowest bidder. Some exceptions to this definition e ...

in an effort to recoup some of the costs of the expedition. She served as a sealer and

until 1913, operating off the coast of Greenland. Following the loss of , she was then chartered by the

Board of Trade The Board of Trade is a British government body concerned with commerce and industry, currently within the Department for International Trade. Its full title is The Lords of the Committee of the Privy Council appointed for the consideration of ...

for use as a

weather ship A weather ship, or ocean station vessel, was a ship stationed in the ocean for surface and upper air meteorological observations for use in weather forecasting. They were primarily located in the north Atlantic and north Pacific oceans, reportin ...

on the

Grand Banks of Newfoundland The Grand Banks of Newfoundland are a series of underwater plateaus south-east of the island of Newfoundland on the North American continental shelf. The Grand Banks are one of the world's richest fishing grounds, supporting Atlantic cod, swordf ...

, warning shipping of

iceberg An iceberg is a piece of freshwater ice more than 15 m long that has broken off a glacier or an ice shelf and is floating freely in open (salt) water. Smaller chunks of floating glacially-derived ice are called "growlers" or "bergy bits". Th ...

s. A Marconi

wireless Wireless communication (or just wireless, when the context allows) is the transfer of information between two or more points without the use of an electrical conductor, optical fiber or other continuous guided medium for the transfer. The mos ...

was installed to enable her to communicate with stations on the coast of

Labrador , nickname = "The Big Land" , etymology = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Canada , subdivision_type1 = Province , subdivision_name1 ...

and

Newfoundland Newfoundland and Labrador (; french: Terre-Neuve-et-Labrador; frequently abbreviated as NL) is the easternmost province of Canada, in the country's Atlantic region. The province comprises the island of Newfoundland and the continental region ...

. Following this, she became a collier, sailing between the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

and France. On 18 January 1916, she caught fire and was burnt out in the

Bristol Channel The Bristol Channel ( cy, Môr Hafren, literal translation: "Severn Sea") is a major inlet in the island of Great Britain, separating South Wales from Devon and Somerset in South West England. It extends from the lower estuary of the River S ...

off

Sully Island Sully Island ( cy, Ynys Sili) is a small tidal island and Site of Special Scientific Interest at the hamlet of Swanbridge, Vale of Glamorgan, off the northern coast of the Bristol Channel, midway between the towns of Penarth and Barry and s ...

, Glamorgan. Her crew survived.

Legacy

''Scotia'' was depicted on a 5/- stamp issued by the

. She was also depicted on two stamps issued by the

British Antarctic Territory The British Antarctic Territory (BAT) is a sector of Antarctica claimed by the United Kingdom as one of its 14 British Overseas Territories, of which it is by far the largest by area. It comprises the region south of 60°S latitude and between ...

. The Hekla Sound in northeast Greenland was named by the ill-fated 1906-1908 Denmark expedition after this ship, referring to its original name.''Catalogue of place names in northern East Greenland'', Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland

References

;Sources * {{DISPLAYTITLE:''Scotia'' (barque) 1872 ships Ships built in Norway Barques Sailing ships of Norway Merchant ships of Norway Research vessels of the United Kingdom Sailing ships of Scotland Steamships of the United Kingdom Merchant ships of the United Kingdom Weather ships World War I merchant ships of the United Kingdom Maritime incidents in 1916 Ship fires 1872 in Norway 1902 in Scotland Maritime incidents in Wales 1916 disasters in the United Kingdom History of Glamorgan 1916 in Wales