''Scotia'' was a

barque A barque, barc, or bark is a type of sailing ship, sailing vessel with three or more mast (sailing), masts of which the fore mast, mainmast, and any additional masts are Square rig, rigged square, and only the aftmost mast (mizzen in three-maste ...

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 and refitted as a research vessel for use by the Scottish National Antarctic Expedition. After the expedition, she served as a sealer, patrol vessel and collier. She was destroyed by fire in January 1916.

Description

The ship was , with a beam of . She had a depth 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 Buskerud county, 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 ...

for S. S. Svendsen of

Sandefjord Sandefjord () is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Vestfold county, Norway. It is located in the Traditional districts of Norway, traditional district of Vestfold. The administrative centre of the municipality is the Sandefjord ...

. 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 List of towns and cities in Norway, city in Tønsberg Municipality in Vestfold county, Norway. It is located about south-southwest of the capital city of Oslo on the western coast of the Oslofjord near ...

. 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 William Speirs Bruce for kr 45,000 ( £2,650). She was renamed ''Scotia'' and was rebuilt by the Ailsa Shipbuilding Company for use as a research vessel by the Scottish National Antarctic Expedition. 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 Work (physics), 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 (locomotive), cyl ...

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 1861 – 13 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, humanitarian and co-founded the ...

. 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 (; . ) is the polar regions of Earth, polar region of Earth that surrounds the North Pole, lying within the Arctic Circle. The Arctic region, from the IERS Reference Meridian travelling east, consists of parts of northern Norway ( ...

and

Antarctic The Antarctic (, ; commonly ) is the polar regions of Earth, polar region of Earth that surrounds the South Pole, lying within the Antarctic Circle. It is antipodes, diametrically opposite of the Arctic region around the North Pole. The Antar ...

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 (; ), commonly referred to as The Falklands, 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 from Cape Dub ...

on 6 January 1903, She then sailed to Laurie Island,

South Orkney Islands The South Orkney Islands are a group of List of Antarctic and sub-Antarctic islands, 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, controlled by the government of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Argentina. It is located on the southwest of the Río de la Plata. Buenos Aires is classified as an Alpha− glob ...

, 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 Martha C ...

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

Saint Helena Saint Helena (, ) is one of the three constituent parts of Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha, a remote British overseas territory. Saint Helena is a volcanic and tropical island, located in the South Atlantic Ocean, some 1,874 km ...

in June, she arrived at Millport, Cumbrae,

Ayrshire Ayrshire (, ) is a Counties of Scotland, historic county and registration county, in south-west Scotland, located on the shores of the Firth of Clyde. The lieutenancy areas of Scotland, lieutenancy area of Ayrshire and Arran covers the entirety ...

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

Renfrewshire Renfrewshire () (; ) is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland. Renfrewshire is located in the west central Lowlands. It borders East Renfrewshire, Glasgow, Inverclyde, North Ayrshire and West Dunbartonshire, and lies on the southern ba ...

. 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 Trade, buying and selling Good (economics), goods or Service (economics), services by offering them up for Bidding, bids, taking bids, and then selling the item to the highest bidder or buying the item from th ...

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 Business and 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 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 fresh water ice more than long that has broken off a glacier or an ice shelf and is floating freely in open water. Smaller chunks of floating glacially derived ice are called "growlers" or "bergy bits". Much of an i ...

s. A Marconi

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

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

Labrador Labrador () is a geographic and cultural region within the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador. It is the primarily continental portion of the province and constitutes 71% of the province's area but is home to only 6% of its populatio ...

and

Newfoundland Newfoundland and Labrador is the easternmost province of Canada, in the country's Atlantic region. The province comprises the island of Newfoundland and the continental region of Labrador, having a total size of . As of 2025 the population ...

. 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 Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the 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 (, literal translation: "Severn Sea") is a major inlet in the island of Great Britain, separating South Wales (from Pembrokeshire to the Vale of Glamorgan) and South West England (from Devon to North Somerset). It extends ...

off Sully Island,

Glamorgan Glamorgan (), or sometimes Glamorganshire ( or ), was Historic counties of Wales, one of the thirteen counties of Wales that existed from 1536 until their abolishment in 1974. It is located in the South Wales, south of Wales. Originally an ea ...

. 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 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 The

Scotia Sea The Scotia Sea is a sea located at the northern edge of the Southern Ocean at its boundary with the South Atlantic Ocean. It is bounded on the west by the Drake Passage and on the north, east, and south by the Scotia Arc, an undersea ridge and is ...

at the edge of the Antarctic, south of Chile and Argentina, is named after this ship. Several other features in the region are named for the ship including several ridges, undersea basins, and in particular the tectonic Scotia Plate.

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