''Terra Nova'' was a

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 ...

and polar expedition ship. The ship is best known for carrying the 1910 British Antarctic Expedition,

Robert Falcon Scott Captain Robert Falcon Scott (6 June 1868 – ) was a British Royal Navy officer and explorer who led two expeditions to the Antarctic regions: the Discovery Expedition, ''Discovery'' expedition of 1901–04 and the Terra Nova Expedition ...

's last expedition.

Construction

''Terra Nova'' (

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

for "new land") was built in 1884 for the Dundee whaling and sealing fleet and was ideally suited to the polar regions and had been operating for 10 years in the annual seal fishery in the Labrador Straits.

Expedition relief

In 1903, ''Terra Nova'' sailed in company with fellow ex-whaler to assist in freeing the National Antarctic Expedition's from

McMurdo Sound The McMurdo Sound is a sound in Antarctica, known as the southernmost passable body of water in the world, located approximately from the South Pole. Captain James Clark Ross discovered the sound in February 1841 and named it after Lieutenant ...

. On return to Great Britain, expedition leader Commander

was promoted to the rank of captain. On return from the Antarctic, ''Terra Nova'' was purchased by the American millionaire

William Ziegler William or Willi Ziegler may refer to: * William T. Ziegler (1840–1916), American politician from Pennsylvania *William Ziegler (industrialist) (1843–1905), American industrialist * William Ziegler Jr. (1891–1958), adopted son * William Ziegle ...

and placed under the command of a Norwegian, Captain Johan Kjeldsen. She sailed to the Arctic to return members of the US Fiala/Ziegler expedition from

Franz Josef Land Franz Josef Land () is a Russian archipelago in the Arctic Ocean. It is inhabited only by military personnel. It constitutes the northernmost part of Arkhangelsk Oblast and consists of 192 islands, which cover an area of , stretching from east ...

to Norway. This expedition had lost its ship ''America'', crushed by ice, during an attempt to reach the North Pole. After returning to Newfoundland in 1906, ''Terra Nova'' resumed sealing duties with her owners, C. T. Bowring & Co. of St. John's and Liverpool.

British Antarctic Expedition, 1910

In 1909, ''Terra Nova'' was bought by Captain R.F. Scott RN for the sum of £12,500, as expedition ship for the British Antarctic Expedition 1910. Reinforced from bow to stern with seven feet of oak to protect against the Antarctic ice pack, she sailed from

Cardiff Docks Cardiff Docks () is a port in southern Cardiff, Wales. At its peak, the port was one of the largest dock systems in the world with a total quayage of almost . Once the main port for the export of South Wales coalfield, South Wales coal, the Po ...

on 15 June 1910 under overall command of Captain Scott. He described her as "a wonderfully fine ice ship.... As she bumped the floes with mighty shocks, crushing and grinding a way through some, twisting and turning to avoid others, she seemed like a living thing fighting a great fight". Although the twenty-four officers and scientific staff made valuable observations in biology, geology,

glaciology Glaciology (; ) is the scientific study of glaciers, or, more generally, ice and natural phenomena that involve ice. Glaciology is an interdisciplinary Earth science that integrates geophysics, geology, physical geography, geomorphology, clim ...

meteorology Meteorology is the scientific study of the Earth's atmosphere and short-term atmospheric phenomena (i.e. weather), with a focus on weather forecasting. It has applications in the military, aviation, energy production, transport, agricultur ...

, and

geophysics Geophysics () is a subject of natural science concerned with the physical processes and Physical property, properties of Earth and its surrounding space environment, and the use of quantitative methods for their analysis. Geophysicists conduct i ...

along the coast of

Victoria Land Victoria Land is a region in eastern Antarctica which fronts the western side of the Ross Sea and the Ross Ice Shelf, extending southward from about 70°30'S to 78th parallel south, 78°00'S, and westward from the Ross Sea to the edge of the Ant ...

and on 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 high ...

, Scott's last expedition is best remembered for the death of Scott and four companions. After wintering at Cape Evans on Ross Island, Scott, Henry Bowers,

Edgar Evans Petty Officer Edgar Evans (7 March 1876 – 17 February 1912) was a Welsh Royal Navy petty officer and member of the "Polar Party" in Robert Falcon Scott's ill-fated ''Terra Nova'' Expedition to the South Pole in 1911–1912. This grou ...

Lawrence Oates Lawrence Edward Grace "Titus" Oates (17 March 188017 March 1912) was a British army officer, and later an Antarctic explorer, who died from hypothermia

, and Edward Wilson set out on a race to be the first men at the South Pole. Starting with

tractor A tractor is an engineering vehicle specifically designed to deliver a high tractive effort (or torque) at slow speeds, for the purposes of hauling a Trailer (vehicle), trailer or machinery such as that used in agriculture, mining or constructio ...

s and

Mongolia Mongolia is a landlocked country in East Asia, bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south and southeast. It covers an area of , with a population of 3.5 million, making it the world's List of countries and dependencies by po ...

n ponies, the final had to be covered by man-hauling alone. Reaching the

South Pole The South Pole, also known as the Geographic South Pole or Terrestrial South Pole, is the point in the Southern Hemisphere where the Earth's rotation, Earth's axis of rotation meets its surface. It is called the True South Pole to distinguish ...

on 17 January 1912, they found that

Roald Amundsen Roald Engelbregt Gravning Amundsen (, ; ; 16 July 1872 – ) was a Norwegians, Norwegian explorer of polar regions. He was a key figure of the period known as the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration. Born in Borge, Østfold, Norway, Am ...

's expedition (based on '' Fram'') had beaten them by thirty-four days. Worse was to come, as all five men died on the return journey. The frozen bodies of three were discovered eight months later, in November 1912. Their journals and papers were found and retrieved.

Later career

After returning from the

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 ...

in 1913, ''Terra Nova'' was purchased by her former owners and resumed work in the

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 ...

seal fishery. Estimates for her career as a sealing vessel is over 800,000 seal pelts. In 1918 she was chartered by the

Dominion Steel and Coal Corporation The Dominion Steel and Coal Corporation (also DOSCO) was a Canadian coal mining and steel manufacturing company. Incorporated in 1928 and operational by 1930, DOSCO was predated by the British Empire Steel Corporation (BESCO), which was a merger ...

to transport coal from the coal mines at

North Sydney North Sydney is a suburb and commercial district on the Lower North Shore of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. And is the administrative centre for the local government area of North Sydney Council. History The Indigenous people on the s ...

to Bell Island. She also assisted at the disaster of the in February 1918. In 1942, ''Terra Nova'' was chartered by Newfoundland Base Contractors to carry supplies to base stations in

Greenland Greenland is an autonomous territory in the Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark. It is by far the largest geographically of three constituent parts of the kingdom; the other two are metropolitan Denmark and the Faroe Islands. Citizens of Greenlan ...

. On 12 September 1943 at 2205, the vessel sent an SOS reporting damage, that water was over the boilers and pumps were not working. The US Coast Guard Cutters ''Atak'', ''Amarok'', ''Laurel'', and ''Manitou'', all part of the Greenland Patrol of the US Atlantic Fleet, responded. ''Atak'' reached ''Terra Nova'' on 13 September. They rescued all personnel aboard and set the ship alight before proceeding to Narsarssuak, Greenland. ''Amarok'' and ''Manitou'' turned back after their services were not needed. ''Laurel'' proceeded to the site of ''Terra Nova''. The burning hulk was sunk by gunfire the same day at .

Artifacts

The

figurehead In politics, a figurehead is a practice of who ''de jure'' (in name or by law) appears to hold an important and often supremely powerful title or office, yet '' de facto'' (in reality) exercises little to no actual power. This usually means that ...

from ''Terra Nova'' was removed in 1913 and presented to Cardiff City Council which in 1932 donated it to the

National Museum of Wales National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, c ...

. Her bell is kept at the

Scott Polar Research Institute The Scott Polar Research Institute (SPRI) is a centre for research into the polar regions and glaciology worldwide. It is a sub-department of the Department of Geography in the University of Cambridge, located on Lensfield Road in the south ...

, part of the University of Cambridge. It was given to the institute on 20 October 1952 by Lady Nicholson of Eden, who was given the bell by her nephew, Edward L. Atkinson, the surgeon on Scott's last expedition. The bell is rung every weekday at 10.30 and 16.00 when everyone working within the institute is invited to gather for coffee in the morning and tea in the afternoon, as is the British tradition. It is rung in the manner of a ship's watch, five bells in the morning and eight bells in the afternoon. The

binnacle A binnacle () is a waist-high case or stand on the deck of a ship, generally mounted in front of the helmsman, in which navigational instruments are placed for easy and quick reference as well as to protect the delicate instruments. Its traditio ...

of ''Terra Nova'' is displayed in the Pierhead Suite of the

Pierhead Building The Pierhead Building () is a Grade I listed building in Cardiff Bay, Wales. It was built in 1897 as the headquarters for the Bute Dock Company. The Pierhead Building is part of the estate of the Senedd (Welsh Parliament; ), which also includes ...

Cardiff Bay Cardiff Bay (; colloquially "The Bay") is an area and freshwater lake in Cardiff, Wales. The site of a former tidal bay and estuary, it is the river mouth of the River Taff and River Ely, Ely. The body of water was converted into a lake as part ...

, a short distance from the point where Scott's crew departed Cardiff on the fated voyage. In July 2012, the wreck of ''Terra Nova'' was discovered by the Schmidt Ocean Institute’s flagship RV ''Falkor''. In June 2025, a visual survey of the wreck of ''Terra Nova'' was completed by a team of maritime archaeologists aboard the MY ''Legend''. Using a submersible, the expedition captured high-resolution imagery of the wreck which confirmed its identity and revealed key structural features such as the helm station and the inch motors. The survey also documented the marine life living around the wreck.

Citations

References

* The ''Terra Nova'' was mentioned in a sailing song: The Balena.

External links

Footage of ''Terra Nova'' in Cardiff in 1913
{{coord, 60.254167, -45.929167, display=title 1884 establishments in the United Kingdom 1884 ships 2012 archaeological discoveries Bowring Brothers Exploration ships of the United Kingdom Maritime incidents in September 1943 Sealing ships Ships built in Dundee Shipwrecks in the Arctic Ocean Shipwrecks in the Greenland Sea Terra Nova expedition Water transport in Newfoundland and Labrador Whaling ships Robert Falcon Scott