The Terra Nova journals by Francis Davies Leading Shipwright RN ..Captain Scotts 1910 to 1913 Antarctic Expedition

June 28, 2020

The Terra Nova Journals by

Francis Davies Leading Shipwright RN

Covering the 1910 to 1913

Antarctic Expedition

I have now turned these journals into a fully illustrated book showing from the crew’s point of view of life below decks.

Click Here for Order Details

http://www.antarcticbookshop.com/special.htm

£175 incl Free UK delivery direct from publishers

Never seen before maps on Antarctica
from private collections

Top review from the United States

Xavier Ninnis

An Embarrassment of Riches!

Reviewed in the United States on January 15, 2021

What an unexpected treat, this along with the release of Angie Butler/Beau Riffenburgh’s biography and diaries of Eric Marshall, makes this, for those with an interest (for many, including myself, more an obsession) in Antartica’s "Heroic Age of Exploration," the richest, most exciting period since last decade's spate of releases concerning Mawson’s "Australasian Antarctic Expedition". Yum!

Top reviews from other countries

Amazon Customer

A wonderful story of courage, loyalty, resilience, adventure, and what it takes to be an explorer.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 6, 2020

Verified Purchase

This journal has been painstakingly edited to make an extraordinary account of the journey to Antarctica carrying Scott's expedition. The photographs have been so well selected to give a picture of the hardship and very basic conditions of the expedition, the equipment, also incredibly basic, as well as the utter beauty of Antarctica. The understated style of the journal is a great contrast to the ferocity of the voyage and the hostility this part of the planet. And not a mobile phone in sight.

Scott has been vilified so often for his attempt to reach the South Pole, so it heartening to read of the respect and loyalty that was felt for him by the author of this journal, Lieutenant Commander Davies.

My interview with Captain Scott, he explained what would be expected of me. My principal job, he said, would be the erection of Winter Quarters for the Southern party, which was to make an attempt to reach the South Pole.....

He also told me that I would be paid GBP40 a year, adding that if I made a success of the job, he wouldn't say what he would do for me, but if on the other hand, I failed to come up to scratch, I would be for the high jump. The geographic and scientific accomplishments of Captain Scott's two Antarctic expeditions changed the face of the Twentieth Century in ways that are still not widely appreciated over a hundred years later.

The fact of accomplishment has tended to be lost in speculative argument as to how Scott should have done this instead of that, supposedly to achieve the extra few yards per day to save the lives of the South Pole Party in 1912. Also lost to a generation overwhelmed with information, however, is the sublime sense of adventure into the unknown, which Scott's expeditions represented to his generation. We have forgotten what it is to take the awesome life-gambling risk of sailing beyond the edge of the map into nothingness and rendering it known.

We send robot explorers instead. As a result, after two millennia of maritime and exploration history, we have become detached from the sea which surrounds our island and the tradition of exploration which it represents. With Scott: Before the Mast is a unique account that serves as an antidote to this disconectedness. It is no fictional 'Hornblower', although it may seem so at times.

This is a true story. It presents one man's account of his part in a great act of derring-do, the assault on the South Pole in 1912. Most records of Captain Scott's British Antarctic Expedition aboard Terra Nova (1910-1913) are the accounts of officers.

With Scott: Before the Mast is the story of Francis Davies, Shipwright, R.N., and Carpenter. The title says it all but may be lost on landlubbers. Before the mast means 'to serve as an ordinary seaman in a sailing ship'. This makes it a rare and hugely important account, presenting a viewpoint from the lower ranks. Such insight is rarely available and the long overdue publication of this account is greatly to be welcomed.

When I first read this manuscript some years ago, I was hugely excited by the refreshing perspective that it gave to a well-aired story. Although an autobiographical period piece, written with an eye to publication many years after the events that it recalls, it is still of great interest.

It tells the often forgotten story of the vast majority of Scott's men, the sailors of Terra Nova; the supporting cast, if you like, to the Shore Parties of officers and scientists. Through a kaleidoscope of memories, this book gets to the heart of the huge logistic effort that was the British Antarctic Expedition.

Plus Lots of never seen before:

Photos – Letters – Artefacts