PROBABLY the only research ship in the world with a city named after it, the Discovery was launched 120 years ago this week in Dundee where it now resides as a major tourist attraction.

The City of Discovery, as Dundee has called itself, quite rightly hosts this magnificent ship which was launched on March 21, 1901. Obviously, no one alive remembers the launch, but it was still being talked about decades after it happened, so important was the ship to the reputation of Dundee.

The momentous day was anticipated for many months in Dundee and around the UK. For Discovery was very much a project of the British Empire’s continuing need to be world-leading, and Antarctica was both the last continent to be explored and the only place on Earth to where British influence did not extend. The press carried story after story about the xxpedition and closely followed the preparations, including the construction of the expedition’s ship.

The Discovery came into being largely because of one man’s dream. Sir Clements Robert Markham was a naval officer and geographer who had become obsessed with the idea of a British National Antarctic Expedition, especially after hearing a lecture given in 1893 by Canadian-born Scottish marine scientist John Murray.

As President of the Royal Geographical Society, Markham was able to persuade the Society and the Royal Society to start working towards the Antarctic Expedition, and eventually the government agreed to match any funding raised by the Societies – one member of the public donated £25,000. Markham was able to start the process of building a very special ship and recruiting an equally special crew that would be led by a charismatic captain, Robert Falcon Scott.

Scott later wrote: “Chancing one day to be walking down the Buckingham Palace Road, I espied Sir Clements Markham and accompanied him to his house. That afternoon I learned for the first time that there was such a thing as a prospective Antarctic Expedition; two days later I wrote applying to command it. I may as well confess that I had no predilection for polar exploration.”

Since it was very much a Royal Navy project, Markham secured the services of the Admiralty’s Chief of Construction, WE Smith, to design what soon became known as the Discovery. As a sort of whaler, there were only two yards that could build it, but the pre-eminent whaler shipyard of the day was that of Dundee Shipbuilders Ltd at Panmure. In January, 1900, They were contracted to build Discovery at a cost of £51,000.

The last three-masted sailing vessel to be built in Britain, Discovery also had a steam engine, and her unique design included a massively thick hull built of Scottish pine and oak, English elm and greenheart, with iron bands sealing the hull. Markham and Smith were soon telling the world that Discovery would be the strongest ship afloat. She would need to be to contend with the pack ice of the Antarctic.

Progress on the building of Discovery was good, and with Scott and ship’s engineer Reginald Skelton on hand to supervise construction, the launch was set for March 21, 1901.

Newspaper accounts of the launch all speak of the huge excitement in Dundee leading up to the big day. It was a Thursday and many workers were given time off for the launch and lined the banks of the River Tay awaiting the 3.15pm launch.

All major ship launches require the blessing of an esteemed woman, and as the wife of Sir Clement Markham, Lady Markham was given the task. She wore a dark dress and coat, but her floral bonnet was a colourful sight.

The launch party, including Captain Scott, took their place on a platform specially built for the occasion, watched by a large contingent of the great and good of Dundee and the Royal Navy, as well as representatives of the Royal and Royal Geographic Societies.

I am indebted to the Friends of Dundee City Archives and their online preservation of the Dundee Year Book 1901 for this account:

“At a signal from Mr John Smith, the yard foreman, under whose superintendence the constructive work had been conducted, the shores were one by one knocked away and the Discovery was allowed to rest upon the cradle which was to carry her into the river.

“At 20 minutes past three a whistle sounded, and Lady Markham stepping to the front of the platform, severed a cord which liberated a bottle of wine, beautifully garlanded with flowers, suspended from the bows of the ship. Amid a rousing cheer the glass was shivered on the iron-plated stern and her Ladyship christened the ship the Discovery.

“A few moments elapsed. A dead silence pervaded the crowd. Slowly the Discovery began to move, and quickly gathering way rushed down the declivity into the water, a great cheer arising from the crowd in the yard and from the thousands of spectators assembled on the Marine Parade.

“As the vessel receded from the ways the spectators were afforded a fine opportunity of seeing unfolded one by one her beautiful lines and the admirable conformation of the hull. At the moment when the ship floated, a Union Jack was hoisted on the bows, and the blue ensign of the Naval Reserve was run up over the stern. In waiting for the Discovery were a couple of tugs, which promptly took her in tow, and in presence of the crowd, which had not yet dispersed, towed the ship down the river, the broadside view thus exposed giving a new and adequate view of her proportions.”

Just a week later, Discovery left Dundee to sail into history. In March, 1986, she returned to Dundee for the first time to stay at what is now Discovery Point.