36 THE VOYAGE OF THE 'DISCOVERY' 



Regions, I cannot believe she was so efficient an exploring 

 vessel as the ' Discovery.' 



The art of building wooden ships is now almost lost to the 

 United Kingdom ; probably in twenty or thirty years' time a 

 new ' Discovery ' will give more trouble and cost more money 

 than a moderate-sized war-ship. This is natural enough : it is 

 the day of steel, of the puncher and the riveter; the adze and 

 the wood-plane are passing away. It must become increasingly 

 difficult to find the contractors who will undertake to build a 

 wooden ship, or the seasoned wood and the skilled workmen 

 necessary for its construction. 



The technicalities of the business may still remain in the 

 memories of the older constructors, but have grown vague 

 from disuse, and very few persons have cause to refresh their 

 memories. And so it is all passing away ; even the quaint old 

 Scotch foreman, John Smith, who played so important a part 

 in the building of the ' Discovery,' has finished his work and 

 vanished from the scene. It is a strange ending to an industry 

 which a century ago produced those stout wooden walls that 

 were the main defence of the kingdom. 



In October 1899, when tenders for the new ship were 

 invited, there were few replies, and only one from a firm which 

 had recent experience of such a task. This was the Dundee 

 Shipbuilding Company, the owners of a small yard on the Tay, 

 which had been better known in the flourishing days of the 

 whale trade as Stevens's Yard. Stevens had been a very well- 

 known character in Dundee, the builder and owner of many a 

 fine whaling ship. 



Arrangements were therefore entered into with this Com- 

 pany to build the new vessel, and in the meanwhile the Com- 

 mittee's architect, Mr. W. E. Smith, had thoroughly overhauled 

 the plans of the old ' Discovery ' and drawn up a masterly 

 specification for the new one. In March 1900 the keel of the 

 new vessel was laid, and in a few months the massive oak 

 frames had been raised and the busy scene of construction 

 was in full swing. 



I have spoken of this new ship as the ' Discovery,' but it 



