The New Shii 



CHALLENGER was Originally planned as a suitable vessel for 

 searching for and surveying new fishing grounds in northern 

 waters, and as such she was to be paid for by the Ministry 

 of Agriculture and Fisheries, but was to be administered and run 

 by the Hydrographer of the Navy. The ship's officers and crew 

 were to be men of the Royal Navy, the Captain and the deck 

 officers being surveyors. A small scientific team was to be carried 

 to study the environmental conditions of the fish; a trawl was to 

 be part of the ship's equipment and a fishing skipper and four 

 trawlermen were to be carried to shoot it on the fishing grounds 

 to see what type of catches could be expected by commercial 

 fishermen. As the ship was to be built in the Royal Dockyard at 

 Chatham and was to sail under the White Ensign, the Ministry of 

 Agriculture and Fisheries suggested that Rear- Admiral H. P. 

 Douglas, then Flydrographer of the Navy, might like to name her. 

 His mind at once turned to the earlier surveying vessel which 

 had been so successful in carrying out scientific investigations in 

 the oceans and he had no difficulty in selecting an honoured name. 

 So Challenger it was — the sixth ship of this name to serve in the 

 Royal Navy and the second to serve in the Surveying Service, 



Challenger was to be a single-screw steam ship of about 1200 

 tons, just over 200 feet long; she was to be broad in the beam 

 with a high forecastle ; her stern was to have an overhanging 

 counter. She was of an unusual design for a naval vessel, planned 

 to stay at sea for a month or more in the waters around Spitz- 

 bergen, Iceland and Greenland where heavy seas are common- 

 place and ice forms on the decks and rigging. Many took a hand 

 in the planning of the ship and by no means all of these were 

 in agreement with the design. Minutes written by those con- 

 cerned in Admiralty at the time include one which reads: 'God 

 help all who have to sail in this fantastic ship,' 



She was built in a drydock in Chatham Dockyard and was 



