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These amazing images are from a collection of personal effects that belonged to a man called Frederick Ernest Dailey (1873-1961).
They are from the National Antarctic Expedition of 1901-1904, otherwise known as the ‘Discovery Expedition’ on which he served as Warrant Officer and Chief Carpenter.
The collection was passed by descent to Dailey’s great-granddaughter. It also includes his Certificates of Discharge, a set of miniature medals, letters, programmes, invitations, newspaper cuttings and photographs.
Having served a 7-year apprenticeship as a shipwright in Devonport Dockyard, Dailey was personally recommended to Robert Falcon Scott for the Discovery Expedition.
He joined the ship in Dundee and helped supervise the on-board preparations before it set sail.
On arriving in Antarctica he was responsible for putting up Discovery Hut, which was used by the expedition as a store house and shelter.
10 years later it also provided refuge for members of Ernest Shackleton’s ‘Endurance Expedition’.
In Antarctica, Dailey is commemorated by the Dailey Islands, a group of five small volcanic islands in McMurdo Sound – a strategic waterway around which both Scott and Shackleton built bases for their over-land expeditions to the South Pole.
After his Antarctic exploits were over, Dailey served in the First World War as Chief Carpenter onboard HMS Lion at the Battle of Jutland. He settled in Plymouth and is buried at Ford Park Cemetery.
Plymouth History Festival 