The RRS William Scoresby in dock. This ship was built for the Discovery Committee by the East ...

The RRS William Scoresby in dock. This ship was built for the Discovery Committee by the East Yorkshire ship builder Cook, Welton and Gemmell of Beverley. She was launched on 31 December 1925, fitted out in Hull's Queen's Dock and handed over to her owners on 14 June 1926. The Discovery Committee, which included representatives of the Admiralty, the Colonial Office, the Natural History Museum, the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries and the Royal Geographic Society, was formed by the British Government to look into the effects of whaling in the southern oceans and in response to this Interdepartmental Committee the Discovery Investigations were set up in 1925 to look into the biology and ecology of whales. Captain Scott's old ship, the Discovery, was purchased and re-fitted and the William Scoresby was built. The William Scoresby sailed on her maiden voyage from Humber Dock on 26 June 1926 and joined the RRS Discovery in Cape Town. The RRS William Scoresby worked on Discovery Investigations, making seven voyages to the Antarctic, before she was laid up in 1938. During one of these voyages she supported the second Wilkins-Hurst expedition sailing from Deception Island in December 1929 with one of Wilkins Lockheed aircraft to just below the 67th parallel tying to find a suitable place for the aircraft to take off from on the ice with sufficient fuel to attempt a trans-Antarctic flight. Although unsuccessful the aircraft was fitted with floats and Sir Hubert Wilkins conducted a number of flights in December 1929 and January 1930. After she was laid up in 1938 she was requisitioned by the Admiralty and in October 1939 commissioned as HMS William Scoresby. She was released by the Admiralty in 1947 and after an extensive re-fit her ownership was transferred to the newly formed National Institute of Oceanography, which had taken over from the pre-war Discovery Committee. The William Scoresby sailed on her final voyage investigating the Benguela Current off the west coast of Africa. In 1954 she was sold to the British Iron and Steel Corporation for scrap. (Source: The William Scoresby, Oceanographic Expeditions and University College Hull. University of Hull. (hull.ac.uk).