Discovery was built for Captain Scott's first Antarctic expedition of 1901-4 and was launched in 1901, at Dundee. She had a long and intriguing career before her final voyage back there in 1986, and this book tells the story of that chequered history. Despite a number of expeditions to the Southern Ocean during the 1800s, at the close of that century the continent of Antarctica remained a mystery. To remedy this the Royal Geographical Society proposed a National Antarctic Expedition and a purpose-built vessel, the Discovery, was specially designed. Based on a whaleship, she was massively built to withstand ice, and was equipped with a hoisting propeller and rudder. The vivid descriptions of the voyages and the legendary bravery of the explorers who sailed her into ice-bound waters conjure up the lost world of wooden ships and Antarctic exploration.