More On Captain William Smith Of Blyth - Alf Bennett

More On Captain William Smith Of Blyth -

The Man Who Discovered Antarctica By Alf Bennett

In the Spring Newsletter, I wrote about William Smith of Blyth who discovered the last continent on Earth, namely Antarctica. I have recently been asked about the distances he travelled around South America. Hopefully, the sketch map with a scale presented below will explain the extraordinary distances involved. He was the rst person to discover the islands which he named the Shetlands on the 19th of February 1819 located over 500 miles from Cape Horn. This discovery occurred because he went further south than normal, rounding Cape Horn in search of good sailing winds. When he reported this discovery on arrival at Valparaiso in Chile, he was ridiculed as no one believed that any land lay south of the Cape. Determined to prove their existence, on the next voyage he landed on the islands on the 16th of October the same year. The Admiralty now took him seriously and chartered his boat Williams One and successfully surveyed the islands and discovered what we now know as the Antarctic Peninsula further south. Unfortunately, he died penniless in 1847. It was not until 1913 that the Royal Geographical Society recognised his achievement when they published details of, the “ Voyages of Captain William Smith”, describing the actual route taken and the dates of each discovery. I have since been back to Blyth (no, I am not sponsored by the Tourist Board ) to see Williams II, a similar boat to the one used by Smith. This was purchased by the Blyth Tall Ship Project and is moored at Blyth Quayside. The notice shown on the next page is provided at the mooring to provide more information on the

project. When you see the actual ship (below) which is only 24 metres long (about 8 average cars put end to end). You really appreciate how remarkable it was to sail such a boat over such distances through some of the potentially roughest seas in the World. What a remarkable man?

Alf Bennet

WILLIAMS II, moored at Blyth Quayside.

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