Discovery

Three times I've been to Dundee in the last two months and three times I've taken a picture of this ship. The previous two times something has managed to knock it off the top blip spot. But not today.

I'm blipping this on the train home to make sure I don't get distracted by anything else.

This is the RSS (royal research ship) Discovery. Launched on 21 March 1901, her first mission was the British National Antarctic Expedition, carrying Robert Falcon Scott and Ernest Shackleton on their first, successful journey to the Antarctic.

She was the first ship to make it through the unchartered wilderness and spotted Antarctica on 8 January 1902. Her mission's purpose? to make magnetic surveys and carry out meteorological, oceanographic, geological and biological research.

The treacherous journey was characterised by extreme conditions, tragedy and heroic scientific effort. At that time, the work was groundbreaking, discovering new species, recording the first sight of an Emperor Penguin rookery, and chartering hundreds of miles of unknown coast and terrain.

I wish I was an intrepid exploring scientist on an epic discovery. I can't think of anything more exciting.