Early Life
Robert Forde (29 August 1875 – 13 March 1959) was an Antarctic explorer and member of the Terra Nova Expedition under Captain Robert Falcon Scott from 1910–1912.
Robert Forde was born in rural parish of Moviddy near Bandon 16 miles W.S.W. from Cork, Ireland. His father's name was George and his mother's was Charity (née Payne)[citation needed]. (Irish Post, 2015) Forde was protestant and he lived near Kilmurry. He was related to the legendary car maker' Henry Forde', who lived near his family. At the age of sixteen, he had joined the Royal Navy which was 1891 , rising to the rank of Petty Officer 1st Class. This was from his hard work. He joined the Terra Nova expedition as Petty Officer on 30 May 1910, one of a number of Irishmen who took part, including Tom Crean and another Corkman, Patrick Keohane. Forde was part of a group which headed out from Cape Evans in January 1911 to explore the polar capes. Terra Nova was the name of his ship.
Career[edit source | edit]
Forde took part in two depot laying journeys. During the Western Party journey, he was sledge master which was led by Griffith Taylor in 1911.(Nzaht.org, 2015) The Terra Nova expedition undertook an extensive survey of the Antarctic in 1911. Forde and his companions had the responsibility of examining the area around Ross Island and the Polar Plateu. This is the reason behind the glacier being called Mount Forde in the Victoria Land. Later on, Forde had to return home due to severe frostbite and was ordered home for treatment by Captain Scot. He was treated by a skilful doctor who saved his hands due to frost bite. He was then send invalided to New Zealand in April in 1912. (The Labour Party, 2009) As a result, he did not participate on the final and fatal attempt on the South Pole. He was missed deeply by his team.(The Labour Party, 2009) Scot stated that said no one could replace him. When he returned home he was able to serve in the Royal Navy at the height of the First World War. He served on number of ships. He received a promotion to chief petty officer. He was assigned to his former ship ‘HMS’ vivid in October 1913. His job in World War one was to serve on several vessels He survived the war and he returned to Cobh after the demobilisation in February 17th 1920 (The Labour Party, 2009) . Cobh in county Cork was the place where he decided to spend the rest of his life.(Theoldblogcabin.blogspot.ie, 2009) He still wore a glove to protect his hand from the effects of the severe frostbite half a century before. (Irish Post, 2015)
Terra Nova Expedition
On the 15th of June 1910, The Terra Nova left Cardiff. It was traveling via the uninhabited Ilha de Trinidade and Cape Town to New Zealand. On the 19th of November 1910, it collected supplies and members of the expedition and left Port Chalmers. It reached Ross Island on the 4th of January 1911 after coming in contact with severe storms and heavy pack ice. They were unable to reach the old Discovery hut at Hut Point. Scott had to settle for base on Cape Evans and started to unload the same day. One of the expedition’s three experimental motor sledges was lost in the process, plunging through the sea ice.
The Terra Nova left on the 26th January carrying a four-man team headed for the Victoria Land mountains opposite Ross island, and six-man Eastern Party under Lt Victor Campbell. The Victoria Land Party included the geologists Thomas Griffith Taylor ad Frank Debenhams, the physicist Charles Wright, and PO Edgar Evans. It investigated the geology and glaciology of the McMurdo dry valleys and the Taylor and Koettlitz Glaciers, returning to Hut Point on 14th of March . A geologist is a scientist who studies the solid and liquid matter that constitutes the Earth as well as the processes and history that have shaped it. ( Wikipedia, 2015) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geologist
The Terra Nova left Cape Evans with the remains of the expedition on 19th January 1903; it stopped and picked up Taylor’s and Debenhams’s
The Terra Nova left Cape Evans with the remains of the expedition on 19 January 1903; pausing to pick up Taylor's and Debenhams’s and the Eastern Party’s specimens from Victoria Land, they sailed for New Zealand. They arrived to telegraph the news of Scott’s death on 10th February 1913. (Gardens, 2015)
Robert Forde's relationship with Captain Scott[edit source | edit]
Captain Scott, Whose real name was Robert Falcon Scott was the Captain of the Terra Nova, which was the expedition Robert Forde was on. (Antarctic Heritage Trust 2015) On this expedition Captain Scott was nicknamed ' The Skipper'. While on this expedition with Forde , Robert Scott wrote numerous diaries on the South Pole. This was then published in 1913 as Scotts Expedition. (Scott of The Antarctic 2014). On January 1912 Captain Scott and the remaining men on his team reached the South Pole.They had been gone for 93 days and covered 960 statue miles. Scott died on his way back from the expedition from starvation and exposure. Him and the rest of the team had been dead eight months before they were found.
Death[edit source
Forde’s role in the expedition led to his promotion to Chief Petty Officer on board HMS Vivid, and he served on her and several other British ships during World War 1. After demobilisation he retired to Cobh, which was still then known as Queenstown and was a major naval port for the British in Ireland. He died there in March 1959.
He is remembered by the naming of Mount Forde, a monumental peak of over 1,200 metres at the head of the Hunt Glacier in Antarctica in his honour.[1]
Robert Forde is buried at the Old Church Cemetery, Cobh in his native County Cork. **In March 2009,on the 50th Anniversary of his death, a Memorial was unveiled to Forde by The Robert Forde Memorial Committee in The Promenade, Cobh. The rough hewn granite stone faces out to Cork Harbour and has a bronze plaque showing Forde with his sled. A Plaque was also unveiled at 52 Harbour Row, Cobh where he lived.
^ "Irish Explorers". Beyond Endurance Expedition. Retrieved 2 August 2009.
Scott of the Antarctic 1868-1912 (2015) BBC- History Scott of the Antarctic. Retreieved from : BBC.co.uk
Antarctic Heritage Trust (2015) Captain Robert Falcon Scott's British Antarctic Experdition. 1910-1913. Retrieved from Nzhal.org
Michael Smith, 2010, 'Great Endeavour – Ireland's Antarctic Explorers', Collins Press
Forde of the Antarctic, article by Tom McSweeney in the Cork Holly Bough, Christmas 2007 edition. Robert Forde Memorial Committee
Nzaht.org,. (2015). Captain Robert Falcon Scott’s British Antarctic Expedition 1910-1913 Crew. Retrieved 14 November 2015, from http://www.nzaht.org/AHT/MeettheCrewEvans/
Theoldblogcabin.blogspot.ie,. (2009). The Old Blog Cabin: Antarctic explorer Forde to be honoured in his adopted home. Retrieved 14 November 2015, from http://theoldblogcabin.blogspot.ie/2009/03/antarctic-explorer-forde-to-be-honoured.html
The Labour Party,. (2009). The Labour Party. Retrieved 14 November 2015, from http://www.labour.ie/johnmulvihilljnr/news/123709511851623.html
Irish Post,. (2015). From Crean to Crozier: Eight great unsung Irish explorers. Retrieved 14 November 2015, from http://irishpost.co.uk/from-crean-to-crozier-eight-great-unsung-irish-antarctic-explorers/
Wikipedia,. (2015). Geologist. Retrieved 23 November 2015, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geologist
Gardens, T. (2015). Browse our collections - Collections - Horniman Museum and Gardens. Horniman.ac.uk. Retrieved 23 November 2015, from http://www.horniman.ac.uk/collections/browse-our-collections/authority/event/identifier/event-67